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DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013
   LMI Tests -> Monthly Sudoku and Puzzle Tests66 posts • Page 2 of 3 • 1 2 3
prasanna16391
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 12:16 PM (#13250 - in reply to #13211) (#13250) Top


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I still don't understand this, because its like every test. For anyone who can't finish a test, puzzle selection matters. Thats not luck. It would be luck if points distribution was not given and someone went and attempted the Kakuro thinking it to be easy or the Akari thinking they'd get more points for it. But its known which are the lower pointers and the higher pointers, its upto the solver to select the puzzles in a way to optimize their performance. Thats a part of competing. Every Monthly test barring exceptions is typically designed so that the top 3-4 players can finish and there's a few easy puzzles for the rest. In fact, this test has more easy puzzles than others, in my opinion. Its not like 75 minutes is an unheard of time, in fact the ever successful TVCs are also of 75 minutes.

The guidelines LMI gives to the authors was followed here. There were a few easy puzzles, and it was finishable for top solvers. There was never claims that it would be otherwise. Why pinpoint this test on being timed poorly, when it followed the general guidelines?

Obviously, if the discussion is that the general guidelines themselves should be re-visited, then thats a completely different matter. I'll again point to the existence of Beginners' Contests and the need to make the distinction that the Monthly tests are set based on general WPC difficulty and finish-ability.
rvarun
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 12:31 PM (#13251 - in reply to #13211) (#13251) Top




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This is how LMI tests work. Top few solvers solving all puzzles in given time, be it 120 mins or 75 mins. This test is same as any other LMI test. I dont find any difference in it in my experience of LMI tests. The same goes for sudoku tests also. There were sudoku tests with 60 or 75 mins. But the same feedbacks does not come there.
achan1058
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 2:51 PM (#13253 - in reply to #13211) (#13253) Top




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It's probably because this is a classic, and people (incorrectly) assumes that a classic contest should be easier. While I have done enough puzzle contests to know better, I can't say I didn't have the hope that it will be a bit easier than usual myself, especially right after the WPC.

For the record, my previous post was not directed at this contest in particular, but the contest scheme in general. I think we can have a few "Round 8"'s once in a while.

On another note, there is no efficient mechanism for someone to check their answers if they decide to continue the contest after it is over. The answer keys aren't displayed until after the whole duration is over, and you can't use the submit form to check anymore. Can this be improved upon?

Edited by achan1058 2013-10-27 3:07 PM
prasanna16391
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 4:05 PM (#13254 - in reply to #13253) (#13254) Top


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achan1058 - 2013-10-27 2:51 PM

It's probably because this is a classic, and people (incorrectly) assumes that a classic contest should be easier. While I have done enough puzzle contests to know better, I can't say I didn't have the hope that it will be a bit easier than usual myself, especially right after the WPC.

For the record, my previous post was not directed at this contest in particular, but the contest scheme in general. I think we can have a few "Round 8"'s once in a while.

On another note, there is no efficient mechanism for someone to check their answers if they decide to continue the contest after it is over. The answer keys aren't displayed until after the whole duration is over, and you can't use the submit form to check anymore. Can this be improved upon?


For Round 8, I'll compare it to Puzzle Marathon. Instead of one finish-able connected large puzzle, it is a bunch of large puzzles that are mostly finish-able in time by many folks. So there IS something like that once in a while.

Another point is, 6 people have already finished DWBH and its only midway through Sunday. Many have come close to finishing. So I think it IS actually more finish-able, so its funny its getting criticized for poor timing. Its important to keep a standard in normal tests, because if you're extending it to say top 20 finish-ability, you'll never please everyone anyway, and then it becomes inconsistent for no reason. erring towards say 8-10 once in a while is fine, but it shouldn't be expected unless explicitly mentioned.

