UK Puzzle Association

Originally I was only going to post about notation, but then decided to start solving the puzzles as an example. I hadn't read Freddie's interesting posts at that point, so have repeated some of his observations in my own words. I haven't thought about that 4-1-3-5 square logic before, a great start...

I have a fast notation. I use a small ruler, and quickly draw a long line wherever I know an arrow points. Each 'row' can have 0, 1, or 2 lines along it. Initially it's not important to know which direction the line comes from. e.g. let's say there is a 6 and a 1 that can see each other (same 'row')...

it's almost like watching a world cup semifinal!

Nice work Sam! I had a bad start, I'd practised for the big Slitherlink at the end, but after 25 minutes I'd broken it 5 times, printed it twice, and made myself move on to start getting some points elsewhere. During my guessing start I thought I'd proved that the bottom-right cell must be in the lo...

Similar to previous years, Tawan has written a puzzly quiz on his blog.
https://roygbivpuzzles.wordpress.com/20 ... z-2018-19/
A fun diversion if you've got some free time over the New Years period.

Thanks for the recommendation Tom, I'm really enjoying these.

Just found some old conversations between Alan and I, after that contest finished and we were annoyed with the organisers. One hard puzzle they ended up removing from the results. One puzzle they allowed a couple of correct answers, due to different assumptions made by people. And one true optimiser...

I played in 2013. Most puzzles were fun and enjoyable. But the contest ends up decided by the few frustrating ones. A lot were optimizing style, so I remember some ambiguous rules where you're not certain which answer to submit. I also remember poorly created optimizers, where the obvious easy answe...

Thanks Tom, looking forward to teaming up with you, Neil and Emma in November!

Yes, mirrors just refer to wherever the line changes direction. Laser is an old CrocoPuzzle type - if you want to test your understanding of the rules (or just practice) then look through the archive at https://www.croco-puzzle.com/Raetselspass/Raetsel-der-Woche/index.php It's also the main place to...

Thanks Tawan, two great contests.
I was quietly confident in my Scattergories skills for the Hurdles...
Turns out I was completely wrong, and finished down the bottom of the leaderboard!

But the quiz was fun, good for people that enjoy puzzle trivia.

The hunt has started now. It'll go for a few weeks I expect. I'm involved with a puzzle hunt team in Australia who are making some initial progress. The 12 pages can be joined together to make a large 'map'. At the moment I am looking at constructing some French coat of arms, and a list of galaxies ...

I'll help out.

The solution briefly mentioned Fibonacci.
That was referring to the observation that the the number born today equals the number born 2 days ago plus the number born 3 days ago.
So that gives a Fibonacci-style sequence, and from that sequence t18 + t19 + t20 = 200.

It's a poor system. Next time, just click to get the A password and submit nothing... guaranteed zero score?

Alan, I went to a Contests page http://www.ukpuzzles.org/contests.php?contestid=7 and clicked on the link to the puzzle file http://www.ukpuzzles.org/file_download.php?fileid=55&md5=6a53e962e7090267eff997957a4f0590 But got this error message: "Illegal use of $_GET. You must use the request class to ...

I think it depends what they think the rules mean... I'd just ask them.
It's also possible they made a mistake?

I panicked when my favourite "active topics" disappeared, but found it in Quick Links, so am happy again.

Skyscrapers Contest #9 is coming up this weekend.
23 Skyscrapers puzzles in 120 minutes. 5 classics plus 18 variants.
Author = Roland Voigt.

The instruction book can be read at https://logic-masters.de/Wettbewerbe/we ... .php?id=98

Haha, you know they haven't done a good job of selling these leagues to us if everybody is trying to avoid promotion!
You still get to compete in any round you like right?
Come over to the A-side Emma, we have cookies.

According to http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/wpf-gp-puzzle-classes , you started the year in Class B. According to the Rules : Class A participants are those who qualify for at least one of the following conditions: - Finished in the top 10 ranking for the 2014 Puzzle GP - Finished in the top 25 r...

Alan's approach is generally best, although you can't always tell how they break down into 2s or 3s or 5s... Tip 1: If there is a 2 next to a 3 (or a 4-3), then no cloud can cross between them. I draw a thick border through the grid along that line. This can be helpful if there are large clues in th...

Wow, that Round C has twice as many puzzles as Rounds A or B, and has many new variants (compared to 1 in A).
Normally I don't glance at C, but this one feels quite different.

We shall see whether James scores more than the rest of his compatriots put together... I accept your challenge! (actually I expect me vs 4 could be a close battle) The other recent NZ entrant in the GP and UKPC is a work colleague (Ross) of mine that I am encouraging. None of the 'true' NZ WSC/WPC...

Thanks everyone, and congratulations to Adam for a great result.
And thanks to Liane and the 4 authors for an enjoyable and tough contest.
I can't help thinking there is a name missing from the UK list, maybe I missed an earlier comment...