UK Open Sudoku and Puzzle Tournament 16th - 17th March, 2013

[puzzlemad]

You are invited to the UK Open Sudoku and Puzzle Tournament 16th – 17th March, 2013

The winner of each event will earn a place in the UK Puzzle or Sudoku teams at the 2013 WPC/WSC!!

This will be hosted by UK Puzzle Association, but everyone is welcome: members, non-members and players from other countries.

It will be like WSC+WPC in a weekend, there will be multi-round Sudoku and Puzzle competitions, with over 6 hours of puzzles. If time permits there may also be other activities.

Registration fee finalised at £35

To register, please contact me at liane@ukpuzzles.org

Venue

The tournament will be held at the St.John's Hotel in Solihull (http://www.thestjohns-hotel.co.uk/). This is a hotel that we have an offer from to host the WSC/WPC in 2014 and will be an excellent opportunity to test the facilities. The hotel is a short walk from Solihull Rail station.


Accommodation

The recommended hotel is the Travelodge at Birmingham Airport, which is approximately 2.5 miles from the venue. The hotel is not included in the registration fee and you will need to book it yourself separately http://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/519/ ... port-hotel once your registration is confirmed. Their current offer is £28 for a room which should be suitable for either a single person or two people sharing. This price may vary considerably, so you are advised to book early. Breakfast is extra. For those travelling by public transport we will be able to transport people between the venue and the Travelodge on the Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

Planned Schedule

The planned time on Saturday is 2pm until 7pm, then Sunday 9am until 2pm.
Further details will be published on the forum when available.

Registration Fee

The fee must be paid before registration can be confirmed. UKPA is a not-for-profit players association, so the fee is just your share of the costs. We are currently in negotiation with the venue to confirm options for refreshments. The registration fee will include full participation in all activities and any prizes that you may win! It does not include your hotel room, breakfast or evening meal.

We look forward to seeing you there!

[puzzlemad]

Just a quick update to thank all our fabulous puzzle authors for rallying round and sending some fantastic puzzles. They've been so prolific that unfortunately I'm going to have to leave a number of the puzzles out of this tournament. I'm hoping to set an on line competition (just for fun) later in the year with the ones that have had to be left out.

Our fantastic authors are: Aline Koch, Andrey Bogdanov, Bram De Laat, Deb Mohanty, F Kamer Anda, Gareth Moore, Grant Fikes, James McGowan, Jiri Hrdna, Laurence May, Matej Uher, Nikola Zivanovic, Prasanna Seshadri, Puzzler Media, Rishi Puri, Serkan Yurekli, Talha Baykal, Tawan Sunathvanichkul and Vladimir Portugalov.

I am hoping to get the instruction booklets finalised this weekend and will arrange upload once they are ready.

[puzzlemad]

The majority of the instruction booklets are now available for the puzzle rounds. The sudoku rounds will follow along with one team round.

UK Puzzle Blog - IB 2013.pdf

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UKPA Instruction Booklets Cover Page 2013.pdf

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UKPA Mixed Bag Round -IB 2013.pdf

(372.21 KiB) Downloaded 524 times

UKPA Pentomino Puddles - IB 2013.pdf

(14.97 KiB) Downloaded 705 times

UKPA Relay - IB 2013.pdf

(161.21 KiB) Downloaded 858 times

UKPA Sprint Round - IB 2013.pdf

(104.74 KiB) Downloaded 504 times

UKPA Tapa and Variations - IB 2013.pdf

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[dickoon]

Groan, these look so good - and the groan is because I can't make it :/

Many thanks to the constructors and the organisers.

[puzzlemad]

The team round booklet is now available.

UKPA Teams - IB 2013.pdf

(259.26 KiB) Downloaded 504 times

If anyone has any queries about the puzzles, please post on the forum stating which round/puzzle and they will be resolved on the forum. There won't be time for any questions at the event.

[detuned]

wow - my breath is taken away. this looks utterly brilliant!

[david mcneill]

Congratulations Liane. All looks great. A very quick list of rule clarifications.

UKPA Themes

Puzzle 1: Can it be confirmed that we only have to enter 6 letters in the grid i.e. TRAFLG? Will clues always be placed next to relevant row/column?

Puzzle Blogs

Puzzle 6: Only orthogoanl lines allowed? Loop not allowed to cross or run alongside itself?

Mixed Bag

Puzzle 2: Are all possible outside clues given?

Sprint

Puzzle 1: Must the number of white and black circles be equal? Otherwise solution not unique.
Puzzle 6: Snake mustn't touch itself?

Tapa and Variations

Puzzle 6: Corrected clue missing in solution diagram.

UKPA Teams

Puzzle 4: Are number clues outside the diagram necessarily in the right order?

Need more time to look at Bram's relay.

Everything looks nice.

Looking forward to it.

David.

[puzzlemad]

Hi David,
Just off to a concert with my daughter - will answer queries when I get back.

