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Connected Puzzles - 25th - 29th Jan 2019 - Puzzle Ramayan & IPC Qualifier76 posts • Page 3 of 4 • 1 2 3 4
@ 2019-01-28 2:46 AM (#26521 - in reply to #26467) (#26521) Top

detuned



Posts: 152
1002020
Country : United Kingdom

detuned posted @ 2019-01-28 2:46 AM

 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Too few pages / too small grids


@ 2019-01-28 2:52 AM (#26522 - in reply to #26467) (#26522) Top

greenhorn



Posts: 164
100202020
Country : Slovakia

greenhorn posted @ 2019-01-28 2:52 AM

 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Too many easy puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Fillomino-Norinori Relay
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Too few pages / too small grids


@ 2019-01-28 5:10 AM (#26523 - in reply to #26467) (#26523) Top

bob



Posts: 59
2020
Country : United States

bob posted @ 2019-01-28 5:10 AM

 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? Average
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Answer keys could have been better
 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 booklet formatting and printing? Just right


Too complicated and frustrating for a timed test. Spent half my time on Maxi Loop 11 and 12 (which was favorite type out of the ones I tried) and checked and rechecked and rechecked and rechecked my answers. I either don't understand the rules or I don't understand the solution codes. Unsatisfying to say the least. Even after more time I still don't know what's wrong. I might be ready for a new hobby.
@ 2019-01-28 9:17 AM (#26525 - in reply to #26467) (#26525) Top

Administrator



2000100050020
Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2019-01-28 9:17 AM

prezensky: Your solution was received 16 seconds after time was over. We have similar cases with many other participants too. And there are still other participants who do not submit once time is over, even if they finished just in time. So, to be fair to everyone, this submisson (1-Twopa) will not be awarded points.
@ 2019-01-28 9:19 AM (#26526 - in reply to #26467) (#26526) Top

Administrator



2000100050020
Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2019-01-28 9:19 AM

Kind attention for Solvers


Please read the Instruction Booklet. Page 2 clearly mentions "Answer keys must always be entered from left to right and top to bottom"

@ 2019-01-28 9:35 AM (#26527 - in reply to #26467) (#26527) Top

amitsowani




Posts: 349
1001001002020
Country : India

amitsowani posted @ 2019-01-28 9:35 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? Linked Maxi Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 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 booklet formatting and printing? I have a different complaint


Overall the test went very smoothly. But I got tripped on the "slighly" different rul of Twopa and wasted 15 mins on the first one and had to come back and solve it later.

Answer Keys were mostly perfect but the arrows pointing from the right/ bottom were confusing and I was not sure whether to enter left to right or right to left.

The size of the instructions impacted the puzzle grid size in a few cases. One possibility could have been to ask participants to refer to the instruction booklet
@ 2019-01-28 9:32 PM (#26528 - in reply to #26467) (#26528) Top

randomperson1729



Posts: 10

Country : United States

randomperson1729 posted @ 2019-01-28 9:32 PM

Hello! First-time participant here!
How do we fill out those questionnaires for feedback on the puzzles? I can't seem to find any links to them.
@ 2019-01-29 4:08 AM (#26529 - in reply to #26467) (#26529) Top

harmeet



Posts: 85
20202020
Country : India

harmeet posted @ 2019-01-29 4:08 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? Linked Maxi Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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 booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2019-01-29 9:50 AM (#26530 - in reply to #26467) (#26530) Top

kishy72



Posts: 417
100100100100
Country : India

kishy72 posted @ 2019-01-29 9:50 AM

 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? Average
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Linked Skyscrapers-Easy as 123
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


