A lookback at past winners of SM contests with Outside or Neighbours variations:

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	2-5-8 Outside Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Outside Sequences Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Thermo Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Couldnt complete but better than SM1. So I am happy. Nice Puzzles.
Thanks Ramesh and Rakesh.
Favourite were Outside Sequence and Thermo high pointers.

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	2-5-8 Outside Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many medium difficult puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Outside Sequences Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many hard puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Renban Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little

Difficulty and points allocation for this competition remains very volatile (and nowhere near this supposed 50/40/10 target!) - with the previous round in mind I was expecting to finish so didn't bother prioritising puzzles to solve. As it was I needed a few extra minutes past 90 to finish the skyscrapers, which is something I might have prioritised if I hadn't started off confident of finishing.

Also, for some meta feedback, the feedback form itself leaves a lot to be desired. For example, I can't initially see too much difference between "many" and "most" puzzles being worth too much or too little, so instead I've interpreted "many" as meaning "some". Either way, there were four puzzles with 11-13 points (Thermo, 2-5-8, Outside Sequences and Skyscrapers) and I definitely did not solve them in roughly the same time as the distribution might imply. Usual health warning amount my mileage varying from the testers duly noted, but you did ask for feedback!

Edited by detuned 2018-03-03 3:50 AM

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Outside Sequences Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Thanks to Ramesh and Rakesh! I found these more difficult than the first two sections, but enjoyed them nonetheless.

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Consecutive Pairs Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many hard puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	2-5-8 Outside Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

A very hard set.The hardest based on my solving experience were Skyscrapers (11) followed by Outside 2-5-8(13).Thermo (12) was not hard but very tricky and I kept breaking it and this alone consumed ~30-35 mins which in turn made me fall short of the set by 2 sudokus. I did really bad and feel terribly disappointed.I enjoyed the test but definitely it could have been better personally and hope to do better in the coming rounds.

Thanks for the hard and excellent sudokus Rakesh and Ramesh.My favourites of the set were 2-5-8 Outside (13) followed by CP (10).

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many hard puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Below Average
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Classic Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth too much or too little

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many hard puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	2-5-8 Outside Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many medium difficult puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Thermo Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Tough but enjoyed thoroughly. kudos to the authors.

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	2-5-8 Outside Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	2-5-8 Outside Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many hard puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Thermo Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Great test...Favourites were the thermo 9*9 and the outside sequence 6*6..really hard challenging test.Answer keys seem to have improved,so thats a plus.
Thank you :)

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	2-5-8 Outside Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

It is mentioned in the Test page that the booklet is of size 8 pages,but the actual booklet is 9 pages.I had kept only few pages in the printer and as a result,the last page was missed out :/.
Please rectify this error as soon as possible.
thanks

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Outside Sequences Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many medium difficult puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Renban Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

I enjoyed the test a lot. I almost missed out on submitting the 9x9 Renban:), I will definitely try harder in the April round.

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many hard puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Consecutive Pairs Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

I look forward to these contests and generally feel satisfied if I manage to complete most of the classics and 2-3 of the variants. This time in SM this has not been the case and so feel quite discouraged. Evidently the level of practice required is very high. This is serious business, no longer a hobby :) !

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many hard puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	2-5-8 Outside Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Too hard for an SM round, which made it a bit less enjoyable.
Sudokus were good, some of the 9x9 ones had narrow break-ins.

Thanks R and R!

What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Thermo Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount