Thread - LMI Spring Sudoku Test (26th/27th March)

Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2011-03-18 10:52 AM

The online example image (SunDoku) is now marked with Arrows.

@ 2011-03-18 4:14 PM (#3780 - in reply to #3746) (#3780) Top

Posts: 337

Country : Switzerland

Fred76 posted @ 2011-03-18 4:14 PM

rakesh_rai - 2011-03-16 10:03 AM

Administrator - 2011-03-16 9:50 AM

If the same Sudoku is submitted using both modes and only one of them is correct, it will be left to organizers to decide if points are to be awarded.

I think no points should be awarded in such cases as, otherwise, this system can be (mis)used to make answer guesses.

I think the best decision is to take into account the last submission, whether by one or the other mode. A player can solve on paper, submit, and then realize there is a mistake. Perhaps he choose to solve again with interface, and submit again. Or the reverse situation. Of course, if the first submission is correct and the second one not, it's a pity for the player...
So please, don't submit a false code if you had already submit the right one

Fred

@ 2011-03-18 4:29 PM (#3781 - in reply to #3780) (#3781) Top

Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2011-03-18 4:29 PM

Fred76 - 2011-03-18 4:14 PM

I think the best decision is to take into account the last submission, whether by one or the other mode. A player can solve on paper, submit, and then realize there is a mistake. Perhaps he choose to solve again with interface, and submit again. Or the reverse situation. Of course, if the first submission is correct and the second one not, it's a pity for the player...

Fred

That seems ideal. We'll stick to this rule (at least for this test, and revisit in the next test if required)

@ 2011-03-19 9:36 PM (#3786 - in reply to #3781) (#3786) Top

Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2011-03-19 9:36 PM

Instructions in Chinese available in SudokuFans forum - http://www.sudokufans.org.cn/forums/index.php?showtopic=247

@ 2011-03-19 9:42 PM (#3787 - in reply to #3786) (#3787) Top

debmohanty

Country : India

debmohanty posted @ 2011-03-19 9:42 PM

After reading the translation at sudokufans forum, I'm suddenly having a question about Jigsaw Wordoku.
Will the word (or letters to be used) given? Or players have to be find it as part of solving.
In the example it is clear since U is repeated in one column.

@ 2011-03-19 11:14 PM (#3788 - in reply to #3740) (#3788) Top

Posts: 148

Country : France

Ours brun posted @ 2011-03-19 11:14 PM

This is a good question.

Deb, I send you an e-mail about it in a few minutes.

Bastien

@ 2011-03-22 8:51 PM (#3809 - in reply to #3740) (#3809) Top

Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2011-03-22 8:51 PM

We are making an experiment - this test starts 6 hours earlier than regular LMI tests.
The scheduled end time is same as regular LMI tests timings.

Please check the exact timings in the submission page

@ 2011-03-22 10:15 PM (#3810 - in reply to #3787) (#3810) Top

Posts: 337

Country : Switzerland

Fred76 posted @ 2011-03-22 10:15 PM

debmohanty - 2011-03-19 9:42 PM

After reading the translation at sudokufans forum, I'm suddenly having a question about Jigsaw Wordoku.
Will the word (or letters to be used) given? Or players have to be find it as part of solving.
In the example it is clear since U is repeated in one column.

We finally take the decision to write the word (whose letters are used in the grid) in the instructions of the puzzle. So if you want to save a few seconds, read the instructions of that puzzle before solving !

Fred

@ 2011-03-25 8:57 AM (#3825 - in reply to #3740) (#3825) Top

Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2011-03-25 8:57 AM

Password protected booklet uploaded. It has 12 pages, each page has one Sudoku. [ There is no cover page ]

As mentioned earlier, the test starts 6 hours earlier than regular LMI test start time.

@ 2011-03-25 9:48 PM (#3826 - in reply to #3825) (#3826) Top

Nikola

Posts: 103

Country : Serbia

Nikola posted @ 2011-03-25 9:48 PM

Yes, Fred, it is a challenge, but I think I succeeded!

I tried everything and it's really impossible to catch the last cell (R1C1) with the decreasing ray.

I expect a lot of suns and flowers this weekend.

Nikola

@ 2011-03-26 12:15 AM (#3827 - in reply to #3826) (#3827) Top

Posts: 337

Country : Switzerland

Fred76 posted @ 2011-03-26 12:15 AM

Nikola - 2011-03-25 9:48 PM

Yes, Fred, it is a challenge, but I think I succeeded!

