Branko, Deb -

Thanks very much for the puzzles, very nice set!

Dave

Dave, all thanks to Branko.
Hope it was useful practice for tomorrow's championship.

Deb

Mock18 score is out.
There are couple of problems -
1. The time bonus should be 5 instead of 10
2. The ranking is not correct
will fix that tomorrow.

Nice puzzles.

Found the relay really tough, lost lot of time there.

Thanks for the mock. Really good grids. Unfortunately I made a mistake which made me lose 53 pts + time bonus (something like 29 minutes).

As Caudmont remarked, it seems that it was a little problem in the XV grid. We think that it misses a V between 1 and 4 in the first row. Is that correct?

Fred

You are right. I see now.
This error was also in files for Serbian Sudoku Championship and no one noticed that before (participants, test solvers, me...).
I apologize to all that had problem with this puzzle.

Branko

I hope that the error in the XV has not affected the solving of any of the participants.
The error would have almost gone unnoticed, because the 1,4 combination is achieved at the very end of the solving process when everyone stops looking for X, V clues.

To avoid such errors we generally create the images for puzzles like XV, Kropki, Consecutive sudoku programatically using EPS files which Deb has created.
We have to just feed in the solution to such puzzles and it creates the images automatically removing the possibility of manual errors.

If anyone is interested to know more please drop in a mail to Deb or me.

Solution booklet is uploaded in mock18 under 'Downloads' tab

Good to see so many participants giving their feedback which is a clear indication that this was a great mock test :)

This was the most enjoyable mock test for me of the mock test season so far. Apart from the minor glitch with the Sudoku XV, which luckily/unluckily almost went unnoticed, this was the most efficiently organised test, mainly because the entire setup (instructions, puzzles, images, xmls) were in place a week before the event.

The test had a good range of puzzle difficulties, with some difficult ones in the end.
I was solving Neighbours + N for the first time and really liked this type. Liked the nonconsecutive and the the alphabet sudokus too.
Killer sudoku is my favourite type so was very happy to see 2 puzzles of that type :)

Branko had perfectly estimated the time required for the puzzles by the top solvers as proven by cpickerel, by finishing it within 2 hours.
The concept of 1.5X also worked pretty well with more number of solvers ending up finishing the mock test. The feedback and the results suggest that this system works, but the system still depends on the ability of the creator/ tester to accurately determine the time for the test.

Some final comments from me:
1. Relay round was exactly the same as it was on Serbian Champ. Time for that round was 45 minutes. Two solvers finished in 40 and 42 minutes.
2. From the final round (16 puzzles) I took 10 puzzles for Mix. In the Champ no one finished all puzzles in 2 hours (best solvers not solved windoku and neighbours).
For this mock I expected 40 + 80 minutes for best solvers.
Thanks to Deb&Amit for this opportunity and I hope that I'll be able to repeat something like this next year.

Best regards from Serbia. Wait to see some of you in Philadelphia.

Branko

Hi Branko,

Thanks for the great set of puzzles... really enjoyed solving them.... Yes we will definitely meet in Philadelphia.

Rishi