Search found 141 matches
- Sun 21 Jul, 2019 12:38 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2019 USPC
- Replies: 6
- Views: 14913
Re: 2019 USPC
Definitely challenging puzzles this year. It's worth noting that I think the individual puzzles are worth about 5 fewer points each this year, more or less uniformly across the board. I feel like a score of 155 this year is more like a score of 220 or something in previous years -- it just feels bad...
- Thu 02 Feb, 2017 1:09 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2017 Puzzle GP
- Replies: 41
- Views: 85952
Re: 2017 Puzzle GP
A competition like this does have to be pretty strict on correct answer keys. You'll see some leeway occasionally on things like asking for capital letters and getting lowercase, asking for comma delimited answers and getting space-delimited answers etc, but that's about it. My only complaint with t...
- Sat 28 Jan, 2017 4:27 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2017 Puzzle GP
- Replies: 41
- Views: 85952
Re: 2017 Puzzle GP
I do think there should be some sort of display when you log in telling you what puzzle rank you're officially competing as. I scrounged around to find previous year's results and am definitely a B at least to start with, which is about what I figured, but it wasn't easy/transparent. Anyway, the par...
- Sat 18 Jun, 2016 12:51 pm
- Forum: General Puzzle Discussions
- Topic: Narrow cave or tight cave?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 24282
Re: Narrow cave or tight cave?
"Narrow" definitely seems preferable to "tight". I think when this issue first cropped up, "Corridors" was suggested for the narrow cave variant, and that still seems good (though not a direct translation of the German). "Twisty Passages" would be a fun refere...
- Fri 05 Feb, 2016 8:02 pm
- Forum: General Puzzle Discussions
- Topic: GCHQ Christmas puzzle
- Replies: 7
- Views: 24937
Re: GCHQ Christmas puzzle
Can an answer to a puzzle of "this puzzle has two possible answers" be as satisfying as a single answer to a puzzle where you are satisfied that it is correct? Yes, but only rarely, and only if the double solution is particularly clever. The classic example from the New York Times Crosswo...
- Sun 06 Sep, 2015 11:47 am
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2015 USPC and Sudoku Team Qualifying Test
- Replies: 10
- Views: 26344
Re: 2015 USPC and Sudoku Team Qualifying Test
Provisionally about 167, which is respectable but 1-2 puzzles short of what I was hoping for. Incidentally, that's 2 on the STD, not 7, because I just ignored it until I finished the big Masyu-Crossword thing with 3 minutes to spare, and was thinking "Well, I don't really have time to start ano...
- Fri 04 Sep, 2015 8:49 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2015 USPC and Sudoku Team Qualifying Test
- Replies: 10
- Views: 26344
Re: 2015 USPC and Sudoku Team Qualifying Test
Preview instructions are available for the USPC.
A lot from Serkan this year, which sounds promising.
A lot from Serkan this year, which sounds promising.
- Sun 30 Aug, 2015 2:14 pm
- Forum: General Puzzle Discussions
- Topic: Nonogram / Tsunami / Picross help needed
- Replies: 6
- Views: 17686
Re: Nonogram / Tsunami / Picross help needed
My immediate reaction is that you can do a lot to nail down where that "5" in the left column is, based on what has to happen in the second column. For example, if the 5 started in that topmost blank space, the fact that the first entries across go "1, 2, 1, 2, 1" in each of thos...
- Wed 26 Aug, 2015 10:26 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2015 USPC and Sudoku Team Qualifying Test
- Replies: 10
- Views: 26344
2015 USPC and Sudoku Team Qualifying Test
The email went around today. The USPC will be Saturday, Sept 5 and the US Sudoku Team Qualifying Test will be Sunday Sept 6. Both tests are at 1pm EDT The actual website will be updated on 8/31. Once the site is updated, the links will be: USPC: wpc.puzzles.com/uspc2015 Sudoku Test: wpc.puzzles.com/...
- Sat 07 Feb, 2015 11:55 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Links
- Topic: croco-puzzle
- Replies: 696
- Views: 1350249
Re: croco-puzzle
I'm wondering if today's daily puzzle has a broken key?
I can't find anything wrong with my solution, and nobody has officially solved it yet (only up for about an hour, but even for a fairly tricky puzzle I'd expect a handful by now).
I can't find anything wrong with my solution, and nobody has officially solved it yet (only up for about an hour, but even for a fairly tricky puzzle I'd expect a handful by now).
- Sun 07 Dec, 2014 2:50 pm
- Forum: General Puzzle Discussions
- Topic: Difficult Sudoku
- Replies: 5
- Views: 17833
Re: Difficult Sudoku
I'm not one of the really fast ones on this board, but I can get things rolling. 1) Many beginners at Sudoku don't strike a good balance on how much information to notate (putting little numbers in cells to indicate possibilities and so forth). If you notate everything for every cell, it takes forev...
- Mon 04 Aug, 2014 10:23 am
- Forum: Daily Puzzles
- Topic: Any interest in a UK croco-puzzle ladder?
- Replies: 592
- Views: 1207550
Re: Any interest in a UK croco-puzzle ladder?
Yeah, once I figured out what the solution set was, I entered one of the infinitely many valid solutions and called it a night.
But it was sort of fun figuring out exactly what the constraints on the solution were, I guess
But it was sort of fun figuring out exactly what the constraints on the solution were, I guess
- Thu 08 May, 2014 12:03 am
- Forum: Puzzle Links
- Topic: croco-puzzle
- Replies: 696
- Views: 1350249
Re: croco-puzzle
A note for anyone else who had a hard time figuring out the rules for the Navigation Sudoku (which I definitely did): In the example, columns 2 and 6 are highlighted. Column 2 gives the position of all the 2's in the puzzle (so a "4" in column 2 of the first row tells you that the fourth e...
