Any interest in a UK croco-puzzle ladder?

[PuzzlerNickG]

Whilst my performance last week was mostly woeful, I would like the record to show that I lost 8:2 to detuned and not 10:0 as shown above.

If only there were more Arukone and Sternenhimmel.

[dickoon]

Here are the results of last week's fixtures on the croco-puzzle ladder, courtesy as ever of Alan's page.

drsteve 7 oenomel 5 after extra time
afcwarren 6 erika 4
rodders 7 detuned 3
PuzzleScot 9 dickoon 1

Congratulations to our winners! Tight at the top again. Next week's matches are:

drsteve - afcwarren
oenomel - rodders
erika - PuzzleScot
detuned - puzzlemad

Waiting list: Dataman, dickoon

Errors and exceptions excepted. (Like last week, ahem.) Byes are available; please give as much notice as possible. If anyone on the waiting list wants to drop out, that's fine. Feel free to concede a match, or all your future matches. New players are welcome and I shall change the length of the ladder if the waiting list reaches four or zero.

[detuned]

Sorry, should have posted here earlier, I won't be solving any puzzles during Lent - although I fully intend to return to the ladder afterwards!

[PuzzlerNickG]

I'm not going to be able to compete next week so I have to cede my match. (Or, I have no objection to dickoon leap-frogging me into the last ladder match.)

I'm also going to miss out on several days of Classic Tapa at LMI.

I'll be back the following week.

[dickoon]

Here are the results of last week's fixtures on the croco-puzzle ladder, courtesy as ever of Alan's page.

drsteve 8 afcwarren 2
oenomel 4 rodders 6
erika 6 PuzzleScot 3
detuned 0 puzzlemad 10

Congratulations to our winners! Here are next week's matches:

drsteve - rodders
afcwarren - erika
oenomel - puzzlemad
PuzzleScot - dickoon

Waiting list: Dataman (skipped at his request), (detuned set to return after Easter)

Errors and exceptions excepted. Byes are available; please give as much notice as possible. If anyone on the waiting list wants to drop out, that's fine. Feel free to concede a match, or all your future matches. New players are welcome and I shall change the length of the ladder if the waiting list reaches four or zero.

[dickoon]

The PuzzleScot - dickoon match is going into extra time tomorrow and if drsteve does not beat rodders on the U-Bahn puzzle then that one will have to go into extra time as well. I really enjoyed this week's croco-puzzles, being just about exactly the right length for my tastes, though there were a couple that I rather blew in practice...

[dickoon]

Here are the results of last week's fixtures on the croco-puzzle ladder, courtesy as ever of Alan's page.

drsteve 6 rodders 4
afcwarren 7 erika 2
oenomel 8 puzzlemad 2
PuzzleScot 7 dickoon 5 after extra time

Congratulations to our winners! Here are next week's matches:

drsteve - afcwarren
rodders - oenomel
erika - PuzzleScot
puzzlemad - Dataman

Waiting list: dickoon, (detuned set to return after Easter)

Errors and exceptions excepted. Byes are available; please give as much notice as possible. If anyone on the waiting list wants to drop out, that's fine. Feel free to concede a match, or all your future matches. New players are welcome and I shall change the length of the ladder if the waiting list reaches four or zero.

[PuzzleScot]

Very close game Chris! Phew!

Did you get my email regarding setting up the week's matches?

[kiwijam]

Phew, finally made it into the 1st of the Dan levels. Actually surprised I got this far - I was averaging 1900 (Tagesrating) before joining this ladder, but then with regular practise I'm up to around 2250 now. There are some puzzle types which I just can't crack, and some that I'm a bit slower than average using the computer interface, so not expecting I can squeeze much more out, but I'm happy.
Now trying to practise with pencil and paper more, and looking forward to the Croco-tournament this weekend.

[PuzzleScot]

Phew, finally made it into the 1st of the Dan levels.

Well done! <kneel>I'm well aware I shall never reach such lofty heights.</kneel>

[PuzzleScot]

Well, I don't think it's giving anything away by saying today's puzzles are truly awful. I've known quicker contests!

[dickoon]

Here are the results of last week's fixtures on the croco-puzzle ladder, courtesy as ever of Alan's page.

drsteve 4 afcwarren 6
rodders 6 oenomel 6 but rodders wins on lesser total time
erika 5 PuzzleScot 4 and one score-draw
puzzlemad 6 Dataman 4

Congratulations to our winners after what might have been our closest week yet! Steve's long championship run comes to a conclusion, and a hearty well done to Warren - one of the original six entrants - for working his way up from the waiting list to the championship. Here are next week's matches:

afcwarren - rodders
drsteve - erika
oenomel - puzzlemad
PuzzleScot - dickoon

Waiting list: Dataman, (detuned set to return after Easter)

Errors and exceptions excepted. Byes are available; please give as much notice as possible. If anyone on the waiting list wants to drop out, that's fine. Feel free to concede a match, or all your future matches. New players are welcome and I shall change the length of the ladder if the waiting list reaches four or zero.

(Alan, I'll have a go with the applet tomorrow; thanks very much!)

[PuzzlerNickG]

puzzlemad 6 Dataman 4

Congratulations to our winners after what might have been our closest week yet!

