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Classics & Regions (PR 2016/17) Author
Posts: 170
 
Location: Germany | Wow, indeed, that was (too) hard. I had to resort to quite guessy solving for quite a few of these, certainly not the difficulty I'm used to for Ramayan. For me it was still a fun contest, just not what I expected.
I'm not that happy with the instructionless battleships puzzle, though: It's really not that apparent that the relations should apply to "half rows", while you'd usually expect them to apply to the two cells that are immediately adjacent.
Worse, the example is uniquely solvable with the given solution with the following rules: Normal battleships. Equals sign between cells means both cells are filled or both are empty. Less than sign between cells means that if the "smaller" cell is filled, then also the "greater" cell must be filled.
Admittedly this is not quite a satisfying rule set, but it's close enough that I think the type needs a better example. |
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Posts: 11
Location: United States | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Just right | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Very nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Hungarian Tetromino/Pentomino | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Mostly perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
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Posts: 45
Location: India | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Too many hard puzzles | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Fairly Nice | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth too much or too little | |
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Posts: 1
Location: Australia | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Just right | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Very nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Tetromino/Pentomino Instructionless | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Answer keys could have been better | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
This was really fun, this was the first test I've taken on this site. I think I managed to do fairly well, although obviously there were people doing miles better than I was! The puzzles were really fun, and had very nice solving paths. Super enjoyable, I'll be a regular from now on! |
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Posts: 139
Location: Estonia | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Just right | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Very nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Tetromino/Pentomino Instructionless | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
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Posts: 225
Location: Thailand | Definitely harder than the previous two PR's.
I would recommend something else as answer keys for Minesweepers and Akari.
Counting mines each row in a big grid (which was worth like 2 points was quite irking).
Maybe, count 3-4 rows/columns instead?
I enjoyed the pentomino section a lot, the second instructionless was very beautiful - although I was 30 seconds too late to submit it :(
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Posts: 187
Location: New Zealand | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Just right | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Very nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Tetromino/Pentomino Instructionless | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
An excellent set of puzzles. My thanks to Nikola Zivanovic and Cedomir Milanovic, you made me happy today. :) |
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Posts: 59
Location: United States | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Too many hard puzzles | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Average | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Tetromino/Pentomino Instructionless | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Answer keys could have been better | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth too much or too little | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
I found many of the puzzles extremely difficult/impossible and am quite discouraged. Battleships--lots of trial and error. Instructionless didn't understand. I get that a ship middle is greater than a ship end and that ship ends are greater than water. But some ship ends are greater than other ship ends?? Minesweeper 3 (worth 2 points) I checked SIX times and I still don't see where I went wrong, lots of time wasted. The first tetromino placement I fumbled around with for some time--these seem largely intuition based. Some solvers can "see" how the pieces fall into place, I guess. I certainly can't. No time for anything else. Maybe time to try a different hobby. |
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Sudoku Grand Prix - Serbian Round Author
Posts: 42
Location: Serbia | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Too many medium difficult puzzles | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Very nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Hungarian Tetromino/Pentomino | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Mostly perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
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SM 2020 (Math) Author
Posts: 417
Location: India | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Too many hard puzzles | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Below Average | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Minesweeper | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Mostly perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth too much or too little | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
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| | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Just right | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Fairly Nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Hungarian Tetromino/Pentomino | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Answer keys could have been better | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Many puzzles were worth too much or too little | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | I have a different complaint | |
Thanks for a nice test.
One complaint with the puzzle booklet:
I'm using Ubuntu and answer grids for Instructionless examples were not printed while visible at the screen. Other grids are printed normally. I don't think this affected my perfomance significantly, but was definitely annoying. |
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Shading and Loops (PR 2016/17) Author
Posts: 62
Location: United States | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Just right | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Very nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Tetromino/Pentomino Observer | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
Very nice! I loved the variations in this one. My favorite sets were the Hungarian Polyomino and Polyomino Observer puzzles.