- Wed 07 May, 2014 4:11 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2014 USPC and USSQ
- Replies: 4
- Views: 15309
Re: 2014 USPC and USSQ
The results of the Sudoku test are in, and Jason Zuffranieri (Ziti) won again, narrowly edging out Jonathan Rivet. (They've swapped the title back and forth for the past few years) I was a bit surprised and disappointed at the low turn-out for this year, though. There were only 83 scores posted from...
- Tue 15 Apr, 2014 3:40 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2014 WPF Puzzle Grand Prix
- Replies: 54
- Views: 120080
Re: 2014 WPF Puzzle Grand Prix
One note for those who (like me) have most of their Pyramid experience on Croco-Puzzle: On this test, the shaded rows are the ones which MUST repeat and the white rows are the CAN'T repeat. (Also, the example in the booklet has two solutions, I think...) Definitely worth familiarizing yourself with ...
- Wed 26 Mar, 2014 10:52 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2014 WPF Puzzle Grand Prix
- Replies: 54
- Views: 120080
Re: 2014 WPF Puzzle Grand Prix
So, it must be time for Round 3 of the Puzzle Grand Prix. The first 17 are 'common' types, with 3 variants at the end: Afternoon Skyscrapers, Count Number, and Box of 2 or 3. (I'm curious if anyone has seen any of these 3 previously?) They're unfamiliar to me, although I'm not the most experienced ...
- Fri 14 Mar, 2014 1:02 am
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2014 WPF Sudoku Grand Prix
- Replies: 19
- Views: 39215
Re: 2014 WPF Sudoku Grand Prix
Bump: the 3rd round of Sudoku competition begins in about 10 hours, as I write this.
This is the Swiss round, with puzzles by Fred Stalder (Fred76).
I always enjoy his Sudoku rounds, personally, so I'm looking forward to it.
This is the Swiss round, with puzzles by Fred Stalder (Fred76).
I always enjoy his Sudoku rounds, personally, so I'm looking forward to it.
- Sun 09 Mar, 2014 3:43 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Links
- Topic: croco-puzzle
- Replies: 696
- Views: 1350249
Re: croco-puzzle
Another entry key the English speakers have to be a little careful of for the Arrows puzzle. U = down, not up. I think I took about 15-20 extra seconds entering my key carefully saying "unter/ober" to myself and still nearly messed up. At least "L and R" are the same in both lang...
- Wed 05 Mar, 2014 3:49 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2014 WPF Puzzle Grand Prix
- Replies: 54
- Views: 120080
Re: 2014 WPF Puzzle Grand Prix
I'm pretty sure I'm just terrible at entering the codes for some of these contests. I only had credit for 6/8 puzzles, and I'm pretty sure it was just the answer key. It would help if they had the little "correct/incorrect" feedback you get on many LMI contests, but also the keys were sort...
- Mon 24 Feb, 2014 11:02 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Competitions
- Topic: 2014 WPF Puzzle Grand Prix
- Replies: 54
- Views: 120080
Re: 2014 WPF Puzzle Grand Prix
The Slovakian round is coming up this weekend.
The IB is up.
As with the sudoku competition the other week, it doesn't
look like we're getting reminder emails.
The IB is up.
As with the sudoku competition the other week, it doesn't
look like we're getting reminder emails.
- Wed 12 Feb, 2014 1:47 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Links
- Topic: nikoli.com
- Replies: 23
- Views: 61742
Re: nikoli.com
Hitori is one of those puzzle I want to like more than I actually do. I like the relative simplicity of the rules, and I appreciate the elegant design of a good puzzle. But the signal to noise ratio drives me nuts. Computer-generated Hitori are the worst, but I often end up resenting any time spent ...
- Thu 23 Jan, 2014 6:19 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Links
- Topic: croco-puzzle
- Replies: 696
- Views: 1350249
Re: croco-puzzle
On the question of increased ratings after the change in format, I'm actually not sure, but I don't think it's an influx of less-experienced solvers alone. I mean, I definitely see that if you're the 75th best solver in a day, you get a higher rating when its out of 500 solvers than 300. But the thi...
- Thu 16 Jan, 2014 2:24 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Links
- Topic: croco-puzzle
- Replies: 696
- Views: 1350249
Re: croco-puzzle
With my computer (Firefox, Win7), it wasn't letting me simply add croco-puzzle to the exceptions list for some reason, even though I had dialed down the security on Java to "medium" (the lowest setting, where it claims it will prompt you about unverified Java stuff). On the other hand, in ...
- Wed 04 Dec, 2013 11:39 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Links
- Topic: croco-puzzle
- Replies: 696
- Views: 1350249
Re: croco-puzzle
Berni et al: I like the theme you've got going in the advent calendar puzzles. I feel a little slow on the uptake, but today's expression of the theme was obvious enough that I finally noticed.
- Mon 02 Dec, 2013 4:11 pm
- Forum: Puzzle Links
- Topic: croco-puzzle
- Replies: 696
- Views: 1350249
Re: croco-puzzle
I'm really enjoying the switch over to hand-constructed puzzles over on Croco-Puzzle. The "Twopa" that went up today is a particularly nice example of the sort of thing that couldn't have been done under the old system. The thematic sets are a little like having a good puzzle test spread o...