I felt the contest was on the harder side.Being a new round in PR, I would have preferred somewhat easier puzzles.I did my first submission at 26 mins having started with the first puzzle of the contest (Twopa) which went nowhere no matter what I did and had to drop and move on.Point distribution was certainly off for that puzzle and for Fillomino & Star Battle as well wherein I spent a considerable time.
Regarding the Twopa, my opinion is that the added shaded cell made the solve much more complex as now you have to determine which pattern fits exactly where.I would have preferred a loose start wherein you can shade some cells and shade the opposite in the other and then figure out.
I enjoyed solving Sky/Easy as ABC and Maxi loop puzzles (which were accurate in depicting the difficulty level by means of points).
Overall an okay contest where I couldn't enjoy puzzles much because of the difficulty(was depressing at the start itself).
@ 2019-01-29 10:57 AM (#26531 - in reply to #26467) (#26531) Top

swaroop2011




Posts: 668
500100202020
Country : India

swaroop2011 posted @ 2019-01-29 10:57 AM

 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? Linked Maxi Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


Nice concept and excellent Puzzles.
As others have already mentioned, answer keys pointing right to left were confusing.
The difficulty was definitely on higher side compared to previous tests. The first twopa and also star battle one were definitely worth more points.
I indeed ended up making mistake in Twopa and needed 1 extra minute to finish all puzzles.
Nonetheless very fun contest.
Thanks Prasanna and LMI.
@ 2019-01-30 4:11 AM (#26532 - in reply to #26467) (#26532) Top

GaS



Posts: 24
20
Country : ITALY

GaS posted @ 2019-01-30 4:11 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? Fairly Nice
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Twopa
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Answer keys could have been better
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Too few pages / too small grids


@ 2019-01-30 2:07 PM (#26533 - in reply to #26467) (#26533) Top

kiwijam



Posts: 181
10020202020
Country : New Zealand

kiwijam posted @ 2019-01-30 2:07 PM

 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? Linked Maxi Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Answer keys could have been better
 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 booklet formatting and printing? Just right


Puzzles were great!
I also had issues with the answer key arrows pointing the wrong way.

Also in the Twopas, this new shaded cell approach is a problem for answer entering. We have to guess early anyway, and solve on both grids like a normal Twopa, ignoring the shaded cell until we work out which grid it is part of. In my case my solutions ended up on the wrong side, and then I got confused (needed 5 submissions, my own fault). At least you could have made A and C the same row?
@ 2019-01-30 4:56 PM (#26534 - in reply to #26528) (#26534) Top

Administrator



2000100050020
Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2019-01-30 4:56 PM

randomperson1729 - 2019-01-28 9:32 PM

Hello! First-time participant here!
How do we fill out those questionnaires for feedback on the puzzles? I can't seem to find any links to them.

There will be a link from the score page.
@ 2019-01-30 5:57 PM (#26535 - in reply to #26467) (#26535) Top

vopani



Posts: 739
50010010020
Country : India

vopani posted @ 2019-01-30 5:57 PM

 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? Linked Maxi Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Too few pages / too small grids


Clean set of puzzles. Enjoyed it.

While the puzzle difficulty is good for a PR, just the new theme might make it a bit hard and unusual for the newcomers.

Felt the StarBattle was undervalued and the shaded cell in Twopa was just inconvenient. Some of the grids were quite small, I don't think competitors will have a problem printing more pages for larger grids.

Favourite puzzles: Maxi Loop, Minesweeper-Nanro, Fillomino-NoriNori
Thanks Prasanna!

@ 2019-01-30 11:52 PM (#26536 - in reply to #26467) (#26536) Top

SN Sam



Posts: 2

Country : India

SN Sam posted @ 2019-01-30 11:52 PM

 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? Fillomino-Star Battle Relay
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Answer keys could have been better
 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 booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2019-01-31 12:13 AM (#26537 - in reply to #26467) (#26537) Top

Elyot



Posts: 4

Country : Canada

Elyot posted @ 2019-01-31 12:13 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? Shaded Cave-Kurotto Mastermind
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


A lot of the puzzles seemed very suscepible to guessing, e.g. fillomino-starbattle or some parts of the skyscrapers, because you could finish 95% of the first puzzle, and then guess instead of relying on the second puzzle to disambiguate between two final bits of the solution. Not sure how I feel about this.
@ 2019-01-31 12:31 AM (#26538 - in reply to #26467) (#26538) Top

Grizix



Posts: 30
20
Country : France

Grizix posted @ 2019-01-31 12:31 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? Fairly Nice
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Linked Skyscrapers-Easy as 123
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2019-01-31 9:10 AM (#26539 - in reply to #26467) (#26539) Top

Administrator



2000100050020
Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2019-01-31 9:10 AM

Congratulations to Endo Ken, Hideaki Jo and Nikola Zivanovic for taking the top three places.

