tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82839500710055261622024-03-19T04:33:06.799+01:00Para's Puzzle SiteParahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.comBlogger407125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-61981782681637850572024-02-11T09:30:00.001+01:002024-02-11T09:30:38.418+01:00World Puzzle Championship 2023<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">This post is a bit late. I never really got around to posting these puzzles. There's some nice puzzle in the set, so I figured I'd still share all of them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I focussed my writing mostly on Rounds 7 and 20. They contained the most types I hadn't seen before. I also played around a bit with round 13. I think I got the most out of writing puzzles for round 7 as I could actually keep up pretty well with Ken Endo, finishing in second place only slightly behind.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Puzzles can be found below.</span></p><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><a href="https://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com/2024/02/world-puzzle-championship-2023-practice.html#more">Read more »</a>Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-18900157485520424452022-11-02T09:45:00.002+01:002022-11-02T13:25:38.683+01:00World Puzzle Championship 2022<p>It's been four years since I posted on my blog. It's also been four years since I wrote practice puzzles for anything. Most puzzles I've written in the last years have either appeared on the Dutch team website wcpn.nl, Sudoku and Puzzles Down Under on Facebook or in different national championships. This post will contain all practice puzzles I wrote for this year's World Puzzle Championship in Krakow, Poland.</p><p>The championship itself was a lot of fun. The puzzles were very nice. I was introduced to some fun new puzzle types. La Paz and Rail Pool were definitely my two favourite new types. Those puzzles were a lot of fun to solve. Pretty much every new type had something interesting though. The Nightmare in Krakow round was a fun combination of rule variants. The No Four In A Row concept led to some interesting puzzles. These two were my favourite two variant rounds.</p><p>The championship went better than I expected. I hadn't really gotten around to competing much in the last few years. I had lost my drive a bit during COVID to compete in the GP or other online competitions. I wasn't really sure how well my solving skills had kept up. At the championship it turned out that I was still able to compete with the best puzzlers. I had a good start to the championship and avoided errors through the first 4 rounds. I ended up in 4th place after 4 rounds, which was a lot better than I was expecting at the start. After this a few errors started sneaking in. I broke a couple puzzles in the Snake round and also made an error on a third puzzle, so I dropped off a bit after this round. The second day got worse over the day. I made some small errors that lost me some points in the morning, but the big errors came in round 11 and 12. A small error in round 11 cost me over 200 points for the puzzle and the time bonus. Round 12 just had a number of dumb errors in a couple of puzzles. In the end I managed to make it to the playoffs in 10th place (12th unofficial). Philipp Weiss just managed to edge me out in the playoffs because I broke the BACA on the first go and had to restart it. A good solve on the Star Battle Builder got me pretty close, but I couldn't find the solution in the bottom of the Shimaguni fast enough. </p><p>Overall I'm pretty happy with how the championship went. I'm still hoping to reach the podium one time and at least this championship shows I can still compete with the best in the world.</p><p><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">WPC Practice Puzzles</span></b></p><p><b><span></span></b></p><a href="https://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com/2022/11/world-puzzle-championship-2022.html#more">Read more »</a>Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-31560614050792994522018-11-25T12:00:00.000+01:002018-11-25T12:00:09.581+01:00World Puzzle Championship Puzzles - Round 12The last set of puzzles are from round 12. This was the innovative round. There were a few types in there that were interesting to write. My favourite two types were Inner ABC and Coral with Letters. I think those are also the nicest puzzles in this set. One rule that popped up a lot in this championship was the "Worms" rule of alternating higher and lower digits within a path of numbers. It's probably not a rule that will be used much in the future. It didn't really strike me as a rule that added much to any of the puzzles.<br>
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<a href="https://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com/2018/11/world-puzzle-championship-puzzles-round_25.html#more">Read more »</a>Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-58819682015230461042018-11-24T12:00:00.000+01:002018-11-24T12:00:02.867+01:00World Puzzle Championship Puzzles - Round 6Round 6 had puzzles that were all combinations of different types of puzzles. There were some interesting ideas, but I doubt many of these will be seen more often again in future puzzle sets.<br>
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There's a few puzzles in here that I'm pretty happy with. The Starwacky puzzle is a nice solve. Snail on Snake worked out pretty well because it didn't need any extra given numbers, except for the head and tail. Galaxies and Tetrominoes is my favourite in the set, because it really forces the two types to work together.<br>
