Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Neighbours
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Domino Loop
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Linked Poset Futoshiki
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair

The Marathon contest is always my favorite of the year and 2016 was no exception. I really enjoyed all of the puzzles and maily chose my three favorites based on what had stuck most in my memory.

I really did not think I was going to like linked poset futoshiki and did it last in case I found it unsolveable. The instructions were a little confusing to me--the arrows in the poset diagrams go in the OPPOSITE direction as the inequality signs in the puzzle. Once I made that leap, the puzzle was not only solveable with logic, but very fun as well and it made my favorites list. I remember Neighbors from Breinbrekers puzzle magazine and really like it. I wish I could find more of these. Same with Pentopia.

All of the puzzles had lots of delightful aha moments and generally linear solves for me. My fastest puzzle was about 40 min and my slowest about 70 so they all seemed "medium" to me. My least favorite was probably the akari, it seemed a little guessy to me and I never developed a good way to do trial and error with pencil and paper akari (I usually just do Nikoli ones online which are much easier), I kept entering wrong solutions only to later find a single unlit cell somewhere. Oh well.

Overall, 10-12 hours very well spent. Thank you LMI.

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Neighbours
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hex Slitherlink
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Domino Loop
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Choosing favourites is impossible, I really enjoyed almost all of them. The exception being the Twin: I like that it was included, I just had a really rather frustrating experience with it. Didn't even think I was that bad at such puzzles before, but I found roughly one pair per fifteen minutes, and decided to shelve it after 45. I think it was fine as is, but perhaps having to find more but easier pairs would have helped (me).

Other than that, a few too many mistakes, but overall a very fun contest. It was great to be part of it.

The Akari is solvable logically by the way, though I can see it being a bit painful if you miss the central deductions.

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Spiral Galaxy
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hex Slitherlink
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Pentopia
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Word Search Sudoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Pentopia
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Neighbours
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Word Search Sudoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Spiral Galaxy
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hidoku
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Akari
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	LITS+
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Domino Loop
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice

I think that Twin CO is far less logical of a genre than I would have liked to see on an LMI test. I don't think that logic puzzles should be tests of visual acuity alone.

I'm quite surprised, as of the time of writing, that I've placed third on the LITS+ round. Had I been just 10 seconds faster, I'd have been first.

Had I known the Domino Loop and Hidoku were that easy, I would have done them earlier instead of trying to muster up the courage to plunge into them. I did however learn something from the Domino Loop about parity, and the breakins for the Hidoku, once spotted, almost made the puzzle solve itself.

The breakin into the Akari was well-hidden, and quite a bit of my time was spent wondering where it was.

Linked Poset Futoshiki is a pretty novel idea, but the rules were convoluted enough that I had to read the whole thing three times, and message Ivan about it in order to understand the rules.

Everything else was pretty ordinary but not noteworthy.

Edited by edderiofer 2016-04-10 1:46 PM

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Pentopia
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Domino Loop
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Spiral Galaxy
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Word Search Sudoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Spiral Galaxy
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hidoku
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair

Enjoyed the contest. Congratulations to all the authors for creating a nice set of puzzles.

I like the format: there is no time limit for each puzzle.

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hidoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Domino Loop
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Spiral Galaxy
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Pentopia
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Domino Loop
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	LITS+
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hidoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Neighbours
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	LITS+
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hex Slitherlink
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Linked Poset Futoshiki
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Domino Loop
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Neighbours
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Linked Poset Futoshiki
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hidoku
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Spiral Galaxy
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Domino Loop
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Every Second Breakpoint
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Pentopia
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hidoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Neighbours
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Spiral Galaxy
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Linked Poset Futoshiki
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Neighbours
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Word Search Sudoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	LITS+
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Linked Poset Futoshiki
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hex Slitherlink
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	LITS+
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Domino Loop
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	LITS+
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Domino Loop
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Pentopia
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

The Puzzle Marathon is always my favorite! It is so nice to be able to finish all the puzzles and get credit, and I love the big grids. The puzzles this year were very nice again, though nothing stood out as a particularly hard one .. I would rate most as easy or medium. And so I was mostly frustrated with myself for breaking each of the ESB, Galaxy, Futoshiki, Neighbors, Pentopia (I broke that one about 5 times, but it was one of my favorites nevertheless), and LITS+. Sigh. But a big thank you as always to the puzzles makers!!

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Word Search Sudoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Spiral Galaxy
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Twin Co-Ordinates
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Every single puzzle was excellently constructed, and even more impressively the difficulty seemed well-balanced between all twelve. I also thought that all of the rules changes for this year were for the best. Great job, everyone involved!

Puzzle Marathon for 2016 is over. Submission is no more allowed.

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Word Search Sudoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hidoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Neighbours
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Pentopia
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hidoku
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Word Search Sudoku
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	A bit skewed
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Average
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair

We thought it'd be nice to acknowledge some of the Marathon Solvers. There is some criteria for this list - We didn't consider solvers going more than 2 hours on a single puzzle, because they might have taken a break mid-puzzle. Also, the total accumulated break time in between solving is equal to or less than an hour.