Amongst Indian participants, Congratulations to Rohan Rao, Amit Sowani and Swaroop Guggilam for taking the top 3 places. Rohan and Amit were the only ones to complete all puzzles.

Of the 188 participants, 28 each were from USA and Japan, and 21 from India. Ganghyun Lee (South Korea) was the first to start the test while Akansha Kansal (India) was the last person to start the test. 40 participants completed the set within the allotted time. The median score of the test was 64.

Thanks Prasanna Seshadri for the puzzles!

Thanks to the participants who have shared feedback so far. Participants may share feedback on the results page and rate the puzzles on the contest page.

A general suggestion to the participants is to READ the Instructions Booklet (especially the answer keys) before attempting the test. Backward arrows were very much there in the IB (and the answers keys were indeed left to right or top to bottom) and there were no questions or concerns raised before the test. Points have still been awarded (penalties have been removed) for all participants who entered the answer keys in the other direction.
@ 2019-02-03 1:14 PM (#26541 - in reply to #26467) (#26541) Top

chaotic_iak




Posts: 241
1001002020
Country : Indonesia

chaotic_iak posted @ 2019-02-03 1:14 PM

I see this point has not been raised. I recommend for future Twopa puzzles (by all authors), put down a better instruction: "for each clue, at least one cell around it is different (shaded in one puzzle and unshaded in the other)", instead of the very vague "must behave slightly differently".
@ 2019-02-06 9:44 PM (#26545 - in reply to #26467) (#26545) Top

vjain9



Posts: 44
2020
Country : India

vjain9 posted @ 2019-02-06 9:44 PM

Link to the solution booklet please ?
@ 2019-02-19 8:20 AM (#26649 - in reply to #26467) (#26649) Top

randomperson1729



Posts: 10

Country : United States

randomperson1729 posted @ 2019-02-19 8:20 AM

 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? Linked Minesweeper-Nanro
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2019-02-21 6:40 PM (#26663 - in reply to #26467) (#26663) Top

prasanna16391



Posts: 1762
1000500100100202020
Country : India

prasanna16391 posted @ 2019-02-21 6:40 PM

Might be a bit late to add my thoughts here but I thought a week in that it might be better bringing it up again when PR comes back around. Thank you to everyone for all your feedback. I think the general tone has been somewhere between liking the new theme and the consideration that it might be too hard for PR.

The reason I am bringing this up is it is relevant to how we see PR in general. I think that it is meant to be a gateway contest series for Indian beginners to prepare for the Indian Championship and eventually the World Championship. This means it needs to give solvers a level of basic preparation for higher levels while also providing approachable levels of difficulty.

There are exceptions but I think overall the results show that the difficulty was definitely at an approachable level for beginners. This does not necessarily mean beginners should finish the contest, but that everyone should have at least some puzzles to realistically attempt in their contest period and I think that was achieved here.

So I'd like to add beyond that that at the higher levels, there aren't always rounds you are comfortable with. I personally think experimenting for 1-2 rounds during the online segment is a very good thing to do to showcase the different things that can be done at those levels - if anything it is a very safe space to learn new things because solvers can discard a round or two in terms of results. I think for someone getting into puzzle contests, 4-5 rounds of optimum performance and 1-2 rounds of learning new things is a good balance to have.

This is all to say that in my opinion at least we should continue having 1-2 rounds that push the envelope a bit - someone suggested Liar puzzles, which sounds like a cool idea to do as well for instance :)

Once again, thanks to everyone for the feedback. All the best for the remainder of the series!
@ 2019-02-21 7:01 PM (#26664 - in reply to #26467) (#26664) Top

Administrator



2000100050020
Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2019-02-21 7:01 PM

Connected Puzzles - 25th - 29th Jan 2019 - Puzzle Ramayan & IPC Qualifier76 posts • Page 3 of 4 • 1 2 3 4
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