Hi friends
Happy to see near to 400participants.
Yes, this year the level of difficulty of this Standard round is harder compare to past years.
Since the rounds are reduced to 4 and to accommodate maximum varients, admn already hinted it in the introduction page of this year contest.
Most of the solvers feel Thermo6x6 is on harder side. There is place holder technique and a Xwing to eliminate 3 from r3c3 is the breaking point of this puzzle.
Thanks Joo. M. Y and Kishore for published a video on Thermo 9x9 and Consecutive pairs 9x9 respectively.
Congratulations to the solvers reached top 3 position.
Thanks to everyone who are all actively participated in this contest.
Thanks to LMI for giving me an opportunity to author this round.
Kumaresan R
Author SM R1
Logicmastersindia

%5BQUOTE%5Dprasanna16391+%2D+2022%2D03%2D05++12%3A40+PM%0D%0A%0D%0A%5BQUOTE%5Dkishy72+%2D+2022%2D02%2D28++7%3A21+PM%0D%0A%0D%0AI+have+mixed+feelings+about+the+difficulty++and+thought+that+it+would+be+wise+to+see+how+further+rounds+of+SM+play+out+this+year+before+putting+forth+my+thoughts%2E%2E%0D%0AThanks+Kumaresan%2E+Favourites+are+Palindrome+%289x9%29+and+Quadruple%289x9%29%0D%0A%0D%0AThere%27s+one+thing+I%27d+like+to+pre%2Demptively+put+in+your+mind%2C+and+other+top+Indian+solvers%2E+This+is+a+bit+of+an+expansion+on+the+introduction+page+text%2E+Try+not+to+think+of+yourself+and+your+level+of+solver%2E+A+lot+of+times+in+the+past+years+I+was+seeing+top+Indian+solvers+say+%22too+hard+for+SM%22+or+%22too+hard+for+PR%22%2C+and+I+didn%27t+completely+understand+who+they+are+speaking+for%2E+%0D%0A%0D%0AIf+you+are+a+beginner+solver%2C+or+even+someone+who+isn%27t+what+can+be+considered+a+%22regular+Indian+team+member%22+or+someone+aspiring+to+be+that%2C+I+am+very+willing+to+listen+to+feedback+on+%22how+many+easy+puzzles+were+there+that+could+occupy+your+time+for+90+minutes+without+you+needing+to+face+something+that+is+beyond+you%22%2E+That%27s+what+I+want+for+that+tier+of+solvers%2E+For+instance%2C+I%27ve+received+some+feedback+that+some+of+the+variant+6x6s+were+undervalued+and+not+that+easy%2C+and+I%27ll+take+that+into+consideration+for+the+next+rounds%2E+%0D%0A%0D%0ABut+if+you+are+a+%22regular+Indian+team+member%22%2C+in+my+mind+you+should+be+welcoming+tough+Sudokus%2Fpuzzles%2C+you+should+be+welcoming+a+challenge+where+you+aren%27t+finishing+a+contest+and+have+to+choose+what+to+do%2C+or+are+barely+finishing+and+need+to+be+efficient+%2D+simply+because+that+is+what+will+more+accurately+test+you+to+prepare+for+a+WSC+or+WPC%2E+This+is+also+open+for+discussion+but+personally+I+think+that+is+how+top+solvers+%28and+those+aspiring+to+be+on+the+Indian+team%29+should+be+approaching+contests%2E+%0D%0A%0D%0AOf+course+you+can+still+talk+about+how+you+think+it+was+for+beginners%2C+my+point+is+that+shouldn%27t+be+your+primary+focus%2C+and+also+that+I%27d+like+beginners+to+engage+and+speak+for+themselves%2E%5B%2FQUOTE%5D%0D%0A%0D%0AI+do+enjoy+tougher+challenges+and+to+be+very+candid+after+all+these+years%2C+sudokus+which+offer+some+resistance+in+the+solve+path+seem+to+be+more+interesting+than+easier+ones+on+a+personal+level%2E+When+I+made+that+observation%2C+I+was+thinking+about+the+difficulty+this+year+vis%2D%C3%A0%2Dvis+previous+years+of+SM+which+seemed+to+hit+that+right+balance+of+difficulty+so+to+speak%2E+Having+said+that%2C+I+did+enjoy+R1+of+SM+this+year+not+one+bit+less+than+other+years+and+looking+forward+to+coming+rounds+%F0%9F%8C%88+%21

"Most of the solvers feel Thermo6x6 is on harder side. There is place holder technique and a Xwing to eliminate 3 from r3c3 is the breaking point of this puzzle."

Can someone do a quick video explaining how this logic works? My big gap in improving in sudoku solving is lack of ability to spot X/Y/XY wings, Swordfish, etc, so actually seeing a video on how this works would be great, as I, too, sadly had to bifurcate in column 3 after staring at the puzzle with a friend for an hour and it was not satisfying in the least, despite making a reasonable start (placing 5612 in last column, and subsequently 16 in 1st column and 1 in 2nd column).

Notwithstanding the above, the puzzle contest was overall excellent - really enjoyed the palindrome and especially the quadruple sudokus; I think quadruple, thermo and double variants are among my most favourite sudoku variants.

Thankyou Kumaresan R for a fantastic set of puzzles, and I look forward to more Sudoku Penpa puzzle contests in the future! :)

Edited by chocchip37 2022-03-13 8:59 AM

You can find a lot of videos explaining these techniques here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCen_KUSfhiNvdO42FZtg81A/playlists also includes some advanced techniques.

Edited by swaroop2011 2022-03-13 9:25 AM

how+to+participate+in+sudoku+mahabharat%3F%0D%0A%F0%9F%A4%94

Step 1 - Go here and note the schedule - https://logicmastersindia.com/SM/2022sm.asp
Step 2 - During the active contest periods just go to the respective links and participate. Read our FAQs for more details on participating. General and Online Solving

You can also try out our past Sudoku Mahabharat contests here to get some practice. The most recent ones can also be participated in unofficially instead of just downloading the content.