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Archive Part B - Assassins 51-75, variants & other killers

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Post subject: Re: A51-75 Assassin Archive PART B

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:13 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:16 am
Posts: 1044
Location: Sydney, Australia

Old SSv3.2.1:

Killer rating table      
Rounded Score from SSv3.2.1 
! = 0.10+ change from previous Score
pg# on this thread - PART B
(E) = Easy  (H) = Hard
======================================================================
|A ##       Rate  Score|A ##       Rate  Score|A ##       Rate  Score|
|----------------------+----------------------+----------------------|
|A.73v1.5 H1.50   !1.60|A.74BWall 2.00   !2.25|                      |
|Mav.01   H1.50    1.75|A.75      1.25    1.30|                      |
|A.74      1.00    0.90|                      |                      |
|A.74v2    1.25    1.15|                      |                      |
|====================================================================|
                              page #7

Old scores SSv3.3.0:

Rounded Score from SSv3.3.0 
! = 0.10 change from previous Score
pg# on this thread - PART B
(E) = Easy  (H) = Hard
======================================================================
|A ##       Rate  Score|A ##       Rate  Score|A ##       Rate  Score|
|----------------------+----------------------+----------------------|
|A.73v1.5 H1.50   !1.75|A.74BWall 2.00   !3.30|                      |
|Mav.01   H1.50   !1.90|A.75      1.25   !1.20|                      |
|A.74      1.00   !1.00|                      |                      |
|A.74v2    1.25   !1.05|                      |                      |
|====================================================================|
                              page #7

Killer rating table
SudokuSolver Target range v3.6.3

Rating.....Score
0.50   =   0.85
0.75   =   0.90-0.95
1.00   =   1.00-1.20
1.25   =   1.25-1.45
1.50   =   1.50-1.70   (E) = Easy  (H) = Hard

===========================================================================================
|A ##     by     Rate    Score|A ##     by     Rate    Score|A ##     by     Rate    Score|
|-----------------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------|
|A73v1.5 mhp    H1.50     1.50|A74BrickRuud    2.00     2.75|                             |
|Mav.01  mhp    H1.50     1.65|A.75    Ruud    1.25     1.35|                             |
|A.74    Ruud    1.00     1.00|                             |                             |
|A.74v2  Ruud    1.25     1.20|                             |                             |
|=========================================================================================|
                                         page #7

Assassin 73 v1.5 by mhparker (Jan 08)

Puzzle pic:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

+-------+-------+-------+
| 5 8 3 | 2 4 6 | 7 1 9 |
| 9 2 7 | 8 5 1 | 6 4 3 |
| 1 6 4 | 9 3 7 | 2 8 5 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 2 5 8 | 1 7 9 | 3 6 4 |
| 3 9 6 | 4 8 2 | 5 7 1 |
| 4 7 1 | 5 6 3 | 8 9 2 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 8 3 5 | 6 1 4 | 9 2 7 |
| 6 4 2 | 7 9 5 | 1 3 8 |
| 7 1 9 | 3 2 8 | 4 5 6 |
+-------+-------+-------+

Quote:

mhparker, lead-in: this attractive cage pattern is very suitable for creation of V2s...It contains some interesting opportunities (Est. rating: 1.5)
Afmob, WT1: What a demanding killer! I haven't been able to find a short-cut for this version..Rating: Easy 1.75. Although the moves weren't that difficult (Rating 1.5) there were lots of them with no short-cuts in sight
Afmob, WT2: Rating: Hard 1.5. I rated it down since I was able to omit one chain so that I only use one short chain to crack this assassin [edit:... this wt uses no chains at all]
Andrew: It starts fairly easily, which draws one into the puzzle, then gets really difficult. At one stage I was thinking of giving up but ... State diagrams... can be helpful in providing hints..I'll go along with Afmob's rating of a hard 1.5
2022 forum Revisit to this puzzle here

Walkthrough 1 by Afmob:

Quicker route using AIC(Grouped X-Cycle) and Grouped Swordfish by mhparker:

Epic walkthrough, Afmob. Well persevered!

Andrew wrote:

I wouldn't expect any puzzle with an estimated rating of 1.5 to become an Unsolvable.

