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Administrator
   
Country : India | |
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Administrator
Country : India | Points Table
The points table shall be updated on or before 8th April 2021.
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Timjamiller
Posts: 54
Country : United States | Regarding Tapa Hamle, the rules say that "each number indicates the length of its move". In particular, there is a 111 clue that moves 1 space. I take this to mean that we use the visible numbers, and not their sums. What would the rule be if there was a 12 clue, say, or are those disallowed for this puzzle? |
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A Carton Mutant
Posts: 33
Country : Turkey | Hello Tim, good question! Each number in a multi-number starting cell moves independently from one another but in the example all the 1s moved up, making it look like the whole cell just shifted up. I can confirm there are starting cells similar to 1-2 and each number in those will move separately in the four directions (each with its own value in length). We might need to create a new example reflecting that. |
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Timjamiller
Posts: 54
Country : United States | Oh, my goodness. I'm very glad that I asked that question then--I would have been quite confused had I seen that without this clarification. Thank you! |
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kiwijam
Posts: 187
Country : New Zealand | kiwijam posted @ 2021-04-08 1:17 PM Perhaps Tapa (Balance) could have a different name, because there was already a Tapa Balance in TVC XI with different rules? |
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EctoPlasma
Posts: 23
Country : Japan | Just to clarify; Tapa Hamle that has appeared in TVC 2 and 13 seems to be different from this "Tapa (Hamle)" in that two clued cells in the resulting grid can share an edge. This looks a little confusing, am I reading the rules correctly? |
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yureklis
Posts: 183
Country : Turkey | kiwijam - 2021-04-08 1:17 PM
Perhaps Tapa (Balance) could have a different name, because there was already a Tapa Balance in TVC XI with different rules?
Yes I know, I'll change that one as something like Tapa (Scale ) or something. I've started to remake the general variation file, and it seems it'll take time, but at the end we'll have a better version of it.
Edited by yureklis 2021-04-08 8:20 PM
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yureklis
Posts: 183
Country : Turkey | EctoPlasma - 2021-04-08 8:09 PM
Just to clarify; Tapa Hamle that has appeared in TVC 2 and 13 seems to be different from this "Tapa (Hamle)" in that two clued cells in the resulting grid can share an edge. This looks a little confusing, am I reading the rules correctly?
Yes, in this version, new clues created by moving can touch each other from the edge. |
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Administrator
Country : India | |
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Administrator
Country : India | Important points
1. There shall be no instant grading in this test.
2. There shall be no online solving interface (like penpa) provided for this test.
3. The score page shall be made available later.
4. If the length of shaded cells in any answer key is more than 9, you need to enter the complete value, not just the unit digit.
5. There shall be 11 pages in the Puzzle Booklet, including a points table on Page 1.
6. Participants can submit answers any number of times. The last submission shall be considered for scoring.
7. There shall be no separate notification on submitting answers. There will be no claim bonus button either. So, if you think you have submitted all answers correctly, the bonus will be calculated based on the last submission time.
8. The timer will show the full 80 minutes. But there shall be penalties if answers are submitted after 75 minutes.
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A Carton Mutant
Posts: 33
Country : Turkey | A Carton Mutant - 2021-04-05 8:25 PM
Hello Tim, good question! Each number in a multi-number starting cell moves independently from one another but in the example all the 1s moved up, making it look like the whole cell just shifted up. I can confirm there are starting cells similar to 1-2 and each number in those will move separately in the four directions (each with its own value in length). We might need to create a new example reflecting that.
Sharing a small example I made, just in case: Attachments ----------------  HamleExample.jpeg (29KB - 10 downloads) |
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mstang
Posts: 74
Country : United States | mstang posted @ 2021-04-09 8:47 PM I don't understand why there are 5 extra minutes in which "there shall be penalties." What is the point of that? Is it still worth it to submit (correct) answers during that time? |
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Administrator
Country : India | Puzzle booklet
The password protected puzzle booklet is available for download and has 11 pages.
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rakesh_rai
Posts: 774
Country : India | mstang - 2021-04-09 8:47 PM
I don't understand why there are 5 extra minutes in which "there shall be penalties." What is the point of that? Is it still worth it to submit (correct) answers during that time?
Yes. If you complete the 122 point puzzle in the 77th minute, you will submit it. However if you solve a 22 point puzzle in the 80th minute, it may not be worth it.
