I'd like to thank everyone for taking part in this contest. I hope you enjoyed it and that the instructionless aspect wasn't too frustrating. I'm not sure why the time bonuses haven't been applied yet, but it won't change the top 3 finishers. So, congratulations to Seungjae, Hideaki and Takuya for making the podium. And congratulations to the other 26 who finished all the puzzles.

From a setter's point of view, Sudoku Deja Vu was a really enjoyable challenge. The classic puzzle in the instruction booklet had been sitting in my files for about a year. When the idea of a whole contest based on the Deja Vu concept occurred to me, I had no idea how much time I would end up spending on it. I knew that some of the Deja Vu constraints would probably require diagonal or anti-knight constraints in the early puzzles. I was thrilled to discover that a diagonal puzzle with just perimeter givens was possible. It looks as though the corresponding Deja Vu puzzle was one of the hardest to crack. Maybe the diagonal lines caused confusion. I don't know. The anti-knight took quite a bit of time and many failed attempts. I have never been a fan of no four in a grow puzzles until now. I really enjoyed how they worked and I think the NFIG puzzle with its cloned trimino constraint was my favourite in the contest. I finalised the instruction booklet after the contest had been scheduled and am just a little bit sad that the NFIG example therein emerged too late to feature in the contest itself.

Amazing contest, great job! Thank you, David!

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?	Deja Vu 2
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Great overall idea with well constructed puzzles. As usual, not enough time--I only had time to do exactly one of the deja vu puzzles. Maybe have more basic time so more people could finish with higher bonuses to differentiate the faster solvers?

I still don't see the constraint for Classic 1. Could I have a hint?

Also, is this round rated, and if so, when will the ratings be updated?

Multiplication


Yes. Ratings will be updated soon.

The time bonuses were applied and the scoreboard for this test was updated some time back. You can check the final scores at http://logicmastersindia.com/lmitests/?test=M201810S