Kaukro is more similar to Kakuro (->Sudokuro) than to Kropki... :bleh:

Fred

I like this mock test where the grids were more distant from classical sudoku or from "standard variants".

It was good experience to deal with other concepts.

I definitely has problem with minesweeper (despite the fact that I was strong to the standard game "minesweeper" when I was young :laugh: ). I begin this grid at least 8 times to achieve it correctly (3 times during the test and each time with mistake).

I also make mistake on the "digital paint" despite the fact that I made the 3 Snyder's grids day before test, and had no time to finish during the test. I solved it after the test and it is a great puzzle, I think.

I like Kropki sudoku, so I found this one too easy and less interesting, but it is nice to have one or 2 easy grids for a test.

skyscrapers was nice, with medium difficulty.

Domino is not the grid I liked so much... but I do it during the test.

Sudokuro was nice, I liked it very much.

Easy as Sudoku was nice too, It make me thought about "odd/even view sudoku", which I like.

Pirate sudoku was nice, I liked it !

I made mastermind at the end of the test, and it missed about 1 minute to submit it...

I've not yet solved Word search sudoku and battleship (battleship are not my cup of tea...)

nice mocktest ! 2 hours would have been more efficient for this set of puzzles, I think.

Fred

Edited by Fred76 2010-03-14 11:40 PM

@ Tejal, Rohan and Fred

Thanks a lot for your feedback. It does mean a lot for the puzzle creators.
And yes, in retrospect I also firmly believe that the test should have been for 2 hours.

Before taking any credit/discredit for the mock test let me thank all those who contributed to making this set of puzzles.
Kshitij created four of the puzzles (Pirate, Skyscraper, Classic and Kropki). I specifically asked him to keep his puzzles easy, because by then I had a fair idea that some of the sudokus that I have created are a little difficult.
These are the first four sudoku puzzles that he has ever created, and they have turned out to be quite good :). The new type Pirate Sudoku also inspired Deb to create 3-4 puzzles of that type, one of which was used in the IB.

Rajesh did a good job with the testing and reaffirmed the need for testers for our mock tests.
He pointed out that the minesweeper that i had created was non-unique, which I duly corrected.
He also asked me to reduce the difficulty of Word Search Sudoku so that it has a decent starting point. Unfortunately I incorporated this update only in the flash format and not in the pdf :(

I had created a couple of sudokus borrowed from ideas in Snyder's blog. His feedback on these puzzles helped me set an appropriate difficulty level, especially for the Battleship puzzle, in fact making the puzzle more interesting then before.
These two were my favorite puzzles of the test, because they had a nice theme to them.
I intended the battleship givens to represent the front view of a battleship, but it ended up looking more like an anchor, which still fits the battleship theme :)
For Digital Paint by numbers I had placed the givens in the shape of alpha and intended the final shaded region was in the same shape, with the intention that the given shape will guide solvers towards the shaded shape.
If you have not had a chance to solve these puzzles during the test, please try them later at leisure.

And I always forget to mention Deb, without whom none of the mock tests are possible.
He had created 3 of the puzzles for the IB, well past his usual sleeping time :)

And he had to make several changes in the flash submission especially to include the character submissions in Word Search, Easy as Sudoku and Minesweeper.

Amit & Kshitij : Thanks for nice Mock test, combination of sudoku with logic puzzles was great idea. (I like the Battleship puzzle most)

Just one remark, my solution of classic sudoku seems OK, but no points are awarded.

You can check on the score page 3 and 8 are swapped. They are highlighted too.

Click on Classic on the lower right pane. Then compare your answer with others. This of course assuming that the classic has only one solution.

Thanks, I see it now..
Only partial answer is visible on the first look as other digits do not fit to the column
So when I made that column wider I am able to see my error.. :laugh:

Puzzles have never been my cup of tea and Im surprised I even managed to solve some of them... :laugh: :laugh:

Overall great puzzles Amit...