Very close indeed. I lost out on the second Friday puzzle by just 5 seconds (18m 13s to 18m 18s), or just 0.46% more time. That made the difference between a 4-6 loss and a 7-5 extra-time win.

[dickoon]

For what it's worth, the first croco-puzzle ladder match started one year ago today. Many thanks to everyone who has played on the ladder at any point, especially those who came in at the start and have stuck with it ever since. I am rather charmed that, one year in, the current champion is the original lowest-seeded entrant.

To be honest, I think it's become pretty evident over the year that the entertainment-to-effort ratio has not been what we had all hoped for, and I get the feeling that the ladder becomes less fun once you've been at the top, as there's nothing left to do. People have suggested alternative match generation schemes, and I think there may be something there, particularly in the concept of three-way matches, but there has been so little movement in terms of people joining the ladder and giving new blood to compete against that there isn't a reasonable match generation algorithm in sight that wouldn't have generated a lot of repetition over the year. At least this has generated a pleasing proportion of tight, exciting competition.

So, with this in mind, please consider the ladder to be on, say, six months' notice before we put the game back in its box for now. (If there's a rapid influx of new UK talent, I'll think again; if people drop out more quickly then that then perhaps we should draw things to a natural conclusion sooner rather than later.) I have thoughts about other similar competitions that could be run somewhere down the line which would hopefully fit more naturally into people's lives - and, of course, there's no reason why I should be the only person to run a ladder. If someone else wants to learn from this year's experience and run a ladder, they'll find the players - me for one!

[PuzzleScot]

A year huh? Credit to you Chris, well done!As I've mentioned before, I believe this ladder has helped a few of our rookie players get up to speed, so regardless of anything else, it has been a good thing! I hope it doesn't fizzle out though...

As also mentioned before, I believe the next step would be for us to host a daily puzzle. Croco are attracting up to 400 people per day, and it's not even in English! There is a significant demand for an English equivalent, not to replace, but to complement Croco. It would require automatically generated (and rated?) puzzles, and we could use Otto's applets as the engine.

[dickoon]

Here are the results of last week's fixtures on the croco-puzzle ladder, courtesy as ever of Alan's page.

afcwarren 4 rodders 6
drsteve 8 erika 1
oenomel 6 puzzlemad 6 after extra time; puzzlemad wins on total time taken
PuzzleScot 6 dickoon 4

Congratulations to our winners and to our new champion, Roderick! Here are next week's matches:

rodders - drsteve
afcwarren - puzzlemad
erika - PuzzleScot
oenomel - Dataman

Waiting list: dickoon, (detuned set to return after Easter)

Errors and exceptions excepted. Byes are available; please give as much notice as possible. If anyone on the waiting list wants to drop out, that's fine. Feel free to concede a match, or all your future matches. New players are welcome and I shall change the length of the ladder if the waiting list reaches four or zero.

[nickdeller]

May I have a recount please? puzzlemad didn't record a time on Monday's Laser, and I think that should mean I take the tiebreak on the "Any solve is better than no solve" rule?

[dickoon]

D'oh! Thank you.

afcwarren 4 rodders 6
drsteve 8 erika 1
oenomel 6 puzzlemad 6 after extra time; oenomel wins on total time taken as, indeed, any solve is better than no solve.
PuzzleScot 6 dickoon 4

Congratulations to our winners and to our new champion, Roderick! Here are next week's matches:

rodders - drsteve
afcwarren - oenomel
erika - PuzzleScot
puzzlemad - Dataman

[afcwarren]

Can I have a bye day on Tuesday please - I'm not going to have access to a computer all day. Thanks.

[dickoon]

No problem at all!

[PuzzleScot]

Sadly I won't be able to challenge Rodders for a title opportunity next week - I don't expect to have any internet access next week at all where I'm going. (Perhaps that's a good thing!). I presume that just gives Rodders a bye, and I drop back to challenge the next waiting-list person the week after?

[drsteve]

Oh, I need a bye for Thursday and Friday - and Saturday if a tie-break is necessary.

Cheers

[dickoon]

Hello! I've been away celebrating my wedding anniversary with my wife. Here are the results of last week's fixtures on the croco-puzzle ladder, courtesy as ever of Alan's page.

rodders 2 drsteve 8
afcwarren 4 oenomel 4 after extra time, excluding bye day; afcwarren wins on total time (but it's close!)
erika 4 PuzzleScot 6
puzzlemad 6 Dataman 6 after extra time; puzzlemad wins on total time

Congratulations to our winners and to our new champion, Steve! Two matches going to total time is rather rare. Here are next week's matches:

drsteve - afcwarren (Steve has booked bye days for Thursday and Friday)
rodders w/o PuzzleScot
oenomel - puzzlemad
erika - dickoon

Waiting list: detuned (assuming a return on Easter Monday is OK?), Dataman

Errors and exceptions excepted, like last week. Byes are available; please give as much notice as possible. If anyone on the waiting list wants to drop out, that's fine. Feel free to concede a match, or all your future matches. New players are welcome and I shall change the length of the ladder if the waiting list reaches four or zero.

[detuned]

Some people binge on chocolate on Easter Day, my binge will be puzzles - I'm good to join the waiting list next week!

[afcwarren]

I can't remember if we do tie-breaks on Sundays but, if so, I will also need to book a bye-day for it.

I'll also need to book next Monday as a bye too.