The objective is to provide an opportunity to submit puzzles which are close to completion, even after the "normal" 75 minutes. |
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ghirsch
Posts: 102
Country : United States | ghirsch posted @ 2021-04-09 8:59 PM How large is the penalty? It's unclear to me how I would decide whether or not to submit. I suppose it's late to ask this now, but alternatively could there be an additional rule that "If you submit again in the extra minutes and your score goes down, your previous submission will be used."? |
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Administrator
Country : India | Penalty is minimal: 5 points per minute |
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samp
Posts: 2
| samp posted @ 2021-04-09 10:15 PM Hi,
Is there any website where we can practice these kind of Tapa variations? Or maybe tutorial videos that share common tips and tricks for the variations?
It would be very helpful for a beginner like me.
Thanks,
Nikhil |
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3strikerz
Posts: 8
Country : South Korea | Even after completing the test, I'm not exactly sure what the definition of a 'line' is in the Tapa(Palindrome) set.
How was I supposed to interpret the weird X in the middle and the line with branches on the top left and bottom right? |
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rob
Posts: 170
Country : Germany | rob posted @ 2021-04-10 2:20 PM 3strikerz - 2021-04-10 9:56 AM
Even after completing the test, I'm not exactly sure what the definition of a 'line' is in the Tapa(Palindrome) set.
How was I supposed to interpret the weird X in the middle and the line with branches on the top left and bottom right?
Judging by how the puzzle solves, it appears the correct interpretation is to treat it as "Tapa (Galaxies )", i.e., take the whole connected gray shape, point symmetric around its center, and require shaded/unshaded to satisfy that symmetry, too. (Alternatively, you could regard the shapes as being composed of several lines that share a center. )
Definitely agree that this needs specification, though. It would be entirely valid to e.g. ask every end-to-end line to be a palindrome (which is a stronger condition ). |
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Administrator
Country : India | Score page
The score page is now available.
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Administrator
Country : India | Contest Extension
TVC XXI is extended by 24 hours and shall be open till Thursday 11:59 PM IST (15th April) - since there was some delay in the start of the contest.
(Participants must start the test before 11:59 PM on 15th April.)
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rob
Posts: 170
Country : Germany | rob posted @ 2021-04-15 4:17 PM Thanks for the contest! So good to have TVC back. Some great puzzles in there (once I could solve them at a relaxed pace), I particularly enjoyed the Balance Tapa.
As for the contest as such, I struggled a lot, would never have expected to come out reasonably high up in the standings (I even lost the last 15 minutes to failing to finish the high-pointer Hamle). I didn't have a single solve that wasn't mostly driven by intuition/guessing/uniqueness.
I think it's fine to have contests with puzzles that are this difficult (and there's folks who can enjoy that more than I can), but I believe that you'll get more solvers appreciating solving paths, and fewer frustrated solvers in general, if you tone down the difficulty slightly (or even a lot...). I imagine this contest would have been quite disheartening for inexperienced solvers. |
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greenhorn
Posts: 164
Country : Slovakia | I agree with Rob. I am a fan of the TVC and always found it very interesting and innovative, but this round was way beyond the limit, so I give it up with mixed feelings. After the contest, I realized that at least the last three puzzles have a great logical path, and I appreciated this moderate difficulty with no need to guess and bifurcate. Anyway, thanks for the contest!
rob - 2021-04-15 4:17 PM
Thanks for the contest! So good to have TVC back. Some great puzzles in there (once I could solve them at a relaxed pace), I particularly enjoyed the Balance Tapa.
As for the contest as such, I struggled a lot, would never have expected to come out reasonably high up in the standings (I even lost the last 15 minutes to failing to finish the high-pointer Hamle). I didn't have a single solve that wasn't mostly driven by intuition/guessing/uniqueness.
I think it's fine to have contests with puzzles that are this difficult (and there's folks who can enjoy that more than I can), but I believe that you'll get more solvers appreciating solving paths, and fewer frustrated solvers in general, if you tone down the difficulty slightly (or even a lot...). I imagine this contest would have been quite disheartening for inexperienced solvers. |
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mstang
Posts: 74
Country : United States | mstang posted @ 2021-04-16 12:31 AM I also agree -- this round was brutally tough. I still found it enjoyable, but I was sad to not be able to even look at most of the puzzles. |
@ 2021-04-04 10:30 PM (#29065 - in reply to #29064) (#29065) Top