The other puzzles should also be nice to solve.<br>
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<a href="https://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com/2018/11/world-puzzle-championship-puzzles-round_24.html#more">Read more »</a>Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-85433172140248658332018-11-23T12:00:00.000+01:002018-11-23T12:00:09.717+01:00World Puzzle Championship Puzzles - Round 3I wrote a number of practice puzzles for myself, to help prepare for the World Puzzle Championships this year. I didn't have as much time to prepare, but it helped in the long run. Some people wanted to see them afterwards, so I promised to post them all on my blog.<br>
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I only really made puzzles for three rounds on the championship: Round 3, Round 6 and Round 12. This post contains puzzles from Round 3.<br>
Most puzzles were overall a bit harder than the puzzles at the actual championship, because I took a bit more liberty with the design of most puzzles, especially in the amount of clues given. One puzzle ended up being broken, but I guess it still helped in a way to find out the logic in the genre.<br>
For examples, please check the <a href="http://wscwpc2018.cz/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/WPC_2018_instruction_booklet_v3.pdf">WPC instruction booklet</a>.<br>
<a href="https://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com/2018/11/world-puzzle-championship-puzzles-round.html#more">Read more »</a>Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-3682600171762372622017-10-08T12:00:00.000+02:002017-10-08T14:17:02.446+02:00WSC Practice #9: Round 12 - What Is It?This is the 9th practice puzzle for the <a href="http://wspc2017.logicmastersindia.com/?g=WSC2017">2017 WSC</a>.<br />
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These are the last 2 practice puzzles for the WSC. I'll be focussing on the WPC a bit for the next week. That's the championship where I'm actually competitive. I don't know whether I'll be posting puzzles yet for the WPC, but they might show up.<br />
Nine posts also seems the appropriate number for a Sudoku competition. This time they are two practice puzzles for the instructionless round.<br />
If someone has any specific request for a puzzle type, I might be persuaded to make another. Let me know.<br />
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I figured this is a round that might need some practice too. I don't think for either puzzle the rules are too hard to figure out. It's possible that both ideas have been done before. I can't remember seeing them before, but my memory isn't perfect. They're not exactly innovative ideas.<br />
I think the first puzzle is probably more like a puzzle in the actual test. It's a just simple addition to a Sudoku grid. I had fun writing them, but with a bit more time I could have made them a bit nicer.<br />
The second puzzle I'm not sure whether it qualifies as a Sudoku puzzle. It has all the rules of a normal Sudoku puzzle but it doesn't uses numbers like most Sudoku puzzles. I think the rules are pretty simple. I had a lot of fun writing them, so they should be fun to solve, I think.<br />
Try the examples too. They're both fun puzzles too.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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In this Sudoku the additional rules are not given. An example and solution are given of the Sudoku variant. Figure out the additional rule from the example and solve the puzzle.<br />
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Rules Puzzle #1 (highlight if needed): <span style="background-color: black; color: black;">Each marked 2-cell area contains a 2-digit number, read left to right or top to bottom. The first marked 2-cell area seen by an arrow must contain a larger 2-digit number than the arrow.</span><br />
Rules Puzzle #2 (highlight if needed): <span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: black;">Place 8 arrows (<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "wingdings 3"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">fghimlkj</span>) once in every row, column and marked 3x3 area. Numbers in the grid indicate how many arrows are pointing at that cell</span>.</span><br />
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-8242993333337707032017-10-07T00:00:00.000+02:002017-10-07T03:12:20.523+02:00WSC Practice #8: Round 13 - Puzzle 7: Joker Product SudokuThis is the 8th practice puzzle for the <a href="http://wspc2017.logicmastersindia.com/?g=WSC2017">2017 WSC</a>. <br />
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The Joker round is going to be a tricky one. I made an error in the construction of the previous Joker puzzle. Hopefully There are none in these. It's easier to make an error in these puzzles if you just fall back into your standard deductions.<br />
This type actually appears twice in the championship as it also appears in the final team round.<br />
The first puzzle should be a nice solve. I put in a few things that can be done with the Joker in this genre. I'm pretty sure they were easily figured out by yourself, but I think they're nice to see in a puzzle. There's still a few key deductions to find, but it should work well.<br />
The second puzzle is much harder. It relies on a lot of clue interactions, without giving much direct information. It takes a long chain of interactions to place a few digits and consequently figure out the Joker. Even then it's not exactly easy.<br />
