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WPF Sudoku Grand Prix — Serbian Round — 20th - 22nd April 2013149 posts • Page 3 of 6 • 1 2 3 4 5 6
@ 2013-04-21 1:20 AM (#10696 - in reply to #10489) (#10696) Top

Mahyar




Posts: 8

Country : Iran

Mahyar posted @ 2013-04-21 1:20 AM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 2:08 AM (#10697 - in reply to #10489) (#10697) Top

distri




Posts: 12

Country : France

distri posted @ 2013-04-21 2:08 AM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? A bit hard
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 3:39 AM (#10698 - in reply to #10489) (#10698) Top

Nilz



Posts: 29
20
Country : United Kingdom

Nilz posted @ 2013-04-21 3:39 AM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? All puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


Really nice test- loved the fact that it had a theme running through some of the puzzles- that was unexpected, so it was a nice touch.
I would've enjoyed the test more if it was about 3 seconds longer, since then I would've submitted the moving digits one (and I'm not exaggerating). But a nice test anyway!
@ 2013-04-21 7:11 AM (#10699 - in reply to #10489) (#10699) Top

munna



Posts: 6

Country : India

munna posted @ 2013-04-21 7:11 AM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? A bit hard
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Too few pages / too small grids


@ 2013-04-21 7:39 AM (#10700 - in reply to #10489) (#10700) Top

Eykir



Posts: 11

Country : United States

Eykir posted @ 2013-04-21 7:39 AM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? A bit hard
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 8:41 AM (#10701 - in reply to #10489) (#10701) Top

tamz29



Posts: 225
10010020
Country : Thailand

tamz29 posted @ 2013-04-21 8:41 AM

The puzzles were excellent.

However, I thought the Shape Sudoku diagrams could be made clearer.
We didn't know if there were 4 pieces or 20 pieces, or how the pieces were meant to layout exactly. The moulding isn't very clear.
A lot of us can infer that the 4 pieces were meant to overlap at the centre but this isn't fair for newcomers unfamiliar with the variant.
Perhaps, an intact giant piece would've done the job.

The same is said with the Renban. Is the top of the A the same group as the rest of the A?
We know that a one-shaded cell in a Renban is redundant, so was it shaded merely to form the A of the ATP theme?

Edited by tamz29 2013-04-21 8:42 AM
@ 2013-04-21 8:56 AM (#10702 - in reply to #10701) (#10702) Top

debmohanty




1000500100100100202020
Country : India

debmohanty posted @ 2013-04-21 8:56 AM

tamz29 - 2013-04-21 8:41 AM

However, I thought the Shape Sudoku diagrams could be made clearer.
We didn't know if there were 4 pieces or 20 pieces, or how the pieces were meant to layout exactly. The moulding isn't very clear.
A lot of us can infer that the 4 pieces were meant to overlap at the centre but this isn't fair for newcomers unfamiliar with the variant.
Perhaps, an intact giant piece would've done the job.

The same is said with the Renban. Is the top of the A the same group as the rest of the A?
We know that a one-shaded cell in a Renban is redundant, so was it shaded merely to form the A of the ATP theme?
I would let Branko / other authors to have final say, but it looks like you missed some rules.
1. Shape Sudoku - It was mentioned in IB that "Shapes partially overlap in competition puzzle."
2. Renban - "Is the top of the A the same group as the rest of the A? " : Yes, it is. Renban Groups can be connected to each other either by sharing edges or corners. (Just like Extra Regions in Extra Region Sudoku)
@ 2013-04-21 11:09 AM (#10703 - in reply to #10701) (#10703) Top

skywalker



Posts: 42
2020
Country : Serbia

skywalker posted @ 2013-04-21 11:09 AM

tamz29 - 2013-04-21 8:41 AM

The puzzles were excellent.

However, I thought the Shape Sudoku diagrams could be made clearer.
We didn't know if there were 4 pieces or 20 pieces, or how the pieces were meant to layout exactly. The moulding isn't very clear.
A lot of us can infer that the 4 pieces were meant to overlap at the centre but this isn't fair for newcomers unfamiliar with the variant.
Perhaps, an intact giant piece would've done the job.

The same is said with the Renban. Is the top of the A the same group as the rest of the A?
We know that a one-shaded cell in a Renban is redundant, so was it shaded merely to form the A of the ATP theme?


Shape: We discussed a lot about this sudoku before competition and we decided to put sentence about overlapping and to hope that players wouldn't miss theme of contest. We wanted to make little surprise with this sudoku, nothing more.

Renban: For this sudoku, I don't have to add anything more. Deb answer is complete.