Favorite Puzzles:
Pentomino Observer 3
Classic Tetromino 1
Akari 2
Tetromino Observer 2
Hungarian Tetromino 1
Thank you! |
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Posts: 16
Location: United States | im taking test now, there is no abc labels on tetromino observer, what order do letters go? |
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Location: India | Enter the rows first, from top to bottom. Then columns from left to right. |
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PR 2020 (Shading and Loops) Author
Posts: 668
Location: India | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Too many hard puzzles | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Fairly Nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Battleships Instructionless | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
Very nice set of puzzles. But felt too many hard puzzles considering the spirit of PR.
Need to solve yet remaining ones. Mostly the high pointers left.
I liked the Instructionless Ideas. |
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Posts: 172
Location: ITALY | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Just right | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Very nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Tetromino/Pentomino Instructionless | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Mostly perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
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WSPC Organizer
Posts: 542
Location: India | I liked the theme of Minesweepers and Akari where Pentominos are used :)
Edited by rajeshk 2017-03-20 6:31 PM
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WSPC Organizer
Posts: 739
Location: India | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Too many hard puzzles | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Very nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Tetromino/Pentomino Observer | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Mostly perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
Too hard for PR. Would have been a nice monthly test otherwise. |
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SM 2020 (Converse and Odd Even) Author
Posts: 51
Location: India | Puzzles were harder than previous PR round. I too felt that the answer keys for Akari and Minesweeper were lengthy. However, I enjoyed solving Minesweeper and Akari puzzles. |
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SM 2020 (Converse and Odd Even) Author
Posts: 51
Location: India | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Too many hard puzzles | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Minesweeper | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Answer keys could have been better | |
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Posts: 72
Location: South Korea | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Just right | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Very nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Tetromino/Pentomino Instructionless | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Mostly perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
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| | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Too many medium difficult puzzles | | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Fairly Nice | | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Hungarian Tetromino/Pentomino | | | What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? | Perfect answer keys | | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Many puzzles were worth too much or too little | | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
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Mean Minis (2020) Author
Posts: 774
Location: India | The object placement round was hard in 2016 and it ended up on the harder side in 2017 as well. The results also look similar - The top 3 (among those who participated, from last year's list) are the same as well.
And, yes, the answer keys for akari and minesweeper do need improvement. |
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Mean Minis (2020) Author
Posts: 774
Location: India | rob - 2017-03-18 2:54 AM
...Worse, the example is uniquely solvable with the given solution with the following rules: Normal battleships. Equals sign between cells means both cells are filled or both are empty. Less than sign between cells means that if the "smaller" cell is filled, then also the "greater" cell must be filled. That sounds more "thermo" than "inequality".
For me, the example was good enough and since all the signs were placed in the centre row/column, it was quite apparent that the inequality relation applies to the two vertical/horizontal halves. |
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2021 World Sudoku+Puzzle Convention Organizer
Posts: 164
Location: Slovakia | rakesh_rai - 2017-03-21 9:17 PM
For me, the example was good enough and since all the signs were placed in the centre row/column, it was quite apparent that the inequality relation applies to the two vertical/horizontal halves.
Agree, the example was fine. However I get confused by the Observer instructions. I am probably to lazy to read (or understand) the rules carefully, but it took me few minutes to realize that the numbers are always excluding the cell itself. I am not sure whether it is usual or not, but most of the puzzles like Cave or Kuromasu operate with "including" rule. I can not see any reason why to change the rules from time to time.
Anyway, this test was great and even though I was disappointed by my performance, I really enjoyed solving the puzzles. Just after the test, I am quite surprised by my ranking. I would never guess, that incomplete solution may lead to 11th position. However the difficulty of tests within a series should be more balanced in the future. |
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WSPC 2017 • Schedule • Participation • Location • WSC • WPC • Contact •Search •Recent
Object Placement & Pentomino - 17th to 20th Mar 2017 - Puzzle Ramayan & IPC Qualifier