Me, neither! However, it's the only consolidated list we currently have for puzzles that do not yet have a WT posted for them. I wasn't seriously expecting this puzzle to become one of them. With the next Assassin being imminent, and unaware that Afmob had in fact already finished the puzzle, I really just wanted to stimulate you all into action... :wink:

Afmob wrote:

What a demanding killer! I haven't been able to find a short-cut for this version so there a lot of little moves with no real breakthrough move. As you can see my walkthrough is very long, which shows what I mean with little steps.

Andrew wrote:

I ... got half a dozen placements very quickly. Then I had to start thinking and am currently only able to find little moves, as Afmob said above.

There was no obvious single shortcut intended for this puzzle. However, there is a quicker route available starting from immediately after Afmob's step 9, as follows:

Grid state after Afmob's step 9:

Code:

.-----------------------.-----------------------.-----------.-----------------------.-----------------------.
| 589         89        | 13          1234578   | 123457    | 3567        567       | 1389        12389     |
|           .-----------'-----------.           |           |           .-----------'-----------.           |
| 589       | 26          7         | 25689     | 123569    | 135       | 46          4568      | 12389     |
:-----------:           .-----------'-----------:           :-----------'-----------.           :-----------:
| 13        | 26        | 4           89        | 23679     | 123567      12567     | 689       | 12567     |
|           '-----------:           .-----------+-----------'-----------.           :-----------'           |
| 24          15        | 89        | 1234567   | 56789       123456789 | 1234567   | 13456789    123456789 |
:-----------------------+-----------'           '-----------.           '-----------+-----------------------:
| 347         589       | 136         12345679    456789    | 123456789   123456789 | 13567       12357     |
:-----------------------+-----------.-----------------------'-----------.-----------+-----------------------:
| 234         789       | 136       | 123456      123456789   12345     | 456789    | 13456789    123456789 |
|           .-----------:           '-----------.           .-----------'           :-----------.           |
| 89        | 3         | 58          146       | 1456789   | 456789      456789    | 2         | 456789    |
:-----------:           '-----------.-----------+-----------+-----------.-----------'           :-----------:
| 67        | 4           2         | 5679      | 56789     | 56789     | 13          13        | 56789     |
|           '-----------.-----------'           |           |           '-----------.-----------'           |
| 167         17        | 589         23456     | 23456     | 23456789    456789    | 456789      456789    |
'-----------------------'-----------------------'-----------'-----------------------'-----------------------'

From this position, the following moves can be made (disguised in Afmob-like WT style... :-)

Quote:

10. R123
a) R2C9 <> 9 because {13}9 for 13(3) blocked by R1C3
b) AIC (Grouped X-Cycle): (9)R3C4=R4C3-R9C3=R7C1-R2C1=R2C45 -> R3C5 <> 9
c) Hidden pair {89} in R3C48 -> R3C8 <> 6
d) 18(3) can only have 1 of {89} and it must be in R3C8 -> R2C8 <> 8
e) Innies+Outies R12: 9 = R2C278 - R3C5 -> R3C5 <> 7, because max. R2C278 = 15
f) Hidden killer pair {57} in R3C67 + R3C9 -> R3C9 = {57}, R4C7 <> 5,7
g) Hidden killer pair {12} in R3C7 + 13(3) -> R3C7 = {12}
h) -> R3C6 = {57} (step 10f)
i) 12(3): R34C7 cannot have both of {12} because R3C6 <> 9 -> R4C7 <> 1,2
j) 12(3): R4C7 <> 4 because R34C7 = [14] blocked by C89 outies (R28C7, step 5a)
k) Killer pair {36} locked in R4C7 + R28C7 for C7
l) Naked pair {57} locked in R1C7 + R3C9 -> R3C7 = 2 (Innies N3)
...
(Rest of puzzle is trivial now)

[Note: Alternative explanation of step 10b for those unfamiliar with Eureka notation:
(a) R3C4 <> 9 => R4C3 = 9 (strong link, 21(3))
(b) -> R9C3 <> 9 (weak link, C3)
(c) -> R7C1 = 9 (strong link, N7)
(d) -> R2C1 <> 9 (weak link, C1)
(e) -> R2C45 = {9..} (strong link, R2)
=> either R3C4 and/or R2C45 must contain a 9
-> R3C5 <> 9 (common peer)]

Note that one of the reasons for choosing to publish this puzzle was the fact that JSudoku found quite an exotic creature, namely a Grouped Swordfish, which can be applied here immediately after step 10a above. After the removal of the candidate 9 from R2C9, the 9 in R2, N7 and 21(3)n124 is constrained to C1, C3 and N2 -> no 9 elsewhere in C13 and N2. This avoids the explicit use of a chain in step 10b above, and would also have eliminated 9 from R1C456 if they hadn't already been removed by the chain used by Afmob in his earlier step 6e. However, although more elegant, the grouped Swordfish is probably considerably harder to find than the two chains of Afmob's and mine (respectively) that it replaces.

