UK Puzzle Association

Quick round 5 results summary, to follow on from Adam's analysis:

Not a vintage set of results in the Sudoku GP:

85 Calum Mailer 436
91 Jack Lawrence 418
131 Adam Bissett 360


Better news in the Puzzle GP:

16 Neil Zussman 609
20 James McGowan 607
23 Freddie Hand 561

David McNeill also made the top 50, as Adam mentioned, with Jeremy Kong and Anthony Ford also making the top 100. Adam Bissett and Maurice B were just outside that top 100, as was Anthea McMillan

A good set of results in Sudoku Round 6 with five UK solvers in the top 100, including Matt Siegfried's first foray there into #85 and Mark Goodliffe's highest Grand Prix score of 511 points. Maurice Blount also got his highest sudoku position in #262.

Round 6 Puzzle results are out. Most people achieved a modest bump on their average, but some did especially well. Tom Collyer had a good round at the top of the table with a 42% increase on his recent average. Further down the rankings, Robert Gelosen had a great round, doubling his recent average in #242, and Nick Edwards also outscored his recent average by 61%.

This moves Tom past Helen Arnold into UK #5

GP round 6 summary, thanks again Adam for being ahead of me!

Sudoku GP round 6:

54 Mark Goodliffe 511
62 Jack Lawrence 475
84 Tom Collyer 439

Also in the top 100 were Matt Siegfried, Calum Mailer; Jeremy Kong was just outside.

Puzzle GP round 6:
3 Freddie Hand 948.5
30 James McGowan 564
42 Tom Collyer 538

Just outside the top 50 was Neil Zussman, but no other UK solvers near the top 100.

With 6 rounds completed, it's worth having a look at the overall standings. No real rhyme or reason to this, but I'll focus on those round about the top 200 as things stand:

Puzzle GP:

7 Freddie Hand 4259.1 (note this is 5 rounds worth rather than 6)
22 Neil Zussman 3510.2
25 James McGowan 3402
81 Adam Bissett 2357
91 Matthew White 2252
106 Maurice B 2067
146 Art Ed 1746
157 Tom Collyer 1683 (4 rounds worth)
162 Emma McCaughan 1650 (5 rounds worth)
192 AJ Moore 1476 (5 rounds worth)

Sudoku GP:

93 Jack Lawrence 2229 (5 rounds worth)
96 Calum Mailer 2219
97 Matt Siegfried 2215
109 Tom Collyer 2120 (5 rounds worth)
132 Adam Bissett 1948
135 Matthew White 1902
169 Mark Goodliffe 1681 (4 rounds worth)
202 Howard Wilkinson 1547

Some interesting rivalries, both old and new, emerging on the leaderboards as things stand!

Sudoku Round 7 was stellar for a number of UK solvers. Howard Wilkinson played an obvious blinder, doubling his recent average to record his first foray into the top 100, never mind top 50, at #47, and Jack Lawrence and Matt Siegfried also recorded their top scores to finish in the top 100. Art Ed broke into the top 200 for the first time in #159, and Maurice Blount also got his highest position in #213. David Collison in #228 got his highest score too, and two relative newcomers, David Blackburn and Tom Brabbin both outperformed their season averages to date significantly to continue strong debut seasons. Well done all!

In terms of the UK rankings, Matt Siegfried continues his climb up the top 10 into #8, Howard Wilkinson rises to #13 and the biggest change is Tom Brabbin climbing up six places to #39.

Puzzle Round 7 went broadly to form, with Freddie and Neil impressing in the top 20 and many UK solvers finding it a very accessible set. Neil's was probably the standout performance, improving on his recent average by 20% but below that, Jack Lawrence improved on his by 30% and got his highest score to date, topping 300 points for the first time. Desirée Wilson topped 250 for the first time and improved on her recent average by 46%, so there should be congratulations all around.

The last sudoku round of the year and it was good to see Freddie back. We ended up with seven UK solvers in the top 100, and most ending up there with an improvement on their recent averages. The best improvements were from Mark and Matthew, with Mark achieving his highest score and position, and Matthew achieving his highest score.

Looking back at the year, we've had three new solvers enter the UK top 20 - Matt Siegfried (8), Tim Tom (14) and Zoe Ashford (18). The biggest improvement has been Jack Lawrence, who has risen to #4. Outside of the top 20, big improvements have also been seen from David Collison, Luke Pebody Pebody and Maurice Blount who have each risen 5 spots.

The last puzzle round of the year seemed to suit the UK solvers that attempted it on the whole, seeing modest improvements on recent averages, alongside Maurice Blount's first foray into the top 100, with #88, and Eva Myers' and Desirée Wilson's top scores seeing them both into the top 200 for the first time, with #110 and #113 respectively. A little further back, James Horne and Ben Woodley also achieved impressive places, with James outperforming his recent average significantly.

Overall for the season, Ben Woodley was the best new performer, in UK rank #22, and Jack Lawrence saw the biggest improvement, up to #19 from #26 at the start of the year. Beyond those, it was a good year for Desirée Wilson, Emma McCaughan, Eva Myers and Matthew White who all saw good improvements.

Last round up, and the final scores:

Sudoku GP Round 7:

52 Jack Lawrence 520 points
85 Matt Siegfried 453
128 Howard Wilkinson 373


Puzzle GP Round 7:

2 Freddie Hand 877.8
14 Neil Zussman 688
26 James McGowan 594

Adam Bissett, Matthew White and Jeremy Kong all made the top 100 as well.


Sudoku GP Round 8:

30 Freddie Hand 567
35 Mark Goodliffe 551
61 Jack Lawrence 458

Matt Siegfried, Tom Collyer, Matthew White and Calum Mailer also made the top 100 in a much better showing for UK participants!


Puzzle GP Round 8:

4 Freddie Hand 865.8
18 Neil Zussman 620
53 Adam Bissett 445

Steve Barge (good to see an old name resurface in competition!) and Maurice B also had top 100 showings.

The final Sudoku GP scores (up to the top 200 I arbitrarily decided on earlier!)

60 Jack Lawrence 2808
80 Mark Goodliffe 2604
81 Tom Collyer 2597
95 Calum Mailer 2494
100 Matt Siegfried 2441
135 Matthew White 2125
168 Adam Bissett 1965
199 Howard Wilkinson 1824


And the Puzzle GP leaderboard looks like:

3 Freddie Hand 5441.7 (although quite what happens to this after play-offs occur remains TBC)
20 Neil Zussman 3845.2
29 James McGowan 3511
90 Adam Bissett 2544
97 Matthew White 2390
121 Maurice B 2172
146 Emma McCaughan 1959
160 AJ Moore 1877
167 Art Ed 1809
188 Tom Collyer 1683 (4 rounds)

Congrats on another stellar year Freddie!