Branko
@ 2013-04-21 11:56 AM (#10704 - in reply to #10489) (#10704) Top

rajeshk




Posts: 542
5002020
Country : India

rajeshk posted @ 2013-04-21 11:56 AM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? All puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


Loved this test.
@ 2013-04-21 1:25 PM (#10705 - in reply to #10489) (#10705) Top

kishy72



Posts: 419
100100100100
Country : India

kishy72 posted @ 2013-04-21 1:25 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? A bit skewed
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Too many hard puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Way too many puzzles (too little time)
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


An excellent test in continuation with the other Grand prix rounds.All the sudokus which i solved had a very nice hard solving path.
However there are one or 2 things that i wish to bring to the notice of the respected authors.
Points Distribution :
* I dont think the point distribution was fair at all.It was very skewed.It could have been way better.For example,i dont think the quadruple was worth 32 points at all .It was certainly much more than that(atleast 60) compared with how other sudokus are weighed.And the surprise factor in Renban makes it surely deserve much more than just 36 points.By surprise factor i mean how the shaded cells were present extending into other regions.Weighing one sudoku with 157 points and the rest except 2 , not given even half the points is surely not the way to go .
So a person who solves just 2 and sits back and enjoys stands to gain more than a person who has sweated it out and solved 8 or even 9 sudokus.Now Whatever be the difficulty of those 2 sudokus this should NEVER be the case in any test.
Consider this situation.Both A and B represent the same country in the olympics.
A wins 1 Gold medal and 1 silver medal in 2 individual events(does not take part in other events)
B wins 5 silver medals , 3 Bronze medals in 8 individual events.
Now can person A be given more recognition just because he has topped a single event??That seems to be the case here in this test which would reflect on the standings and not give an accurate picture.Mind you i am not trying to say that B should be given more weightage .All i m trying to say is that the balance should not go unfairly down on one side .
Rather it should be more or less in the middle (which could have been done surely by slicing points from the 100 pointer ones and distributing among the rest)
*Time frame :
I know the time frame is only 2 hours which would be convenient for everyone and which has been the case in all the Grand prix rounds so far.But for a test such as this which has a killer worth 157 points,another killer worth 108 points and another one worth more than 100 points,the test should surely be close to 150 mins (atleast).
I was heart broken that i could not enter the solution of the diagonally consecutive inspite of being on the threshold of completing it which surely would not have been the case if i had prevented myself from being a Sherlock Holmes and trying to figure out how the Little killer would proceed (Wasted 10 mins and decided that this was surely not in my reach).
I hope my suggestions are taken in the right perspective.I also hope from the next rounds the point distribution would be better.The above 2 points that i have raised surely dont take away anything from the quality of the sudokus created.The sudokus were simply stunning and stand testimony to the quality of the excellent authors involved.
I really enjoyed the test.
3/3 stars!!!
@ 2013-04-21 2:03 PM (#10706 - in reply to #10489) (#10706) Top

forcolin




Posts: 172
100202020
Country : ITALY

forcolin posted @ 2013-04-21 2:03 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? All puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 3:05 PM (#10707 - in reply to #10489) (#10707) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2013-04-21 3:05 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Way too many puzzles (too little time)
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Too few pages / too small grids


@ 2013-04-21 3:46 PM (#10710 - in reply to #10489) (#10710) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2013-04-21 3:46 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 3:49 PM (#10711 - in reply to #10489) (#10711) Top

janoslaw



Posts: 3

Country : Poland

janoslaw posted @ 2013-04-21 3:49 PM

About 15 minutes to the time limit, I started submitting answers, but I couldn`t send my solutions, because the website blew out. I was trying to refresh the website, restart the browser etc., but the situation was still repeating. I lost all answers, that I wrote out. After few attempts of repairing the malfunction, the time finally ended. I don`t know how can I protest, because I cannot prove anything, what I have just written. What will happen with my results, which currently equals 0?
Jan Mrozowski
@ 2013-04-21 3:53 PM (#10712 - in reply to #10489) (#10712) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2013-04-21 3:53 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Too many hard puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? All puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 5:10 PM (#10713 - in reply to #10489) (#10713) Top

greenhorn



Posts: 164
100202020
Country : Slovakia

greenhorn posted @ 2013-04-21 5:10 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 5:16 PM (#10714 - in reply to #10711) (#10714) Top

Para



Posts: 315
100100100
Country : The Netherlands

Para posted @ 2013-04-21 5:16 PM

janoslaw - 2013-04-21 3:49 PM

About 15 minutes to the time limit, I started submitting answers, but I couldn`t send my solutions, because the website blew out. I was trying to refresh the website, restart the browser etc., but the situation was still repeating. I lost all answers, that I wrote out. After few attempts of repairing the malfunction, the time finally ended. I don`t know how can I protest, because I cannot prove anything, what I have just written. What will happen with my results, which currently equals 0?
Jan Mrozowski


This has happened to me before too. I lost a few minutes then as I had to close my browser and reopen as refreshing fixed nothing.
I would have suggested emailing of PM-ing Deb all your answer keys at the moment it happened, so he could confirm your time stamp and adjust accordingly, but I guess that is now too late. I don't know if Deb would be happy with that, but in my mind that would be the best option next time.
@ 2013-04-21 6:45 PM (#10715 - in reply to #10489) (#10715) Top