I had to check a possible error. I realised I might have forgotten something, but it didn't really influence the puzzle as the deductions still held true. The dumb construction errors really don't allay my fears of making errors in this round by accidentally forgetting a Joker interaction.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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In this Sudoku, numbers on the borders of two cells indicate the product of the digits in those 2 cells. Additionally, there is a Joker digit in the grid. This digit can take on any integer value from 1 to 9 necessary to comply with the rules. It can even take multiple different values within a single cell to satisfy different clues.<br />
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<i><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #1</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #2</span></i></div>
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-46062396714171375842017-10-06T12:00:00.000+02:002017-10-06T12:00:17.959+02:00WSC Practice #7: Round 7 - Puzzle 3: Japanese Sums SudokuThis is the 7th practice puzzle for the <a href="http://wspc2017.logicmastersindia.com/?g=WSC2017">2017 WSC</a>.<br />
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I know this round might be a bit contentious to some people. They're afraid it's going to be too puzzly and not enough Sudoku. But just because a Sudoku is named after a puzzle genre, doesn't mean it's completely like that genre. I have a few ways I can imagine these puzzles to be far more like a Sudoku than a puzzle.<br />
I tried to design this Sudoku to not heavily rely on being familiar with Japanese Sums as a puzzle. The logic needed isn't much different than a Killer Sudoku. This is one of the ways I imagined the Sudoku element to shine much more through than the Japanese Sums element of the puzzle. The puzzle shouldn't be too hard if you work the clues in the right order. I hope this helps prepare a bit for the championship.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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In this Sudoku, shade some cells in the grid so that the numbers outside the grid represent the sums of the digits in the white cells in that row or column. The sums are given in the correct order. If there are multiple sums in a row or column, they need to be separated by at least one shaded cell. Some shaded cells may be given.<br />
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-38372733105437561922017-10-06T00:00:00.000+02:002017-10-06T03:27:18.647+02:00WSC Practice #6: Round 9 - Puzzle 6: Crossed SudokuThis is the 6th practice puzzle for the <a href="http://wspc2017.logicmastersindia.com/?g=WSC2017">2017 WSC</a>.<br />
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This is not a very new variant. There's been similar variants, one of them being Shaken Clones Sudoku, where digits have to be the same within certain shapes. The only thing different seems to be that the shape is set for this variant. I haven't solved many of these though, so I figured writing one would be good practice for me.<br />
This puzzle is pretty standard. There's not really anything difficult in this puzzle. It just explores the standard things in this genre. If you want a more challenging version of this puzzle, you can remove the 2 in R5C5. The puzzle is still unique that way, but the solving process gets a bit more complicated. You can still get through it logically, but it really isn't that nice. I had made a bad deduction in construction, but it somehow hadn't affected uniqueness. I only found out in the resolve. I decided to add the 2 to just have a smooth solve again. <br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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In this Sudoku, all crosses contain the exact same 5 digits in any given order. Digits may repeat along a cross.<br />
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-72178470313454564772017-10-05T12:00:00.000+02:002017-10-06T03:27:34.792+02:00WSC Practice #5: Round 6 - Puzzle 9: Big Small Count SudokuThis is the Fifth practice puzzle for the <a href="http://wspc2017.logicmastersindia.com/?g=WSC2017">2017 WSC</a>.<br />
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I wasn't really sure how this variant was going to work. The example has a lot of givens, so I wasn't sure how it would work from that. I set up an opening section and figured I'd go from there. The opening section actually gave more information than I expected and I managed to reduce the second half of the puzzle a bit. It wouldn't get unique though, so I added an extra circle just to fix a small uniqueness issue. It doesn't make for the prettiest Sudoku, but it's a nice result anyway.<br />
I generally like these kind of circle count puzzles, because it gives a fun interaction. Every time a circle gets figure out, a bit of new information gets revealed. It's like you're adding extra clues to the grid during the solving process.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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In this Sudoku there are a number of circles. A digit in a circle indicate either "the number of neighbouring digits bigger than that digit" or "the number of neighbouring digits smaller than that digit" or both. Not all possible circles are marked.<br />
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-51398672819380620902017-10-05T00:00:00.000+02:002017-10-08T07:40:48.005+02:00WSC Practice #4: Round 13 - Puzzle 9: Joker Battenburg SudokuThe fourth practice puzzle for the <a href="http://wspc2017.logicmastersindia.com/?g=WSC2017">2017 WSC</a>.<br />