I intend to elaborate on grouped Swordfishes soon, in a separate post. Stay tuned!

Double Optimized Walk-through by Afmob but still his 7th longest:

Walkthrough by Andrew with some combination analysis and non-heavy contradictions:

Continuous loop: grouped Swordfish formations: explanation by mhparker:

Last edited by Ed on Sun Dec 28, 2008 9:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: A51-75 Assassin Archive PART B

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:22 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:16 am
Posts: 1044
Location: Sydney, Australia

Maverick 1 (aka M1) by mhparker (Oct 07)

Puzzle pic:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

+-------+-------+-------+
| 4 2 5 | 9 8 6 | 7 3 1 |
| 9 7 6 | 5 1 3 | 4 8 2 |
| 3 8 1 | 4 7 2 | 6 5 9 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 5 1 3 | 8 4 9 | 2 7 6 |
| 6 4 2 | 7 3 5 | 9 1 8 |
| 8 9 7 | 6 2 1 | 5 4 3 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 7 6 4 | 3 9 8 | 1 2 5 |
| 1 5 8 | 2 6 7 | 3 9 4 |
| 2 3 9 | 1 5 4 | 8 6 7 |
+-------+-------+-------+

Quote:

mhparker, lead-in: (Est. rating: 1.5) This puzzle .... should provide plenty of opportunity for creativity and individualism, as its name implies
gary w: I'm finding this one tough going!!... Finally cracked it
Afmob: Definitely a fun assassin with lots of cool moves..Thanks for posting this.. Sudoku mhparker
Para: all this talk about x-wing and x-cycles going on... It is also solvable by just sticking to the basic killer techniques as 45-test cage combos and Killer Subsets
Andrew: It took me a week, on and off .. If I hadn't received encouragement .. I might well have given up on this one.
Andrew: felt.. at least as hard as any of the other 1.75s that I've done. I spent longer on it than on any of those others. It's definitely my longest walkthrough yet. Therefore I've no hesitation in rating Maverick 1 as 1.75.
Para: This puzzle felt more like a 1.5 rating to me. But that is mostly because it fell fairly quickly compared to say A60RP-Lite which i rated a 1.75. For me it wasn't in the same league as that puzzle.
Afmob, Nov 07: M2 was more difficult than M1 so... now I would rate M1 with a 1.5
A 2022 Revisit to this puzzle here

Indicative Solution by gary w:

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Elaboration of Afmob's walkthrough by mhparker:

Elaboration of Andrew's walk-through by mhparker:

Full Walkthrough by Para:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Last edited by Ed on Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:24 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: A51-75 Assassin Archive PART B

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:25 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:16 am
Posts: 1044
Location: Sydney, Australia

Assassin 74 by Ruud (Oct 07)

Puzzle pic:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

+-------+-------+-------+
| 1 2 8 | 3 5 6 | 4 9 7 |
| 3 6 9 | 8 4 7 | 1 2 5 |
| 5 7 4 | 1 2 9 | 3 6 8 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 2 8 6 | 7 3 5 | 9 4 1 |
| 9 5 3 | 4 1 8 | 6 7 2 |
| 4 1 7 | 6 9 2 | 5 8 3 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 6 3 5 | 2 7 4 | 8 1 9 |
| 7 4 1 | 9 8 3 | 2 5 6 |
| 8 9 2 | 5 6 1 | 7 3 4 |
+-------+-------+-------+

Quote:

Andrew: This one flowed easily for quite a time, then got a bit stubborn so I'll rate it at 1.0..
CathyW: 13 placements during lunch break
Afmob: This assassin was pretty straightforward but it took me quite a while to finish it since I found no obvious shortcuts..Rating: 1.0
gary w: perhaps this was about a 1.0? Took me about 2.5 hours..I notice Ruud likes to use 3 cages but he excelled himself here.. and all but one was L shaped.