I tried everything and it's really impossible to catch the last cell (R1C1) with the decreasing ray.

I expect a lot of suns and flowers this weekend.

Nikola

Nice, Nikola ! Good Idea to shorten a Ray to achieve this. I think it's the only way, but I'm not mathematician, so I do not want to do a strict proof

Good luck for the tournament !

Good luck to all and may the best win!

Fred

@ 2011-03-26 4:21 AM (#3828 - in reply to #3827) (#3828) Top

yureklis

Posts: 183

Country : Turkey

yureklis posted @ 2011-03-26 4:21 AM

Thank you very much for very nice test! Normally I cannot solve sudoku very quickly, but i tried to do my best :) I broke some puzzles, and i couldnt fix them, especially i am very sad about "mixed", i had almost finished, but i hadnt enough time for it :) In any way, i like very much, and i must say that "Killer 0-8" was amazing!

Thank you very much again,

Serkan

@ 2011-03-26 4:36 AM (#3829 - in reply to #3828) (#3829) Top

Posts: 337

Country : Switzerland

Fred76 posted @ 2011-03-26 4:36 AM

yureklis - 2011-03-26 4:21 AM

Thank you very much for very nice test! Normally I cannot solve sudoku very quickly, but i tried to do my best :) I broke some puzzles, and i couldnt fix them, especially i am very sad about "mixed", i had almost finished, but i hadnt enough time for it :) In any way, i like very much, and i must say that "Killer 0-8" was amazing!

Thank you very much again,

Serkan

Thank you, Serkan. I'm sure your comment will reassure Bastien, who was not very satisfied by the killer 0-8 (he's the author) and wanted to remove it from the test. Fortunately we managed to make him change his mind

Fred

@ 2011-03-26 3:02 PM (#3830 - in reply to #3740) (#3830) Top

manikodi

Posts: 8

Country : India

manikodi posted @ 2011-03-26 3:02 PM

What is the password for the puzzle booklet? I am not able to find it in the site.

@ 2011-03-26 3:05 PM (#3831 - in reply to #3830) (#3831) Top

Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2011-03-26 3:05 PM

manikodi - 2011-03-26 3:02 PM

What is the password for the puzzle booklet? I am not able to find it in the site.

You have to login at the submission page, click on "Start Spring"
After that the password will be shown (in red color)
You can open the pdf using the password OR you can solve online

You've to submit within 120 minutes after you "Start Spring"

@ 2011-03-26 4:59 PM (#3832 - in reply to #3740) (#3832) Top

rakesh_rai

Posts: 774

Country : India

rakesh_rai posted @ 2011-03-26 4:59 PM

Good selection of puzzles - the variations were eminently enjoyable. Thanks to all the authors for this test.

@ 2011-03-26 6:56 PM (#3833 - in reply to #3828) (#3833) Top

Posts: 148

Country : France

Ours brun posted @ 2011-03-26 6:56 PM

yureklis - 2011-03-26 12:21 AM

In any way, i like very much, and i must say that "Killer 0-8" was amazing!

Fred76 - 2011-03-26 12:36 AM

Thank you, Serkan. I'm sure your comment will reassure Bastien, who was not very satisfied by the killer 0-8 (he's the author) and wanted to remove it from the test. Fortunately we managed to make him change his mind

Fred

This puzzle is a whole story by itself, so I will keep quiet till the test is over, but reading the word "amazing" from Serkan is for sure a huge satisfaction and reassurance.

Thanks ! (and indeed, thanks to the team for having encouraged me to keep this puzzle)

@ 2011-03-26 9:14 PM (#3835 - in reply to #3740) (#3835) Top

vopani

Posts: 739

Country : India

vopani posted @ 2011-03-26 9:14 PM

I dont like tests that are too short. I generally prefer longer tests.
I dont like tests with puzzles that are too complex or very difficult to understand and implement.
I dont like tests with puzzles that are difficult to solve and need a lot of guesswork.

Spring test is just the type of test that I love. A little lengthy, beautiful sudoku variations, some new, some standard variants, some tweaked variants, absolutely fun-guaranteed test. There are some things I want to tell, but I have to control myself till the test is over :-)
And a silly stupid mistake cost me Double Sum's points. Been very erroneous in the last few tests :(

But, great work by the team!