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I feel this round can use all the practice necessary. The Joker rule is something new, as far as I'm aware, and seems to be a bit tricky. Basically the Joker only follows the standard Sudoku rules, but ignores any variant in the puzzle. This is because the Joker digit can assume whatever digit it needs to be for the puzzle to work, even if it means being different digits in the same cell. <br />
The Battenburg Sudoku was one of my own inventions. The reason I picked this type first is because it has both a positive and a negative rule in effect as all possible markings are given. The "All possible markings" rule is a bit odd with the Joker. The way I understand it, in the given solution there are no places where any extra markings HAVE TO be placed. Even if there are markings that could be placed if the Joker assumes the correct parity, they don't have to be placed as the Joker can assume an incorrect parity. I do hope my interpretation is correct, but it seems to conform with the given example in the Instruction Booklet. If it isn't, my apologies for providing an incorrect puzzle. It has happened before. It should still be fun to solve.<br />
I think the puzzle worked out pretty well. The opening should properly show the way this variant interacts with the Joker. Once you've determined the value of the Joker, the solve really takes off. It's probably a harder puzzle because you have to keep reminding yourself of the Joker rule and thread carefully through the puzzle.<br />
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[Edit: Puzzle image fixed.]<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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In this Sudoku, everywhere a 2x2 square forms a Checkerboard pattern of Odd and Even digits a Battenburg marking is given. All possible Battenburg markings have been given.<br />
Additionally, one digit in the puzzle is a Joker. This Joker digit can be both Odd or Even. The same Joker cell may assume different parities for different 2x2 areas.<br />
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-26322001868922553322017-10-04T12:00:00.000+02:002017-10-06T03:28:07.028+02:00WSC Practice #3: Round 6 - Puzzle 1: Incremental Arrow SudokuThis is the third practice puzzle for the <a href="http://wspc2017.logicmastersindia.com/?g=WSC2017">2017 WSC</a>.<br />
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Obviously some of the puzzles are going to come from the 6th round as it has new types. I figured I might as well start at the beginning of the round. This also seemed like a type that would suit my writing style.<br />
The overall design idea was to make a long arrow and match the givens in the same place. I think it worked out well. The other 2 matching arrows just add a little bit extra to the aesthetics. This is probably the easiest puzzle out of the three practice puzzles so far. It's really a matter of making one single opening deduction and the rest of the puzzle flows pretty easily. <br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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In this Sudoku, there are a number of arrows. Starting from the third digit on the arrow, each digit is the unit's digit of the sum of the previous two digits on the arrow.<br />
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-3359823822368435872017-10-04T00:00:00.000+02:002017-10-06T03:28:20.418+02:00WSC Practice #2: Round 1 - Puzzle 5: 12 Sum/Product SudokuThe second practice puzzle for the <a href="http://wspc2017.logicmastersindia.com/?g=WSC2017">2017 WSC</a>.<br />
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This second puzzle is a type I don't necessarily remember solving before, but it's not exactly a new type. There's been numerous similar variants with products and sums, but this one only uses the number 12. It is the 12th WSC, so it isn't that surprising a twist.<br />
It's impossible to write a puzzle without any given digits, as there is no way to differentiate between a number of digits. So I decided to find a nice layout of givens and work with that. The centred 1-9 is always a nice layout to choose and it actually led to some nice interactions with the 12-dots. So I designed the rest of the dots around that to make the puzzle unique. I think it worked out well. I can't really judge the difficulty, although it might be trickier than it felt designing as one deduction came about by accident as I missed it was forced pretty much from the start and went with it. Hope it's useful and fun to solve.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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In this Sudoku there are a number of grey dots between cells. If there's a grey dot between two cells, the sum or product of the two digits in these cells must be 12. Not all possible dots have been marked.<br />
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-7461789389857632332017-10-03T12:00:00.000+02:002017-10-06T03:28:34.282+02:00WSC Practice #1: Round 2 - Puzzle 22: Outside 234 SudokuThis is the first proper practice puzzle for the <a href="http://wspc2017.logicmastersindia.com/?g=WSC2017">2017 WSC</a>. <br />
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I've written this type a couple of times, usually under the name Inside Sudoku. One of them was used at the 2016 Thai Open and another one can be found on <a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com.au/2016/05/daily-league-68-inside-sudoku-and.html">my blog</a>. The logic is pretty similar to Outside Sudoku, but the small twist makes it different enough to qualify as a different variant. Because it's a newer variant, I enjoy writing these a bit more.<br />