As for the entering answer keys, thats apparently been unintentionally allowed this time. Those who didn't close the page upon submission would've found out that the "Submit all answers" key still works to check answers. We didn't realize this till 2-3 people began trying and actually entered keys beyond 75 minutes. You're right, maybe this is a good thing to keep in general, at least when Instant Grading is available.
achan1058
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 4:13 PM (#13255 - in reply to #13254) (#13255) Top




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Oh, by Round 8, I meant how easy that round was, not the structure of the round itself. At least 1/3 of the room have completely finished that round.

Anyways, thanks for looking into whether you can keep the submit button.

Edited by achan1058 2013-10-27 4:13 PM
prasanna16391
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 4:23 PM (#13256 - in reply to #13255) (#13256) Top


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achan1058 - 2013-10-27 4:13 PM

Oh, by Round 8, I meant how easy that round was, not the structure of the round itself. At least 1/3 of the room have completely finished that round.



I meant it in the same way. The Puzzle Marathon Puzzles are finished by a good number of people too. Me in my capacity at around upper-mid table (37th) finished all the puzzles within normal time in this year's marathon. I'm sure many people finished at least some of them within the 60 minutes of normal time.

The reason I compared structures is because it works in that structure, because solving the puzzle in itself is the challenge, contrasting to solving a bunch of puzzles in a controlled time environment like normal rounds.
yureklis
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 6:24 PM (#13257 - in reply to #13211) (#13257) Top


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 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 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
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


debmohanty
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 7:10 PM (#13258 - in reply to #13235) (#13258) Top



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achan1058 - 2013-10-26 9:01 PM
It would be nice to once in a while to have a test that even someone like me can finish, even if that means the likes of Palmer and Ulrich will finish in 1/2 the allotted time.
I agree with that comment, it is good to have all kinds of contests. If we go by the poll results here, there are certainly many takers of Sprint tests. Unfortunately, we just had only one more sprint test in 2012 after the first one.

While Marathons are comparable to Sprint tests in terms of finish-ability, each kind of contests has its own fun and challenges. So I don't think one of them should/can replace the other.
kishy72
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 7:24 PM (#13259 - in reply to #13251) (#13259) Top


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rvarun - 2013-10-27 12:31 PM

This is how LMI tests work. Top few solvers solving all puzzles in given time, be it 120 mins or 75 mins. This test is same as any other LMI test. I dont find any difference in it in my experience of LMI tests. The same goes for sudoku tests also. There were sudoku tests with 60 or 75 mins. But the same feedbacks does not come there.


For your information for the last 15 or so months that i have been a part of LMI ,I dont remember any sudoku test in which the time duration was for 60 mins except LMI Screen Test.I had expressed my feedback there too though for a different reason.So it is not that in only puzzle tests that feedbacks of these sort occur.

And please dont equate sudokus and puzzles on an equal platform.If you call say a random person from a group of persons and ask him to choose from a sudoku and a star battle or a sudoku and a fillomino or so on ,it is very probable that he/she will possess the skills required to complete the sudoku rather than the puzzle.This is because sudokus are universally popular and well known.So basically what i m trying to put forth through this is that given an LMI test with a short time duration ,it is more likely that people will solve a lot more sudokus than a lot more puzzles within the time frame which in turn minimizes the short time factor to an extent in case of sudoku tests not to mention the fact that it has not occured so far in a LMI sudoku test.I'l clarify this too.My feedback has got nothing to do with the quality of the puzzles which were on an absolutely high level as usual.It is only the timing of the test that has let me down.
achan1058
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 10:00 PM (#13260 - in reply to #13258) (#13260) Top




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debmohanty - 2013-10-27 8:10 AM

achan1058 - 2013-10-26 9:01 PM
It would be nice to once in a while to have a test that even someone like me can finish, even if that means the likes of Palmer and Ulrich will finish in 1/2 the allotted time.
I agree with that comment, it is good to have all kinds of contests. If we go by the poll results here, there are certainly many takers of Sprint tests. Unfortunately, we just had only one more sprint test in 2012 after the first one.

