Walkthrough for the Cipher example:
-- From the top left A, you can determine that A is at most 2.
-- From the pair of As in the third column, you know A is at least 2. So A = 2. All of the given As can be finished easily.
-- From the bottom right D, you know D is at most 2. Since A is already 2, we have D = 1.
-- R5C4 is adjacent to completed 1 and 2 polyominoes, so it is at least 3. Hence it is C (whatever value that is).
-- Both B and C is at least 3 since we already have 1 or 2. So the Cs in R4-5C4 must extend up to R3C4 and connect to the C on R3C3. The B on R2C2 also extends down and traps the four Cs. Hence C = 4.
-- From the top right corner, we know B is at most 4. 1,2,4 are all taken, so B = 3.
-- The rest of the puzzle finishes like a simple classic would.

mathgrant has posted several full-size Cipher Fillominoes on his blog already, so you might consider doing some of them for practice on full-size ones, not to mention the Cipher in the preview series that will be posted later.

Preview series part 2 - Odd Even and Greater Than

Okay, I might be the only one, but I didn't understand what you meant with enter the units digits per square until I saw the answer keys for the practise puzzles. I think you might want to clarify that a little, because it isn't explained anywhere in the booklet and the practise puzzles don't have multi-digit numbers. I haven't ever heard this term before to mean the last digit of a number. Maybe it's some mathematical term, but as I'm not an English native speaker or done any mathematics after highschool, it's not something I have ever come across.

Sorry about that. Would it help to refer to it as the last digit as well? The edited text would read "Enter the units digit (last digit) of each square's number..."

Preview series part 3 of 4 - Cipher and Sum

Today's preview series looks difficult...I haven't solved yet....I am telling just based on the looks.

Even the Greater Than yesterday looked Zooish, but it was an interesting solve.

Edited by rakesh_rai 2011-06-02 7:47 PM

Preview series part 4 of 4 - Shikaku and Star

Instructions in Chinese is available here - http://www.sudokufans.org.cn/forums/index.php?showtopic=265

Only at the classic fillomino you have given the explanation of the answer entry. Namely, that only the unit digits (=last digits) of each square's content has to be entered.

Is this specification of the answer entry valid for all puzzles? Or do you want to imply that only the classic fillomino can have numbers greater than 9? I don't believe so but I better ask...

For Cipher Fillomino the numbers can be greater than 9 also, I assume. But the numbers 2 and 12 are denoted by different letters (even when both numbers are given by a 2 at the answer entry). Correct?

Actually for checking the answer the letter denoting the 2 and the letter denoting the 12 should be interpreted the same. Otherwise it is "unfair": If the correct entry would be ABBB (A=2, B=12) for some row/column, then a competitor typing 2222 would be awarded points while a competitor typing AAAB wouldn't.

Have fun, thanks for the test,
Stefan

In the Cipher variation, is it possible that there will be additional areas of a size not represented by a letter?

I am not sure that I will be able to compete this weekend as I am in Dallas and haven't found an internet cafe yet.

Re: euklid
The answer entry for Classic is intended to apply for all puzzles.

For Cipher, it is true that a 2 and a 12 would be denoted by a different letter but have the same last digit. So your answer would look a bit different if you entered letters than if you entered units digits. This is okay.

I do not consider it unfair that AAAB would not be accepted if it is wrong. If you want the advantages of being able to entering an answer that can't distinguish between 2 or 12, you have to enter the numbers. That the letters could be entered at all was a concession by us in the first place.


Re: David McNeill
It would cause problems for entering answers by letters if hidden polyominoes whose size is not equal to any of the givens were allowed. I will go ahead and say that it won't happen, and that knowing that almost certainly won't help you solve any of the actual test's puzzles.

Edited by MellowMelon 2011-06-05 5:22 AM

I would have just suggested an example in the instruction booklet would have suffised: (e.g. If a square says 15 or 25, you enter a 5). Don't think anything more would be necessary.

I think you mean that a 2 and a 12 would be denoted by different letters. But what do I know? I'm only your co-author. :)

Edited by mathgrant 2011-06-03 10:48 PM

Puzzle booklet is uploaded. It has 9 pages. Each page has 2 puzzles. There is no cover page / points table.

All the answer keys are simple and consistent this time. So we don't expect much manual overrides, but if anyone feels they didn't get points because of a formatting problem, they should post here or send a message to Grant.

While posting here, please don't post the answer, fully or partially - just the puzzle id is enough.

Alright, finished the test a little while ago with a score of 8/18 correct. Not a terrible performance, but of course I hope to improve in the future.

As for the puzzles, I'll leave specific comments to after everyone has competed, but the ones I solved were Classic 1-3, Easy Shikaku, Easy Even-Odd, Easy and Hard Cipher (Hard Cipher was quite good) and Easy Sum. I'm looking forward to doing the rest though, including the Hard Star Fillomino, which looks to be worth every one of those 20 points.

Thanks for the test Grant and Palmer. One question though: will you eventually say who authored which puzzles? I want to see if my guesses as to which was which are accurate.

Hi, I've made a really stupid and costly numpad-style mistake. I'm not sure whether you can do a "manual override" on such thing :)

PS. It's funny how nikoli made me to dislike several puzzle types. I never really thought that fillomino can be so entertaining/interesting, especially since in general I dislike puzzles with numbers/digits.

Yep, we figured it was a Numpad typo. You should already have those (hard-earned) points.

hey i think in the test the shape filimino is wrong...please check the top one

ok srry i dont no then.
thank u.

hey i got it just did silly mistake ..

Ok - I'm deleting your original post. Players may get confused.

That was fun. Sadly my sloppy handwriting cost me 7 points on the shikaku fillomino. Misread one of the digits. Obviously didn't think that digit could go there as it clashes with a given.

Great Test. Many puzzles that weren't super hard. I did enter my answer for the easy Sum Fillomino on the greater-than answer key (they're on the same answer page) Check for me?

Personal frustration on being 1 second slower than desired in typing the last answer. Oh well. This happens.

It's hard to rate this test. Normally I use an internal scale that starts at 5-6 (or lower) for my least favorite puzzles, up to 10 for my favorite. While that would work within everything here, it would not do justice to this test relative to others. I don't have any least favorite puzzles here - nothing that solved in an inelegant or unfriendly way. All I saw were quality puzzles and a lot of really creative designs.

In a few cases I think I could pass the Pepsi challenge and ID the designer, but even with these guesses I have both Grant and Palmer to thank for my favorite puzzles. A superstar team with an excellent test. Thanks.