[kiwijam]

Hi David,

Allow me:

UKPA Themes
Puzzle 1: Can it be confirmed that we only have to enter 6 letters in the grid i.e. TRAFLG? Will clues always be placed next to relevant row/column?

Trafalgar Square: You can only enter those 6 letters into any cell. Each answer grid will contain exactly 9 letters, "AAAFGLRRT". If the grid has more than 9 cells than some will be empty. Clues will always be attached to a row or column.

Puzzle Blogs
Puzzle 6: Only orthogonal lines allowed? Loop not allowed to cross or run alongside itself?

Endless Labyrinth: Yes. Yes. Standard loop creation rules, same as a masyu loop, for example.

Mixed Bag
Puzzle 2: Are all possible outside clues given?

Population Counting: Not necessarily. It happens to be true in the example puzzle, but it's up to the puzzle creator if they give all of the clues or not.

Sprint
Puzzle 1: Must the number of white and black circles be equal? Otherwise solution not unique.
Puzzle 6: Snake mustn't touch itself?

Yin Yang: This is classic Yin Yang, the number of whites does not need to equal the number of blacks. The example was taken from a WPC variant, and is not unique. For a better example, see: http://wiki.logic-masters.de/index.php? ... in_Yang/en .
Slitherlink Snake: Correct, the snake cannot touch itself, not even diagonally.

Tapa and Variations
Puzzle 6: Corrected clue missing in solution diagram.

Total False Tapa: Yes. Yes it is (it should be a 3/1). When solving the clues do not need to be altered, as long as the blackened cells match the correct solution.

UKPA Teams
Puzzle 4: Are number clues outside the diagram necessarily in the right order?

Calculus Snake: Yes, they are in the correct order, similar to "Japanese Sums" clues.

[Nilz]

Looking forward to this- you know it's getting close when the booklets are published to whet your appetite! No queries yet (I've only had a quick glance through) but I'll post if I have any. Certainly looks like a lot of hard work has gone into this, as always, so thanks to those involved!

[drsteve]

A shame I can't be there - this looks excellent. Well done, everyone!

[detuned]

i appreciate everyone concerned must be super busy right now, but is there any more word on the sudoku booklets?

[puzzlemad]

i appreciate everyone concerned must be super busy right now, but is there any more word on the sudoku booklets?

I know Gareth is absolutely snowed under - James and myself have been finishing off some test solving, so hopefully they'll be out tomorrow. Apologies for the delay on these.

[puzzlemad]

There will be two sudoku rounds. Instructions for the first are now available. The other should be available later today.

UKPA Sudoku Rishi and PM - IB 2013.pdf

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Schedule for the weekend attached now too.

Programme 2013.doc

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[GarethMoore]

Instructions for round 2 of the Sudoku tournament.

UKPA open sudoku 2013 instructions round 2.pdf

Sudoku Round 2 instructions

(234.95 KiB) Downloaded 567 times

[david mcneill]

Thanks Gareth, Liane, James et al for the hard work you have put into this weekend. Looking forward to it.

David.

[puzzlemad]

The competition room at St. John's is Warwick 1

[Janix]

You have mentioned that you want to book a table at the Travel Lodge at the Airport to eat. Have all other competitors booked there to stay? Otherwise, I would have thought that we should eat near the venue: there should be a good choice of eateries in Solihull itself.

[puzzlemad]

You have mentioned that you want to book a table at the Travel Lodge at the Airport to eat. Have all other competitors booked there to stay? Otherwise, I would have thought that we should eat near the venue: there should be a good choice of eateries in Solihull itself.

I haven't done anything yet - couldn't get through when I tried. I think the majority of us are staying at the Travelodge (9 that I'm certain of). Happy to leave it till Saturday to get the consensus and go with the majority (as long as it's not Asian food - unless you want to see me being violently ill!)

[detuned]

what time are people arriving at the travelodge tomorrow? basically i plan to get the train to solihull tomorrow, which involves coming in and out of birmingham. Alternatively, if people are around, i'd be happy to get off at birmingham international, maybe grab some lunch and then head on over with company. as i'm so close, i can be pretty flexible with what people are doing!

[PuzzleScot]

18:45 - 19:00 Day 1: Puddles. Never mind - spotted "Pentomino puddles" in the IBs.

??? (Yes, I'm just printing off the instructions!)

[kiwijam]

Puddles

What do you think it means?

[puzzlemad]

what time are people arriving at the travelodge tomorrow? basically i plan to get the train to solihull tomorrow, which involves coming in and out of birmingham. Alternatively, if people are around, i'd be happy to get off at birmingham international, maybe grab some lunch and then head on over with company. as i'm so close, i can be pretty flexible with what people are doing!

David is arriving at the airport just after 8 and is heading to the Travelodge for his breakfast. I will be picking him up from there sometime after 11 - I'm happy to pick you up from there too.

[detuned]

Ok I've replied to this thread a little late, wasn't anticipating getting on a train til about 12! I suppose I'll just see you all there...

[dickoon]

Have fun, everyone, and please share photos. Looking forward to reading all about it when you get the chance!