This puzzle has a type of opening that works nicely in this variant. I think you need to fully understand the implications of the opening to get your way through the puzzle. It's not the easiest opening, but should be useful to understand the full implications of this variant. The solve around it shouldn't be overly hard. I sacrificed symmetry a bit to keep a nicer solve. I always prefer nice logic over nice aesthetics, although both together is obviously better.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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In this Sudoku, clues are given on the outside. Digits on the outside indicate that these digits appear in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th cell in that row or column when looking from that side.<br />
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-82140166029895173002017-10-02T12:46:00.000+02:002017-10-02T12:46:14.028+02:00Daily League Sudoku #69: Palindrome SudokuI've been intending to post some puzzles on my blog, but that never really seems to happen. I wrote a couple of Sudokus for the Daily League to post in the upcoming weeks. But as the <a href="http://wspc2017.logicmastersindia.com/?g=WSC2017">Instruction Booklet of the WSC</a> just came out, I've noticed some of the variants I wrote are useful as practice for the WSC. So I'll be uploading those puzzles earlier than planned. I will try to post a Sudoku and/or puzzle a day as practice for the WSC, but I could be missing a puzzle once in a while.<br />
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This first puzzle does not actually appear as a separate variant in the WSC, but the practice might be useful. I enjoyed the opening of this puzzle. The original design had a symmetric layout, but the extra clues somewhat invalidated the created opening, so I reduced the puzzle a bit to make the solve come through more. This is the third Palindrom Sudoku I've written and for some reason the centre of the sequence seems to always end up between R2C3 and R1C4. Clearly this seems like the right point to start a line for me.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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In this Sudoku, the digits along the grey line form a palindromic sequence. This means the digits along the line read the same starting from either end.<br />
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-10531716660189631902017-05-12T12:00:00.000+02:002017-05-12T12:00:05.125+02:00UKPA Open 2017: ArrowsThis round was provided for this year's UKPA Open. The round was themed around arrows. I had thought of making a set themed around arrows before. There's a lot of genres that use them, so it could lead to a varied set. I gathered a lot of different genres and tried to select a set that created a significantly varied set. I think I managed to select types that used arrows in different ways. There were a few genres I had tested, that didn't end in the set as they turned out too difficult, or not very enjoyable. A few of the types turned out harder than I thought and I added an easier puzzle to that section.<br>
The set was 75 minutes during the championship. An instruction booklet can be found <a href="http://forum.ukpuzzles.org/download/file.php?id=991">here</a>.<br>
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Puzzles can be found below.<br>
<a href="https://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com/2017/05/ukpa-open-2017-arrows.html#more">Read more »</a>Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-89781270362039116942017-05-05T06:29:00.001+02:002017-05-05T06:29:17.724+02:00Puzzle #194: Arrow LoopIt's been a while since I've posted puzzles, almost a year actually. This month I'll be posting a few sets that I've provided to numerous puzzle championships over the last few months. <br />
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The first puzzle will actually be a puzzle that never appeared in a championship. It was originally was designed for the YKPA Open. The reason for this is that it came back as unsolvable by one of the testers. In the many years of having my puzzles tested, I haven't ever gotten the message back that a puzzle couldn't be solved, unless it had an error in it. This puzzle though, did not have any error. The problem with this puzzle was that I had made an assumption. This assumption involved a characteristic of loops, that I thought was well known and obvious. Both my testers weren't aware of this characteristic at first and only one could figure it out while solving. It was supposed to be a somewhat easy loop puzzle, but thus turned into a much harder puzzle, which I had no way of scoring the difficulty of accurately. So I decided to keep it out of the set. There's a hint below in case you need some help in solving the puzzle.<br />
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<em><span style="color: #e69138;">Hint (highlight to read):</span></em><br />
<span style="background-color: black;">Parallel bordering loop segments must always travel in opposite direction.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #e69138;">Rules for Arrow Loop:</span></strong><br />
Draw a single closed loop that travels through each cell exactly once. The loop is not allowed to touch or cross itself. Arrows in the grid indicate the direction the loop travels in from that cell.<br />
