Wow!!! :)
Looking forward to it...

As mentioned in the Guide, there is a Demo available. Everyone should check out the Demo.

For those (there are quite a lot of them) who have already taken the demo, lets know if you face any issues.

Just completed the Demo... It was awesome!!! But couldn't trace a place to check whether my submissions are correct or not. Actual answers were nowhere available.
Rest all, it is just toooooo awesome. Never thought this would be possible on the site!!! ;)

1 query regarding the demo: I think the "Brilliant Colour" puzzle has multiple solutions.

I completely agree with Ritesh.... This is an awesome break from regular sudoku/puzzle contests.... This is better exercise for the brain as it forces you to think on your feet without any paper solving aid.... Amazing set... cant wait to attempt the lot....

Rishi

Thanks Ritesh. Feels nice to see a comment from you after so many months.
I'm glad that you liked the concept.
Fixed the Demo puzzle for BC.

You mean "a score page for Demo"? There will definitely be a Score page for the actual test.

After taking the test, you can see a button "Review Submissions". It does not tell you if you answered correctly, but it tells you what you submitted and in how many seconds.

Chinese translation of rules available at sudokufans.org site

Hey - in Knight Safe
squares "attacked" - does it include squares that knights are already sitting on?


Thanks :)

No.
The question was "How many blanks cells are not attacked by any knight?"

Will change it to "How many unoccupied cells are safe from knights (not attacked by any knight)?" I think this should be clear.

This explanation would be much better :)

Rishi

I just did the Demo Test, everything worked fine.
I would prefer to see in advance if the next puzzle will be a 45 second or a 60 second puzzle. Together with the rules and the example on the left there could be a line telling: 45/60 seconds or 45/60 points.

And then I would rephrase the Kakuro rules into something like: "The following Kakuro may have several solutions but it can be solved in a way that one digit will not be used. What is the unused digit?". The reason for my proposal is that the given Kakuro in the Demo is NOT a standard kakuro since it has multiple solutions!

Great idea, I am looking forward to the test!
Stefan

Interesting concept.

One note: it might be nice to have a letter representing each color shown in the bottom corner of cells in Brilliant Colour so that Colour-blind users can still have a fair chance to compete. I'm not sure if any other puzzles in the test use colour, but it is one consideration you may want to make.

All 45 seconds puzzles will appear first. Then all 60 seconds puzzles.
Exactly which puzzle will appear after which puzzle is specified in the guide (last page)

I realize that "The puzzles will appear in the order in which they appear" should be phrased correctly to reflect that.

We'll decide if we have to change the Demo puzzle or the Instructions.
An update on this is due.
But I assume the puzzle is primarily clear to everyone.

Thanks for bringing it up. We'll modify Brilliant Colour image.

I also should mention that the order of the 25 puzzles is exactly same as the order of examples that you see now.

Just needed a clarity on the rules for the ESB. Does it mean that there are multiple solutions to the image and we need to answer how many solutions are there?? Or am I missing something??

Rishi

That is not the question. There is exactly one solution to this puzzle.

In a valid ESB loop, every alternate turn is marked by a circle. In this puzzle, you have to draw few loops so that each loop satisfies ESB rule.
The question is "Exactly how many loops must be drawn."

Note that it is NOT being asked what is the minimum or what is the maximum number of loops that could be drawn.
Exactly n loops can be drawn so that each of the n loops satisfy ESB rule. You have to find out n.

One more example to help you understand


Click 'Show' to see answer

Thanks for the example... now I understood :)

Rishi

Hi,

Could you give a brief description of what the demo is and how it works... This will help all participants understand it better. Since this is a first time for a screen test, I assume most of us would not be familiar with the usage... Though the demo gives a nice feel of the test, but would appreciate a description for the benefit of all....

Rishi

Since this is the first time we are having a Screen Test, we decided to have a Demo page.
The Demo page works exactly like the actual puzzle test page.
You can login, start the test, puzzles will appear and you can answer.
The most critical part of the Demo page is you can see the 90-seconds review period in action. [ so you can plan how to best use the 90-seconds during the actual test ]
Of course, the demo page has only 5 puzzles and the actual test will have 25 puzzles.

So it will be good for everyone to login and start the test in Demo page. Note that we'll disable to Demo page 24 hours before ST#1 starts.

Irrespective of whether one takes the Demo or not, everyone should check the 25 puzzle types, instructions, examples.
There won't be much time during the test to understand the rules.

Hope that clarifies.

the demo puzzle and example has been changed.
It is now a regular kakuro (with unique solution).

So am I right in seeing that you are penalized for wrong answers, but you have to submit an answer to the puzzle to get to the next one? And the IB says something about being able to go back to puzzles you skipped in the review period... I guess by skipped it means 'intentionally guessed'?

1. You get penalized for wrong answers, but obviously no negative points for not answering a question.
2. After the timer is over, you will automatically be shown the next puzzle (irrespective of whether you have answered the previous one or not)

So, that means, you can't skip a puzzle - you have to wait till 45 (or 60) seconds are over to go to the next puzzle.
So if you decide to skip a puzzle (for whatever reasons), don't select any answer, rather wait for the timer to be over.