While Marathons are comparable to Sprint tests in terms of finish-ability, each kind of contests has its own fun and challenges. So I don't think one of them should/can replace the other.
That's what I like to hear. I am surprised that wasn't more of these. In fact, that one happened long before I started doing contests on LMI.
An LMI player
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 10:07 PM (#13261 - in reply to #13211) (#13261) Top


 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 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
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 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


debmohanty
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 10:12 PM (#13262 - in reply to #13260) (#13262) Top



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achan1058 - 2013-10-27 10:00 PM
That's what I like to hear. I am surprised that wasn't more of these. In fact, that one happened long before I started doing contests on LMI.
Well, there is none planned at the moment as well. That also means, potential test authors know what they can target to write.
wicktroll
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-27 11:28 PM (#13263 - in reply to #13211) (#13263) Top




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 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 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
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Answer keys could have been better
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 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


murat
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-28 12:51 AM (#13264 - in reply to #13250) (#13264) Top




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Why pinpoint this test on being timed poorly, when it followed the general guidelines?

To make it clear, my comment was not particularly about this test. I think any test with instant grading can last longer than usual to have more fair ranking of the average solvers. If instant grading were not available the current duration of the test would be perfect, because making it longer would cause early finishers to risk losing a lot of bonus points due to possible mistakes. However, I don't see any disadvantages of making the test longer when instant grading is available.
motris
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-28 2:06 AM (#13266 - in reply to #13264) (#13266) Top




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Just my two cents:

Team USA had a similar discussion to this at the recent WPC -- how rounds can feel much friendlier and fairer by letting more solvers finish. We agreed that an underappreciated feature of Instant Grading is that it really means you can now run any test indefinitely with some form of "Twist" scoring (here, that might be 80% after 60 minutes, 50% after 90 minutes) because solvers are entering solutions throughout the test.

I would not have minded this test running more like the WPC Mini Marathon or LMI Puzzle Marathon tests which seem to be the best solving format for all solvers from beginners to experts. It certainly removes some of the frustrations from puzzle selection, puzzle scoring, and round timing. Of course rules decisions should be left to the authors and LMI organizers, but I wonder if a general trend towards "friendlier" puzzle sets and rules is one way to help grow the audience of competitors.

Edited by motris 2013-10-28 2:09 AM
Joo M.Y
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-28 7:18 PM (#13270 - in reply to #13211) (#13270) Top




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 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 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
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 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 LMI player
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-28 10:18 PM (#13273 - in reply to #13211) (#13273) Top


 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 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
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 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


joshuazucker
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-28 10:25 PM (#13274 - in reply to #13211) (#13274) Top




Posts: 31
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 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 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
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 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


Beautiful theme! Lots of the puzzles were very nice to solve, too, which I know is challenging when the theme constrains the placement of the givens so much.
esther59
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-29 4:49 AM (#13276 - in reply to #13211) (#13276) Top




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Location: Switzerland
 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 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
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Way too many puzzles (too little time)
 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


Grizix
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-29 6:02 AM (#13277 - in reply to #13211) (#13277) Top




Posts: 30
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 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Average
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 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


For the booklet complain :
the grid was to dark for slitherlink, rectangles and fillomino, it was really hard to draw visible borders onto the printed grid.
debmohanty
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-29 6:42 AM (#13278 - in reply to #13277) (#13278) Top



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Grizix - 2013-10-29 6:02 AM

For the booklet complain :
the grid was to dark for slitherlink, rectangles and fillomino, it was really hard to draw visible borders onto the printed grid.

achan1058 - 2013-10-26 8:33 AM

Maybe it's just my laser printer, but the given lines are dark enough that I have trouble drawing lines on top of the given lines in the slitherlink and fillomino.
Certainly agree with that. In fact we recognized all 3 images to be a problem, but didn't get the PB corrected before the test started. I should have notified Matej earlier. Sorry about that.
chaotic_iak
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-29 3:24 PM (#13279 - in reply to #13278) (#13279) Top



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Yay for Top 20 finish :D /end self bragging

It's interesting that this test has both "Way too many puzzles" and "Way too few puzzles" at the same time. (Also "Too many easy puzzles" and "Too many hard puzzles".) Hm...