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-35283336868918217582016-07-30T12:00:00.000+02:002016-07-30T12:00:30.994+02:00Puzzle #193: Greater WallTwo weeks ago was the Dutch round of the WPF Grand Prix 2016. I wrote all the puzzles for this set, both the casual and competitive section. The sets can be found on the following links: <a href="http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Puzzles/2016/2016_PuzzleRound7_CB_Casual.pdf">Casual</a> and <a href="http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Puzzles/2016/2016_PuzzleRound7_CB_Competitive.pdf">Competitive</a>. Not all puzzles I had written were used as the set, either because they were not needed or were too difficult. This post contains the puzzles of one type that weren't used.<br />
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This post will contain four Greater Wall puzzles. It's my own genre and I still had a lot to play with in this genre as it's still fairly new. That's why I wanted to include it. The first three were the original puzzles I had written, but in the end they were replaced with three other easier puzzles. The fourth was not used as a replacement. The puzzles used in the test all had more straightforward openings. In these puzzles, the openings are a little more complicated. They still given enough information for an easy start, but it needs a bit more effort to get through it completely. Puzzle 2 and 4 use the same opening clue, but the first one is harder to get through.<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Rules for Greater Wall</span><br />
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Colour some cells to create a single orthogonally connected wall. The wall can't cover any 2x2 area anywhere. Where given, clues outside indicate all connected blocks of shaded cells in that row or column, in the correct order. Relations between two placeholders apply to the lengths of the corresponding blocks.<br />
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #1</span></em></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;"><em>Puzzle #2</em></span></div>
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #3</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #4</span></em></div>
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-88338742852866500722016-07-29T12:00:00.000+02:002016-07-29T12:00:12.422+02:00Puzzle #192: MagnetsTwo weeks ago was the Dutch round of the WPF Grand Prix 2016. I wrote all the puzzles for this set, both the casual and competitive section. The sets can be found on the following links: <a href="http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Puzzles/2016/2016_PuzzleRound7_CB_Casual.pdf">Casual</a> and <a href="http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Puzzles/2016/2016_PuzzleRound7_CB_Competitive.pdf">Competitive</a>. Not all puzzles I had written were used as the set, either because they were not needed or were too difficult. This post contains the puzzles of one type that weren't used.<br />
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This post contains four Magnets puzzles. One of them I never submitted, as I thought it would be too hard, but it's still a nice solve. I enjoy solving magnets puzzles, but the puzzles I write tend to turn out pretty hard. I've come to write more magnets puzzles these days that don't have all clues given. I find them more interesting that way. It leaves all clues being useful till the end. The first puzzle is an easier small puzzle. It uses some standard techniques to open up the puzzle. The second puzzle is a bit harder. It uses the interaction between different rows and columns much more. The third puzzle was a similar layout as the first. It works on some standard logic to start off as well. The fourth puzzle is also a larger version of the second puzzle. One clue per row and column usually seems to work the nicest for me.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/rules-magnets.html">Rules for Magnets</a><br />
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #1</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #2</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #3</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #4</span></em></div>
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-41796905100443420082016-07-28T12:00:00.000+02:002016-07-28T12:00:15.347+02:00Puzzle #191: Word PacksTwo weeks ago was the Dutch round of the WPF Grand Prix 2016. I wrote all the puzzles for this set, both the casual and competitive section. The sets can be found on the following links: <a href="http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Puzzles/2016/2016_PuzzleRound7_CB_Casual.pdf">Casual</a> and <a href="http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Puzzles/2016/2016_PuzzleRound7_CB_Competitive.pdf">Competitive</a>. Not all puzzles I had written were used as the set, either because they were not needed or were too difficult. This post contains the puzzles of one type that weren't used.<br />
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This post will contain two Word Packs puzzles. This was the only type to be included in the Casual section. It's a type that I've seen in Breinbrekers before, but not really anywhere else as far as I can remember. I thought it would fit in well in the casual round. It was judged to be too varying in solving times to get an accurate rating for it. As the Casual section wasn't finished by anyone, it wasn't really missed. These puzzles generally work in a similar way. It's all a matter of understanding the logic involved. Usually the words are themed, to make it a bit more interesting. The themes I used for these two puzzles were Animals and Countries.<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Rules for Word Packs</span><br />
