UKPA Open Sudoku and Puzzle Tournament 2023

[puzzlemad]

Information relating to this on site event is within the announcements section of the forum viewtopic.php?t=2607
The first round for each competition will start at 10 am and each day will end for 5pm.
We have a great set of puzzles for both events and it will be great to be back in person after the enforced break.

[puzzlemad]

The instructions booklets and schedule for the UKPA Open Tournament are now available. The competition booklets will not have copies of the examples so don't forget to bring your printed instruction booklets with you if you want to refer to them.
Any queries, clarifications about the instructions please raise in this thread, clearly identifying which puzzle you are querying and we'll get back with an answer as soon as possible.

[britboy3456]

Puzzle Round 3 (James McGowan), puzzle 6 (Country Road) - the title of the puzzle says pentomino, but the rules text and example say tetromino? Which will it be for the competition puzzle?

[puzzlemad]

Puzzle Round 3 (James McGowan), puzzle 6 (Country Road) - the title of the puzzle says pentomino, but the rules text and example say tetromino? Which will it be for the competition puzzle?

Apologies - I thought I'd caught that deliberate mistake It is definitely tetromino.

Also, apologies to the author of Sudoku round 2 as I've made a mistake with their name. It should be Jovi G.

[mwhite]

Puzzle Round 1 Puzzle 10 (Skyscrapers) - the example is incorrect. I think the 4 and the 3 on the left hand side are both one row too high.

[PuzzleScot]

Puzzle Round 1 Puzzle 10 (Skyscrapers) - the example is incorrect. I think the 4 and the 3 on the left hand side are both one row too high.

I agree.

[pinkagape]

Super looking forward to this. A couple of questions I’ve had so far.

Puzzle Round 2 - Japanese Sums and Japanese Sums Egg - will the dots be as small as this in the competition booklet? If it were possible to make them larger I’d appreciate it.

Puzzle Round 2 - 8 Scrabble Egg example - all initials are not given in this example. Will the initials be given in the competition puzzle, or is this mistakenly copied over from the #7 rules?

Puzzle Round 3 - 9 Magnets (Square) - there is a large region near the bottom of the example - is this just a transcription error or will we get similar regions in the competition puzzle? It solves without the extra border in fine, I think.

[pinkagape]

Last one for me.

Puzzle Round 5 - 10 Imposter Tetroscope - the example doesn’t use all the given tetrominoes but the rules state that it should. Are the rules or the example wrong?

[Ekaterin]

Puzzle Round 5 - puzzles 7, 8 and 9 (Killer Sudoku, Imposter Killer Sudoku and Tetroscope) all have tiny print, will it be this small in the competition (so I know whether to bring my reading glasses)? Some puzzles in Round 4 have the same issue.

[puzzlemad]

Super looking forward to this. A couple of questions I’ve had so far.

Puzzle Round 2 - Japanese Sums and Japanese Sums Egg - will the dots be as small as this in the competition booklet? If it were possible to make them larger I’d appreciate it.

Puzzle Round 2 - 8 Scrabble Egg example - all initials are not given in this example. Will the initials be given in the competition puzzle, or is this mistakenly copied over from the #7 rules?

Puzzle Round 3 - 9 Magnets (Square) - there is a large region near the bottom of the example - is this just a transcription error or will we get similar regions in the competition puzzle? It solves without the extra border in fine, I think.

Think I'm going to have to sack my proof reader
Puzzle Rd2 - Japanese Sums (and Egg) - the dots will be quite visible. The example puzzle has been scaled down
Puzzle Rd 2 - 8 Scrabble Egg - the instruction is mistakenly copied over from #7 - Instructions directly from the author are:
"Put all the given words into the grid, one letter per cell. The given words can be read either left-to-right or top-to-bottom, every word must appear in the grid exactly once, and no other words may appear in the grid (even two-letter words). All letters must be orthogonally connected in a single group. Some letters are already placed in the grid. All empty cells must form exactly nine areas, one of each size from 1 to 9."
This is corrected in the competition booklet.
Puzzle Rd3 - 9 Magnets (square) - the regions will either be 2x2 or 1x2 (there is a missing bold edge in the bottom row making an L shape which shouldn't be.

[puzzlemad]

Last one for me.

Puzzle Round 5 - 10 Imposter Tetroscope - the example doesn’t use all the given tetrominoes but the rules state that it should. Are the rules or the example wrong?

I've accidentally copied the wrong set of tetrominoes for the example, hence, why they're not all used - that set should not have the "O" in it, so for the actual puzzle the instruction is correct that all the given tetrominoes are used.

[pinkagape]

Thanks Liane.

[puzzlemad]

Puzzle Round 5 - puzzles 7, 8 and 9 (Killer Sudoku, Imposter Killer Sudoku and Tetroscope) all have tiny print, will it be this small in the competition (so I know whether to bring my reading glasses)? Some puzzles in Round 4 have the same issue.

The example puzzles have been scaled down so the 'smaller' print has become much smaller. This should be fine in the competition booklets.

[puzzlemad]

Before anyone else spots this one - Puzzle Round 1 - cover page lists 12 puzzles - there's actually 13.
Puzzle 11 should be Snake, 12 Vertex Slitherlink and 13 Yajisan Kazusan.
The instructions for snake are in the booklet.
The points for the skyscraper are wrong - that is 15 points and the snake 21 points
Overall points for the round should be correct.

[mwhite]

Hi, in puzzle round 1, puzzle 8 (rail pool) I think there's an alternative solution. I've tried to attach it, but not sure if I've done it right. If it can be seen, is that an alternative or have I misunderstood something?

Very much looking forward to the weekend, and thanks for putting everything together!

[Nilz]

When the loop turns right out of the bottom of the 2 region in your image, it only travels 1 cell.

[mwhite]

Great, thanks, I was staring at that for days.

[pinkagape]

Thanks Liane and Alex for organising, and to all the puzzle authors. It was a lovely weekend.

Congratulations to David and Neil, and Tom, Mark and Matthew. Both contests were great competitions!

[puzzlemad]

Thanks to everyone who attended the UKPA Open Sudoku and Puzzle Tournaments over the weekend and the fantastic puzzle authors and test solvers for such a fabulous set of puzzles for both events.
The winner of the Sudoku Tournament was David McNeill with Tom Collyer and Mark Goodliffe taking 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Michael Collins took the award for most improved.
The winner of the Puzzle Tournament was Neil Zussman with Tom Collyer and Matt White taking 2nd and 3rd place

[mwhite]

Thanks Liane and Alex for organising this weekend, it was great to be back at an in-person puzzle competition and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks also to the authors and test solvers, there were some very enjoyable puzzles that I tried on the day and some other intriguing ones I look forward to attempting over the next few weeks.

[puzzlemad]

Profuse apologies for the delay in making the competition booklets available from the great event that we held in Derby earlier this year. I've been meaning to do for ages. These were all fantastic puzzles from talented authors that enabled our event to run smoothly. If you enjoy these, then keep an eye out for details of the 2024 Open Tournament which you will all be welcome to attend.