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Posts: 42
Location: Japan | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Magnets | | 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: 139
Location: Estonia | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Anglers | | 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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Mean Minis (2020) Author
Posts: 774
Location: India | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Hashi | | 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 | |
Thanks Amit for a challenging set of puzzles. Definitely harder than normal. (And this set was difficult to solve without paper.) Most puzzles would need some tricks and techniques - a good test from a learning perspective.
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Posts: 8
Location: Hong Kong | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Arrows | | 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: 35
Location: The Netherlands | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Anglers | | 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 | |
Got through most fairly quickly, but got completely stumped by the hard Hashi's and Magnets and ended up scoring no points in the last 15 minutes. Given the relative short test, and relative to the difficulty levels of the others, I thought those were a bit too hard. My favorite puzzle was Multiple Anglers: very nice! |
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Classics & Regions (PR 2016/17) Author
Posts: 170
Location: Germany | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Arrows | | 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 | |
Great test, thank you! It turns out I have some things to learn about Arrows, and also some things to practice -- I missed so many of the "obvious" deductions at first.
Edit: I think I should retract my judgement on the point distribution. I just went through my results, and things seem pretty even:
* hashi: 1.6 points/minute
* magnets: 1.4
* arrows: 0.6
* anglers: 1.6
* dominos: 1.8
The low arrows score is due to a bad performance, not due to difficulty. I did think I got through the magnets very cleanly and found the somewhat tricky deductions immediately, so that one might be a little undervalued. The dominos felt quite easy, but were low-valued accordingly.
Edited by rob 2015-11-01 11:03 PM
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PR 2020 (Shading and Loops) Author
Posts: 668
Location: India | amitsowani - 2015-11-01 2:37 PM
swaroop2011 - 2015-11-01 10:07 AM
amitsowani - 2015-11-01 8:21 AM
swaroop2011 - 2015-11-01 7:00 AM
Would appreciate if anyone can tell the path for Magnets last one. (I could place only 3 magnets in the entire grid after lot of struggle) ?
The fourth magnets puzzle uses minmax constraints.
Look at columns 3,4 and 5.
A column with few signs filled (2,2 ) is surrounded by two heavily filled columns (4,4 ) and (4,3 ).
This should give you a start
Thanks amit. But I guess you are explaining it for Magnets 8 pointer (3rd puzzle ). That I already got. I am asking for last one (4th Puzzle - 9 pointer ) ?
The fourth one is based on transfer of polarities across rows (transfer = number of unbalanced vertical magnets across the two rows ).
Look at the number of vertical magnets required across rows 4 and 5, 5 and 6. Also look at columns 6 and 7.
Thanks. I did got those magnets. But found out what I was missing. Thanks. |
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Hex Slitherlink Author
Posts: 145
Location: France | Hmph. Assuming that one will be able to finish a PR round within 90 minutes is the wrong strategy. I never figured out how to do Arrows #3 and by the time I decided to move on it was too late to catch up. |
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Hex Slitherlink Author
Posts: 145
Location: France | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Magnets | | 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 | |
Arrows #3: I spent over 15 minutes on it and never found the solution or even a reasonable solve path. Hashi #2 and #3 (4 and 5 points) took much longer than any of the Magnets puzzles (8 and 9 points). I am not sure if the point values are aimed at beginners or at seasoned players; if the latter, then they are problematic (Magnets is easier than you seem to think it is), if the former then the overall difficulty of the round is problematic.
That said, it was still fun. Apart from Arrows #3. |
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Posts: 1
Location: India | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? | Too many medium difficult puzzles | |
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Posts: 102
Location: United States | auroux - 2015-11-01 12:35 PM
Arrows #3: I spent over 15 minutes on it and never found the solution or even a reasonable solve path.
If you're still looking for how to start it, I think the break-in is meant to be the 3 in the middle. There are only four possible arrows that can point to it (no diagonals), and you can quickly find that two horizontal arrows doesn't work, so you need to do two vertical arrows. From there I don't remember running into many difficulties. |
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PR 2020 (Casual and Word) Author
Posts: 349
Location: India | auroux - 2015-11-02 11:35 AM
Arrows #3: I spent over 15 minutes on it and never found the solution or even a reasonable solve path.
That said, it was still fun. Apart from Arrows #3.
For Arrows #3, the "3" in the center is the starting point. |
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Posts: 187
Location: New Zealand | I have learnt that I find it surprisingly difficult to (correctly) count the number of line corners in a row or column... :)
Thanks Amit! |
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Posts: 187
Location: New Zealand | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Hashi | | 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 | |
I liked the (new to me) 5s interaction logic in the Hashis. I thought Magnets 3 was hard/undervalued. |
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| How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Dominos | | 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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Posts: 45
Location: India | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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 | |
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Mean Minis (2020) Author
Posts: 774
Location: India | ExtensionBased on requests from more than one player, this test is being extended till Tuesday 12PM IST. See submission page for exact timing.
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| How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Dominos | | Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? | Most puzzles were worth the right amount | |
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Posts: 6
Location: India | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? | Very nice | | Which set of puzzles did you like the most? | Magnets | | 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 | |
A good set of puzzles ! |
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SM 2020 (Converse and Odd Even) Author
Posts: 51
Location: India | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Magnets | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
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| How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Anglers | | 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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Hex Slitherlink Author
Posts: 145
Location: France | Thanks -- yesterday I just didn't see that 3 in the middle. I was obsessing over the 4's on the diagonals for exactly the same reason, but somehow didn't think of the 3 even though it's obviously a better place to start. Okay then, I have to take back some of my negative comments about the puzzle difficulties. I was just being stupid. (I still found Hashi and Arrows to be huge time sinks compared to other puzzle types for equal point values, but possibly it's because I'm just not good at those. My answering timeline doesn't quite reflect solve times due to my computer crashing partway through and needing to be rebooted twice). |
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Posts: 114
Location: India | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | representation could have been better | | 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? | Anglers | | What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? | Just right | |
Very good set of puzzles. I liked Multi Anglers most. |
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Posts: 57
Location: India | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Magnets | | 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 | |
This was a hard test, and my performance was terrible.
But I really enjoyed solving the puzzles after the test. Even though these are 'standard' types, many of the techniques needed to solve the puzzles in the set were unfamiliar to me. Figuring them out was an enjoyable experience. |
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WSPC Organizer
Posts: 542
Location: India | How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ? | variations represented the theme well | | 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? | Dominos | | 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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