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Place the given words in the grid, so that each rectangle contains exactly one word. Words in rectangles that touch each other can't contain the same letter.<br />
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #1</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #2</span></em></div>
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-2707421929362577242016-07-27T12:00:00.000+02:002016-07-27T12:00:02.632+02:00Puzzle #190: TapaTwo weeks ago was the Dutch round of the WPF Grand Prix 2016. I wrote all the puzzles for this set, both the casual and competitive section. The sets can be found on the following links: <a href="http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Puzzles/2016/2016_PuzzleRound7_CB_Casual.pdf">Casual</a> and <a href="http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Puzzles/2016/2016_PuzzleRound7_CB_Competitive.pdf">Competitive</a>. Not all puzzles I had written were used as the set, either because they were not needed or were too difficult. This post contains the puzzles of one type that weren't used.<br />
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This post will contain three Tapa puzzles. These puzzles were written in case a simpler genre needed to be added. Neither of them is particularly difficult, but they still are pretty nice. I thought the first puzzle had an interesting kind of symmetry. The solve is not too hard. The second puzzle worked out okay. I added more clues than I normally would. There's a few places to start and they al come together in the end. The last puzzle is a nice 10 clue puzzle. It's a low clue count for a 10 by 10 puzzle, especially with a symmetric clue distribution. The solve worked out pretty well.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/rules-tapa.html">Rules for Tapa</a><br />
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #1</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #2</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #3</span></em></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyh2abxr4PC8sBOBFyDS69Xz9nHqu0-UcG7mdJgAjaZod3KkPqvWs9S0lGVVEl3o0g7dvYDQimOZKdyZvURRXEdrMkSM_dfmq1i6EqyB9CSMiEl0tMvDWchW4xqW6uTSlTmLjWrsbqI-Y/s1600/Tapa+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyh2abxr4PC8sBOBFyDS69Xz9nHqu0-UcG7mdJgAjaZod3KkPqvWs9S0lGVVEl3o0g7dvYDQimOZKdyZvURRXEdrMkSM_dfmq1i6EqyB9CSMiEl0tMvDWchW4xqW6uTSlTmLjWrsbqI-Y/s320/Tapa+3.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-70278722301437613382016-07-26T12:00:00.000+02:002016-07-26T12:00:17.182+02:00Puzzle #189: Turning FencesTwo weeks ago was the Dutch round of the WPF Grand Prix 2016. I wrote all the puzzles for this set, both the casual and competitive section. The sets can be found on the following links: <a href="http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Puzzles/2016/2016_PuzzleRound7_CB_Casual.pdf">Casual</a> and <a href="http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default/files/Puzzles/2016/2016_PuzzleRound7_CB_Competitive.pdf">Competitive</a>. Not all puzzles I had written were used as the set, either because they were not needed or were too difficult. This post contains the puzzles of one type that weren't used.<br />
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This post will contain Turning Fences puzzles. I enjoy this genre. The puzzles always are fun to write for me. I've done a lot of these puzzles and have figured out pretty well how the genre works. I wrote a <a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/tutorial-turning-fences.html">tutorial</a> for this genre a while back, which might be useful when doing these puzzles. I changed the layout a bit as I thought this was easier for notation than using the Slitherlink layout.<br />
The puzzles aren't the hardest I've written, but I thought that would work better for the GP. The first puzzle is pretty straightforward. It only has even clues. The second puzzle has a simple opening, which leads to a harder finish. I wanted to leave the middle blank. To guide the loop through the clueless middle, I needed to make the end a bit harder to get it unique. The third puzzle is a bit more even in difficulty. It has one important step in the middle of the solve, but the rest should be smooth.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com/2011/10/rules-turning-fences.html">Rules for Turning Fences</a><br />
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #1</span></em></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;"><em>Puzzle #2</em></span></div>
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Puzzle #3</span></em></div>
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-69270219650879793172016-05-15T00:00:00.000+02:002016-05-15T00:00:03.548+02:00Daily League #68: Inside Sudoku and Outside SudokuThis is the second twin Sudoku. This time it's a combination of Inside and Outside Sudoku. They're pretty similar types, but the solve is still different.<br />
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Inside Sudoku first appeared on the US Sudoku Qualification. I thought the idea worked pretty well. I don't remember seeing it anywhere after that. I turned the idea in a Frame Sudoku, which has been repeated numerously, mostly by Richard Stolk.<br />
The construction of the combination took a bit of work. Setting up the opening was pretty easy, but after that it gets a lot trickier. It's hard to pick the right digits that help both puzzles along. I liked the opening and found some points that nicely helped both puzzles along. It was hard to find a way to get both puzzles unique. There were a few situations that wouldn't resolve uniquely and I took a while to figure out how to avoid those.<br />