@ 2011-03-26 9:51 PM (#3836 - in reply to #3740) (#3836) Top

Posts: 148

Country : France

Ours brun posted @ 2011-03-26 9:51 PM

Thanks Rakesh and Rohan. We tried to make this test as fun as possible, and your comments tend to confirm that we did achieve our goal.

By the way, Rohan, I totally agree with the three points you exposed, so it is quite reassuring to see that, according to you, the test didn't fall in one of these traps. Looking forward to have some more detailed impressions from you (of course, even bad ones, if there are).

@ 2011-03-26 10:26 PM (#3837 - in reply to #3836) (#3837) Top

motris

Posts: 199

Country : United States

motris posted @ 2011-03-26 10:26 PM

Really fun test with some great puzzles. Lots of creativity with great theming and a few phenomenal variations. My only possible complaint is that the dark green is a hard color to write on/read but it was still nice to see so many different ways to welcome Spring.

The new answer submission system was also a great improvement, so thumbs up all around.

@ 2011-03-27 1:13 AM (#3838 - in reply to #3827) (#3838) Top

detuned

Posts: 152

Country : United Kingdom

detuned posted @ 2011-03-27 1:13 AM

Fred76 - 2011-03-25 7:15 PM

Nikola - 2011-03-25 9:48 PM

Yes, Fred, it is a challenge, but I think I succeeded!

I tried everything and it's really impossible to catch the last cell (R1C1) with the decreasing ray.

I expect a lot of suns and flowers this weekend.

Nikola

Nice, Nikola ! Good Idea to shorten a Ray to achieve this. I think it's the only way, but I'm not mathematician, so I do not want to do a strict proof

Good luck for the tournament !

Good luck to all and may the best win!

Fred

I'm sort of a mathematician, and I think I proved it (albeit via brute force). At least with the sun in the middle 2x2 cells anyway...otherwise I think it's relatively easy

Look forward to taking this test after dinner!

@ 2011-03-27 2:06 AM (#3839 - in reply to #3838) (#3839) Top

Posts: 337

Country : Switzerland

Fred76 posted @ 2011-03-27 2:06 AM

detuned - 2011-03-27 1:13 AM

At least with the sun in the middle 2x2 cells anyway.

Yes, it's implied by the fact that a ray of one-cell length is not really relevant !

@ 2011-03-27 2:49 AM (#3841 - in reply to #3740) (#3841) Top

WaterlooMathie

Posts: 10

Country : Canada

WaterlooMathie posted @ 2011-03-27 2:49 AM

Some of the puzzles were very well done... others such as the Jigsaw Wordoku are a pain in the ass when you are solving it with a keyboard. I didn't like the double sum sudoku either which isn't the kind of puzzle that's easy to do online with all of the ifs and thens involved with solving it. I didn't like that it could appear to be right until you got to the end and reached a contradiction, and using the letters on the sides made it unnecessarily confusing, when numbers on the side would have been sufficient.

Again, I think the puzzles should not just be designed for people who solve them on paper, but also for those who solve them on the site and don't use photoshop or other picture making programs to help you make enough notes to make it solvable.

@ 2011-03-27 3:05 AM (#3842 - in reply to #3841) (#3842) Top

Posts: 337

Country : Switzerland

Fred76 posted @ 2011-03-27 3:05 AM

WaterlooMathie - 2011-03-27 2:49 AM

Some of the puzzles were very well done... others such as the Jigsaw Wordoku are a pain in the ass when you are solving it with a keyboard. I didn't like the double sum sudoku either which isn't the kind of puzzle that's easy to do online with all of the ifs and thens involved with solving it. I didn't like that it could appear to be right until you got to the end and reached a contradiction, and using the letters on the sides made it unnecessarily confusing, when numbers on the side would have been sufficient.

Again, I think the puzzles should not just be designed for people who solve them on paper, but also for those who solve them on the site and don't use photoshop or other picture making programs to help you make enough notes to make it solvable.

David, we take note of these remarks. Even if we knew from the beginning that the test is both for online and paper solvers (we are familiar with the site, I played some tests with the interface), we may have a bit forgotten this constraint when creating the puzzles, concentrating only on the spring theme and some interface limitations deb talked us about.
We didn't thought about the fact that it's not very convenient to solve online a grid with letter inside, for example.

We hope that, however, you enjoy the other puzzles, on which you demonstrate you are one of the best player over the world.

Fred

@ 2011-03-27 3:24 AM (#3843 - in reply to #3841) (#3843) Top