Serkan has collected some practice materials from earlier IPSTs





Attachments
----------------
Di_PRACTICE.pdf (166KB - 51 downloads)

Just one question.

8. Dioxides
Can the molecules lie diagonally or are all connections orthogonally?

All moleculues/dioxides puzzles i have seen had orthogonally connected atoms.I assume the same here.

Here is the Differences puzzle from 2007 Internet Puzzle Solvers Test - Thanks Riad for sharing.





Attachments
----------------
Differences.png (40KB - 10 downloads)

I remember from the old time that Osmium is one of the few elements having a possible oxydation state +8 therefore forming the tetraoxyde OsO4. So my first impression was that the puzzle is wrong. But I have consulted the literature and found that the dioxide is also possible at a lower oxydation state, so the puzzle is chemically correct.

I have a question about Dikuro. The instructions say that "no digits can repeat in a sum". but in the example posted by Serkan there are some blank boxes in which no sum is indicated. Can digits repeat in a row or in a column if no digit is show at the beginning ?

The format is slightly changed, and the blank boxes with no sum are replaced by "?" (also seen in the example booklet). Digits will not repeat if there is a "?" instead of a sum.

EDIT : Further clarification on Dikuro : Even at the top of the column (or left of the row) where there is no "?" or no digit (also seen in practice pdf), digits can not repeat.
Also, It will be obvious from the contest puzzle that "?" can represent 1 digit or 2 digits.

The molecules can not be connected diagonally, they have to be joined orthogonally (as in the example).

great work serkan!!was desperate to see a diamond puzzle question which has all the cards from 2 to 10 and u have posted one ..good work admin!..will be of immense help if model puzzles like these are posted before any monthly puzzle test

Well it depends on availability of the types. If they are already available, whoever is aware of it will surely link to them (like Bram did to Naoki Inaba's site in the last puzzle test). Also in the last puzzle test I made a practice puzzle or two, and so did some other authors like Gorogoro (owner of Puzzle Graffiti blog). But its not always possible, since its pretty time consuming to figure out an unfamiliar puzzle type enough to create something of it.

Thanks.

This is a restricted thread. As you have seen during Killer Shootout :

Comments posted in the thread after the test started can only be viewed by players who have finished the test. If you are not logged in to forum or if you have not finished the test, you will see first few characters of the post.

The purpose is to encourage players to freely post comments while the test is running.

I think this is my worst performance of the year. At least for 7 puzzles I reached contradictions, and then solved them after time and realized how stupid my errors were. I liked the Yajilin a lot, but not competitively, because you never know when you miss one black cell somewhere or other, and you always have that feeling some clue might not be satisfied with the added diagonal constraint to look at. Dikuro, Digits Rotation, Disposition were among my favorites too.

Thanks for the test Riad.

got the value of the horizontal cards in the diamond puzzle as 2 3 5 7 and 10 and i placed the cards in such a way that the conditions in the question (borders dont have common segments and all diamonds should be used)got sastisfied but my answer seems to be wrong as i m not awarded points for that puzzle ..what is the error in my solution? .....i can post a pic of mine if needed?!

@kishy72, Check my PM.
If you still think your answer is correct, upload your solution.

yup indeed. i have gone through it many times,,not able to spot the error..so kindly go through it and point me my error...i have shaded the borders extra dark for clarity.

the pic is 349kb ..it says attachments should be less than 100kb..how do i post it ??

Send me over - logicmasteradmin@gmail.com

thnks will mail u in a sec

Hi. We looked into your solution. See the intersection of 8 card and 5 card according to your labeling and make note of all diamonds used. There are 2 diamonds in there that are not used by either 8 or 5. Thats one mistake. I guess there are others. Remember all diamonds must be used by at least one card.

hi..i have understood the question incorrectly.i misinterpreted 'all given diamonds should be used' as something else....like i thought that each of the diamonds have to be present in atleast one card and the position of the diamonds should match that in the card..took me some time to realise this after i went through your reply.......now got it.!thnks a ton for going through it and explaining me my mistake

I made so many errors, I can hardly read some of my answers! Silly brain. Very 'dense' puzzle types, these will be great to do over a longer time period.
Thanks Riad, I hope you will continue to make the week-long tests that you are famous for too. I really look forward to those. Maybe LMI could host one?

Similar sentiments as Stefano's here

Certainly there are many takers for Riad's week-long contests and LMI would be happy to host one of those.

Poor playing means poor score... Not that I did that many mistakes, but on about every puzzle I had the feeling of being twice too slow. I needed as much time on the Dikuro as on the Diayajilin despite the fact that I had to correct a mistake on this last one. I stared at a half-filled Diversion for nearly 10' without doing or even trying anything, and finally solved it in less than a minute... just after the end of the test. And why exactly didn't I try the Diversion without borders although I felt confident on this type ?

Anyway, my feeling about the test is that there were some very nice puzzles (amongst the ones I solved, Diayajilin and Dikuro in particular were great), but that several types are amongst the ones I prefer to see on a "one week test" rather than on a timed event (notably Diamonds, Digits rotation or Divergence). On the other hand, given the coming of WPC, it could prove useful to try ourselves at some unusual types of puzzles under the threat of the timer...

Thanks for the test Riad.