I think both puzzles turned out nicely. The Outside Sudoku is the easier of the two. You get a lot of simple digits from the opening, while the Inside Sudoku's opening is more of a struggle. Enjoy.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;"><em>Inside Sudoku:</em></span> In this Sudoku digits on the outside indicate that these digits must appear in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th cell in that row or column when looking from that side.<br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;"><em>Outside Sudoku:</em></span> In this Sudoku digits on the outside indicate that these digits must appear in the first three cells in that row or column, when looking from that side.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHtDpegozKGz-DtqyYq38wxP00c_r_RduoS6VNV2PwkcU3lp0D44qQw8j-TjYcqH3_VCNZSzR_cSHsZX84DH54ThzwJ9k7YEqZGNwSmDhSQ-ZSM9hyphenhyphen8scPnj-f6Lyz9_RGqGAEzqxzNY/s1600/Inside+and+Outside+Sudoku.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHtDpegozKGz-DtqyYq38wxP00c_r_RduoS6VNV2PwkcU3lp0D44qQw8j-TjYcqH3_VCNZSzR_cSHsZX84DH54ThzwJ9k7YEqZGNwSmDhSQ-ZSM9hyphenhyphen8scPnj-f6Lyz9_RGqGAEzqxzNY/s320/Inside+and+Outside+Sudoku.png" width="303" /></a></td></tr>
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-14846424959669090162016-05-01T00:00:00.000+02:002016-05-01T00:00:09.434+02:00Daily League #67: Edge Sums Sudoku and Frame SudokuPossibly this month will feature five <a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Double%20Trouble">Double Trouble</a> Sudokus. I have written two so far, but I don't know if I will be able to write three others in combinations I haven't seen before. But I'm at least going to give it a try.<br />
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This week the puzzle can be solved both as an Edge Sums Sudoku and as a Frame Sudoku. I have used them together in a<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/daily-league-48-edge-sums-or-frame.html"> puzzle</a>, but now they're separate puzzles. I tried for a while to get both puzzles to be solvable without any givens. I only had a limited range of sums to work with, which caused some issue. Edge Sums was the hardest to get unique in this combination as Frame Sudoku gives you the option of creating a useful implied sum. Eventually I compromised by putting two givens in the middle. The Edge Sums puzzle is the easier of the two in this set.<br />
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<a href="http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.nl/2011/09/rules-sudoku.html">Rules for Sudoku</a><br />
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Edge Sums Sudoku:</span></em><br />
In this Sudoku numbers on the outside indicate the sum of the first two digits in that row or column, when looking from that side.<br />
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<em><span style="color: #b45f06;">Frame Sudoku:</span></em><br />
In this Sudoku numbers on the outside indicate the sum of the first three digits in that row or column, when looking from that side.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQvWhPGYQNvdDhYc460hkK_VUrFXYEOk0ffkFbaMzawk_U5YZl8kq-Tkviu91wAxMYTRRqT2qqZi8nxphM9KtE67wLHMxT9uSjR9aSFyU73_7jolliMV2mwyWnmYuMTPgWGn6a8GgTzI/s1600/Edge+Sums+Sudoku+and+Frame+Sudoku+Twin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQvWhPGYQNvdDhYc460hkK_VUrFXYEOk0ffkFbaMzawk_U5YZl8kq-Tkviu91wAxMYTRRqT2qqZi8nxphM9KtE67wLHMxT9uSjR9aSFyU73_7jolliMV2mwyWnmYuMTPgWGn6a8GgTzI/s320/Edge+Sums+Sudoku+and+Frame+Sudoku+Twin.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8283950071005526162.post-32535173350648701242016-04-29T14:09:00.001+02:002016-04-29T14:09:56.545+02:0016th 24-Hour Puzzle ChampionshipThe 16th 24-Hour Puzzle Championship was held in Budapest this weekend. As always the championship featured 14 puzzle sets to be solved over 24 hours, with each round lasting 100 minutes, with only 10 or 20 minute breaks in between. Neil Zussman was this year's winner with a slim 10 point lead over Robert Vollmert in second place and a 23 point lead over Michael Mosshammer in third place. Full results can be found <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rejtvenyfejtes/photos/gm.1030804967013359/1068477693212597/?type=3&theater">here</a>.<br>
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All puzzles of this championship (except round 11) can be found <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ovallnp1vpmfrw7/AAD61cEGKmWD1jFiFqYg0OiQa?dl=0">here</a>. If you need an example of any of the puzzles, you can find the instruction booklets <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/4dmpghxx0ovh0lo/overall_IB2016v2.pdf?dl=0">here</a>.<br>
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I provided a set again this year. It was the 8th set to be solved between 11pm and 12:40am. The set contained 24 puzzles. It featured 12 genres, with one puzzle being a standard and one puzzle being a variant. I was originally going to include only 6 genres and two standard puzzles and two variants. I found it hard to decide on the genres to provide enough variation. I tried to keep all variations different per genre, to add to the variation in the round. I think it ended up being a good mix.<br>
Robert Vollmert was the top scorer of the round with 810 points.<br>
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Puzzles can be found below<br>
<a href="https://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com/2016/04/16th-24-hour-puzzle-championship.html#more">Read more »</a>Parahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367804879917808922noreply@blogger.com6