When I began to construct New Style Crossword I had a nice point. There was only two words (ÇILEKE$ - VAZIH) with first and last letter appearing only once. So there were only two places to fit these words, after that solving process was going smoothly. I designed it based on this point. But then I remembered answer key format, I mentioned to write 3 unused words in the IB. So the starting point which I planned was not useful anymore because of asking 3 unused words for submission. So I changed some words, I tried to push some logic; but it didn't go well. Because I constructed all grid to consider ÇILEKE$-VAZIH fact. At the end, this one was hard puzzle, and it needed more searching than logic. One of the testers solved this puzzle in 15 minutes, the other in 22 minutes. So it seemed to me nearly 16-18 minutes puzzle.

About Clueless Scrabble, actually there was a lovely idea. There are 16 words, and 3 of them would not be used, so I tried to fit 13 words in the grid. If a solver writes possibilities of placement for each row and column, it would appear that 6 words should be placed in columns; 7 words should be placed in rows.

Edited by yureklis 2012-08-22 4:16 PM

That's how I solved it - after the test, unfortunately. I did not look at it during the test itself since I am not that experienced with word puzzles and preferred to concentrate on other things, but it was probably a mistake.

Overall, the test was very good. Nurikabe loops were nice, especially the use of the "10" clue in the big puzzle. I am glad of what you did with "my" puzzle. Sudoku builder is not something I am fond of but both were good enough to make me forget it. Double loop was excellent, I really had a great time solving it. Not that hard once you figured out a few things. I liked Spiral battleships too but solved (after the test) the second one more intuitively than purely logically. New style crossword is one of the two puzzles I haven't cracked yet (not even tried, in fact) so nothing to say about it yet. Calculations were good; I found them easy but calculation is usually one of my strong points, so no surprise.
I must say that I liked somewhat less the "Skyscrapers rising" sheet. Not that the puzzles were bad of course, but some useless clues made me find them a bit less satisfying to solve than other puzzles. First Signage was fairly easy, and the second one very interesting but again I relied much on intuition to crack it (which was efficient, since my intuitions proved to be all correct). Too bad I didn't try it during the test.
Chained ships combined two of the puzzle types I am the most uncomfortable with, so I confess I didn't even look at the sheet. Since that I solved the first one but have made no progress on the second.
Finally, RH factors were again nice puzzles, although quite error-prone; I am very glad I could solve both without mistake.

Thank you Serkan!

I didn't have much to time to prepare for this test, but after reading the IB I thought there were enough interesting puzzles that I felt comfortable with to keep me occupied for two hours. My 'most wanted' list consisted of the Nurikabe loops, the skyscrapers and the sudokus. My 'try after that' list contained the calculations and the linked battleships. That added up to around 40% of points total, more than I solve usually. The nurikabe loops went well. I stumbled too long on the second sudoku, but after I realised (much too late) that all regions had to consist of 2 areas of size 3 and 1 of size 2, it went quick. The area top left provides much info on this point. On the right side I made not enough progress. Skyscrapers went quick as well, only made a mistake in the hardest one, so that cost me some time. There was even enough time to do three puzzles of the 'try after that' list too.

Meanwhile I have solved the word puzzles too. I like them a lot, but not in speed solving. They are lovely to solve for leisure, in the garden in the sun. Also the spiral battleships and arrow puzzles were great, they scared me a bit before the test, but they can be done with logical steps in good steady progress.

Thanks for the test once again. It gives me new inspiration for future puzzles, but that's the case with most tests here at LMI!

Almost forgot to mention that Serkan had also agreed to 1-year subscription of Akil Oyunlari magazine for best Indian player. Congrats Rakesh for the top rank, and hope you will enjoy the puzzles in Akil Oyunlari as much as everyone else does.

Thanks Serkan for the test and the prizes.

Thanks Serkan and Deb.