Realshaggy



Posts: 69
202020
Country : Germany

Realshaggy posted @ 2013-04-21 6:45 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Very skewed
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 6:55 PM (#10716 - in reply to #10489) (#10716) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2013-04-21 6:55 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? A bit hard
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 7:06 PM (#10717 - in reply to #10489) (#10717) Top

wicktroll



Posts: 16

Country : Hungary

wicktroll posted @ 2013-04-21 7:06 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? All puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 7:21 PM (#10718 - in reply to #10489) (#10718) Top

ingmanc



Posts: 42
2020
Country : ITALY

ingmanc posted @ 2013-04-21 7:21 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? A bit skewed
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles


@ 2013-04-21 7:59 PM (#10719 - in reply to #10489) (#10719) Top

mahoned_91770



Posts: 6

Country : United States

mahoned_91770 posted @ 2013-04-21 7:59 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? A bit skewed
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Too many easy puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? All puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 10:30 PM (#10720 - in reply to #10489) (#10720) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2013-04-21 10:30 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? All puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 10:35 PM (#10721 - in reply to #10489) (#10721) Top

zorko




Posts: 11

Country : Bulgaria

zorko posted @ 2013-04-21 10:35 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent? All puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-04-21 10:38 PM (#10722 - in reply to #10705) (#10722) Top

motris



Posts: 199
10020202020
Country : United States

motris posted @ 2013-04-21 10:38 PM

kishy72 - 2013-04-21 12:25 AM

* I dont think the point distribution was fair at all.It was very skewed.It could have been way better.For example,i dont think the quadruple was worth 32 points at all .It was certainly much more than that(atleast 60) compared with how other sudokus are weighed.And the surprise factor in Renban makes it surely deserve much more than just 36 points.By surprise factor i mean how the shaded cells were present extending into other regions.Weighing one sudoku with 157 points and the rest except 2 , not given even half the points is surely not the way to go .


I think your question should be focused more on the spread of difficulty of the puzzles than on the specific scoring. In other words, the proper constructive spirit of your points are: Should a test have a puzzle that takes five times as long as another? Should it then be scored so that it is worth five times the other?

The first is really the question of test balance. The second is just the organizers determining what is fair. There is a lot of variation in how people view the first question but I don't believe there is much variation with the second. If, in a timed heat, something takes twice as long to do as another task it is most often awarded twice the value without any question. The "points per minute" value is meant to be close to constant.

All test authors make their best attempts to score a test based on the solving data they get from both internal and external test-solvers. While these scores and entry rows are not completely based on my testing, they were definitely influenced by my testing results. So let's just say each puzzle is worth in points about 10x my solving time in minutes. If a puzzle takes me about 3 minutes (quadruple) and another takes me over 15 minutes (Little Killer), then scores of 32 and 157 reflect the spread in the difficulty of those puzzles for a top-level solver. Similarly the 36 point Renban took me close to 3.5 minutes, "surprise" and all. I was not surprised. Perhaps my prior knowledge of tennis and my expectation the Serbian test would use it a lot meant I more quickly grasped that A, T, P made sense as the three regions. Perhaps I'm just good at testing surprise puzzles. The Indian Grand Prix test similarly had complaints about the Even/Odd/Big/Small sudoku. It was not a surprise to me. The score given was pretty reflective of my time and other testers.

Perhaps more testers would help. But having so many solvers want to compete in the Grand Prix means there are few options out there. And recognize that even with a lot of testers, the scoring will reflect how solvers gets through the puzzles on average but cannot possibly represent how you individually will solve the puzzles as you will have your own strengths and weaknesses. If you keep finding that you are spending too much time on under-valued puzzles and never solving the over-valued ones, you are probably taking the wrong approach to these tests and could improve simply by changes in test-taking strategy. Understand, in other words, there is a difference between "over-valued in general" and "over-valued for you".

kishy72 - 2013-04-21 12:25 AM

Consider this situation.Both A and B represent the same country in the olympics.
A wins 1 Gold medal and 1 silver medal in 2 individual events(does not take part in other events)
B wins 5 silver medals , 3 Bronze medals in 8 individual events.
Now can person A be given more recognition just because he has topped a single event??


As a sports fan in addition to a sudoku solver, I can't let this go undiscussed either. Your Olympics analogy seems flawed in that it treats all events as equals. Some competitions involve performing 1 thing for 30 seconds and others involve performing 10 things over 2 days. I do view a gold medal in team basketball quite differently from a gold medal in the 50m butterfly and both of those quite different from a gold medal in the Decathlon. This is why I do not put much credance in the "nation weighting of medals" as there is no real way to equate all medals from quite different competitions. What is essentially different here is we are not comparing the results of an archer with those of a marathon runner.

No, here we are comparing the results of several hundred solvers on a 16 sudoku competition for which they have 2 hours to compete, and the puzzles have varying difficulty indicated in a fair -- albeit impossible to be perfect -- way with variable scoring made known to all solvers in advance.


Edited by motris 2013-04-21 10:48 PM
WPF Sudoku Grand Prix — Serbian Round — 20th - 22nd April 2013149 posts • Page 3 of 6 • 1 2 3 4 5 6
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