Hi, This is my first SM. I have scored a paltry 26 which is basically from solving the low hanging fruits of the 6x6 and then moving to the classic 9x9. This being my first contest, my strategy was to solve simple, score and then move to variants. It worked a bit for me but I basically realized a few things. My question pertains to the most prominent one. How do I improve my speed? How do I get faster on the classic sudokus 9x9 and what are good timings to wrap up the 6x6? (I get practise might be one answer I would get, but apart from that? Should there be a focus on learning more advanced sudoku techniques like wings/kites etc? And/Or just more practise? Is there a forum apart from this to discuss these things? Any groups (telegram/whatsapp) etc?

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

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

Welcome to sudoku solving!
I'm afraid the harsh truth to improving your speed is practise and lots of it.
Speed-solving is about recognising the easy deductions quickly for easy-medium puzzles.
The best solvers should be able to finish SM's 6x6 in about a minute(!) each.
Learning advanced techniques can help you solve harder puzzles but using it during speed-solving is another matter.
With practise, fast solvers would quickly see harder techniques (and employ them quickly) which improves their solving time.
You learn these skills by solving hard puzzles (without guessing) to add patterns to your repertoire.

In a competition, there is a threshold of difficulty where guessing would be quicker than logical solving.
Though, top solvers would only use guessing as a last resort, since they would've nailed the basics and make most of their deductions early on.

Hope this helps!

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

Enjoyable set of sudokus, well balanced and suitable for SM.

Favourites: Arrow 9x9, Thermo 6x6, Arrow 6x6

Thanks Prasanna!

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?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Arrow Sudoku
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

A good set to start the 2020 SM season. I found the Diagonal Sudoku a bit too difficult, while the rest of the set a bit too easy. It was an enjoyable 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?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Arrow 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

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?	Arrow 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?	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 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?	Arrow 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

I am way too slow to ever be a competitive solver. That being said, I enjoyed the few puzzles I had time to solve and will try the rest later.

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

Can i take part in this competition now only?and how?plz help

Yes. You can take part now.

Details here: http://logicmastersindia.com/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?start=1&t...

- You need to go to the contest page.
- Download the Instructions Booklet and Sudoku Booklet.
- Go through the Instructions Booklet and get familiar with sudoku types.
- Once you are ready, click on "Start" button on the test page.
- You will get the password on the screen.
- Copy the password and use it to open the Sudoku booklet pdf.
- Print the booklet, solve and enter the answer key(s).
- Solve and submit as many as possible till the timer on the screen is running (It will run for 90 minutes).
- Check the score on the Results link.
- You can also solve online (There is a link on the top of the contest page).

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

I thought this was a nice set of puzzles, and well graded relative to each other. I always like a set I can finish within the time limit! Would LMI be interested in our mentioning the Mahabharat and perhaps showing a video about one of the puzzles on the Cracking the Cryptic Youtube channel? Mark Goodliffe

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

Congratulations to Jakub Ondrousek, Jan Mrozowski and Seung Jae Kwak for taking the top three places.

Thanks to the 467 participants from 39 countries. Anukul (India) was the first to start the test while Daniel Victor (India) was the last person to start the test. 99 participants completed the set within the allotted time. The median score of the test was 55.

Top 3 for countries with 10+ participants:

India(203): Rohan Rao, Kishore Kumar and Ashish Kumar
Japan(27): Endo Ken, Kota Morinishi and Hideaki Jo
USA(23): William Blatt, Jason Zuffranieri and Jenna Rivet
Italy(21): Vittorio Schiavone, Matteo Testa and Laura Tarchetti
Germany(19): Michael Ley, Robert Vollmert and Martin Merker
France(19): Timothy Doyle, Yannick Meyapin and Philippe Meyer
Poland(15): Jan Mrozowski, Jakub Majewski and Kristian Swiderski
Czech Republic(11): Jakub Ondrousek, Jakub Hrazdira and Pavel Kadlecik
Korea(11): Seungjae Kwak, Hwangrae Lee and Choi Yong Seok
Slovakia(11): Natália Chanová, Marek Kasar and Veronika Kolvekova
UK(11): Tom Collyer, Sam Cappleman-Lynes and Mark Goodlife

Thanks Prasanna Seshadri for the sudokus!

Participants may share feedback on the results page and rate the puzzles on the contest page.