Edited by chaotic_iak 2013-10-29 3:25 PM
macherlakumar
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-29 6:18 PM (#13281 - in reply to #13211) (#13281) Top





Posts: 123
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Location: India
 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 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
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount


detuned
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-29 7:57 PM (#13282 - in reply to #13250) (#13282) Top




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prasanna16391 - 2013-10-27 7:16 AM

I still don't understand this, because its like every test. For anyone who can't finish a test, puzzle selection matters. Thats not luck. It would be luck if points distribution was not given and someone went and attempted the Kakuro thinking it to be easy or the Akari thinking they'd get more points for it. But its known which are the lower pointers and the higher pointers, its upto the solver to select the puzzles in a way to optimize their performance. Thats a part of competing. Every Monthly test barring exceptions is typically designed so that the top 3-4 players can finish and there's a few easy puzzles for the rest. In fact, this test has more easy puzzles than others, in my opinion. Its not like 75 minutes is an unheard of time, in fact the ever successful TVCs are also of 75 minutes.

The guidelines LMI gives to the authors was followed here. There were a few easy puzzles, and it was finishable for top solvers. There was never claims that it would be otherwise. Why pinpoint this test on being timed poorly, when it followed the general guidelines?

Obviously, if the discussion is that the general guidelines themselves should be re-visited, then thats a completely different matter. I'll again point to the existence of Beginners' Contests and the need to make the distinction that the Monthly tests are set based on general WPC difficulty and finish-ability.


I think you are missing something here Prasanna, and that is how the points are distributed. Puzzle selection for a competition can indeed come down to luck if you have high variance puzzles (often the case on monthly tests as authors want to show off novel designs and tricks) or you haven't taken into account a sufficient number of testers. I think that when puzzle selection has a bigger impact on ranking than overall puzzle solving skills then this can cause a lot of frustration, and it would be a mistake for anyone running a competition not to at least consider this issue.

My own personal preference when running a competition is to have more like 20 finishers, and to make sure there are no puzzles with "outlier" levels of difficulty/points distribution which potentially shake things up if you don't solve them or if you attempt to solve them and waste lots of time scoring 0.

I have to say I didn't really find that too much of an issue with this test, which I enjoyed (despite having to solve in paint); my comments are of a more general nature.
prasanna16391
Subject: Re: DWBH — LMI October Puzzle Test #3 — 26th-28th October 2013 @ 2013-10-29 8:30 PM (#13283 - in reply to #13282) (#13283) Top


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detuned - 2013-10-29 7:57 PM

I think you are missing something here Prasanna, and that is how the points are distributed. Puzzle selection for a competition can indeed come down to luck if you have high variance puzzles (often the case on monthly tests as authors want to show off novel designs and tricks) or you haven't taken into account a sufficient number of testers. I think that when puzzle selection has a bigger impact on ranking than overall puzzle solving skills then this can cause a lot of frustration, and it would be a mistake for anyone running a competition not to at least consider this issue.



Well, if the criticism was about points distribution being off I wouldn't have argued, because most of the time thats down to personal preference. The criticism I argued with was basically that this test was not timed properly.

Obviously it could come down to luck if the distribution is not done right. Points distribution is always an important aspect of organizing a contest. But that comes into relevance only once the choice is made by the participant. Its unfair to say there's luck involved in the selection process itself. You know you are choosing a puzzle thats "supposed to be" high/low difficulty based on points assigned. If it then proves otherwise, its the points distribution that can be criticized, not the timing of the test, which pretty much followed the usual Monthly Test standards (whether the standards are ideal is an entirely different topic) and any deviation was on the easier side.
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