Walkthrough by sublue including Venn Diagram logic and algebra:

Walkthrough by Andrew including grouped X-wing:

Walkthrough by Afmob with no shortcuts:

Outline by gary w:

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Post subject: Re: A51-75 Assassin Archive PART B

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:27 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:16 am
Posts: 1044
Location: Sydney, Australia

Assassin 74v2 by Ruud (Oct 07)

Puzzle pic:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

+-------+-------+-------+
| 7 2 8 | 4 1 9 | 6 5 3 |
| 5 1 9 | 7 6 3 | 8 4 2 |
| 4 3 6 | 5 2 8 | 7 1 9 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 2 6 3 | 9 7 5 | 4 8 1 |
| 8 7 4 | 1 3 6 | 9 2 5 |
| 1 9 5 | 2 8 4 | 3 7 6 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 3 8 7 | 6 5 2 | 1 9 4 |
| 6 4 2 | 8 9 1 | 5 3 7 |
| 9 5 1 | 3 4 7 | 2 6 8 |
+-------+-------+-------+

Quote:

Ruud, lead-in:..requires a few steps which are more advanced than those required for the original, but in total, the solving path is shorter
Afmod: This one required some more complicated combo analysis. I can't say that the walkthrough was shorter than my WT for V1
Andrew: I didn't find A74V2 much harder than A74 so I can't rate it any higher than 1.25..the solving path is shorter than for the original, but not by much

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Outline by gary w:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

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Post subject: Re: A51-75 Assassin Archive PART B

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:35 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:16 am
Posts: 1044
Location: Sydney, Australia

Assassin 74 Brick Wall by Ruud (Oct 07)

Puzzle pic:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

+-------+-------+-------+
| 5 1 9 | 7 6 2 | 3 8 4 |
| 7 6 3 | 5 8 4 | 1 9 2 |
| 4 8 2 | 9 1 3 | 5 7 6 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 9 7 5 | 2 4 1 | 8 6 3 |
| 3 4 6 | 8 7 5 | 9 2 1 |
| 8 2 1 | 3 9 6 | 7 4 5 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 6 5 8 | 1 2 7 | 4 3 9 |
| 1 9 4 | 6 3 8 | 2 5 7 |
| 2 3 7 | 4 5 9 | 6 1 8 |
+-------+-------+-------+

Quote:

Ruud, lead-in: a little off the Assassing scale:..A solving tip: :brickwall:

mhparker: I'm still suffering from a kind of paranoia when it comes to so many "L" shaped cages after our experience with TJK18! :pallid:

.. the second half of the puzzle would have been paradise for me
gary w: I've made a little bit of progress but am now stuck in a morass of either/ors which just don't want to seem to yield..I really ran into a featureless wall of rock
Afmob: What a monster! That was the most difficult Killer Sudoku I've solved so far. But I got no idea about the rating since the hardest I've solved was about 1.75...
Para:...some cracks and a few holes but it is still not falling down..[Edit]Now got 12 digits placed.[Edit].. Now 13 digits placed...[Edit]...Now 81 digits placed

gary w: A privilege to go thro' Afmob's and Para's wts...Great to see two masters at work
goooders: c'est magnifique! well done para i got a long way last weekend but could not bust the top three nonets
Para: It is probably a high 2.0. ...It took me 3 days to solve (officially 4 days as i had tried it once when Ruud posted but gave up pretty quickly)
mhparker: the Brick Wall can be solved quite elegantly, as Para has just proved so well
Afmob, 4 months later: I finally decided to solve it again in an appropiate way without resorting to long contradiction chains...Rating: 2.0. I used lots of forcing chains and combo analysis (but not as heavy as in A60 RP) to solve this monster
Andrew, 9 months later: This is by far the hardest Assassin that I've ever done by myself. The rating for the way I solved it must be at least 2.0. It's got far more combination and permutation analysis than in the walkthroughs by Afmob and Para but less chains

Walkthrough by Para:

Analysis of Para's step 46 (Killer XY-Chain) by mhparker in M1 thread:

Para wrote:

You've been talking about AIC's etc. a lot. Maybe you know this. I was just wondering something about my Brick Wall chain. I used a link i can't really place. I think there should be a third type of link for Killer Sudoku.
Normally you have strong and weak links.
Strong link: If A is wrong, B is right.
Weak Link: If A is right, B is wrong.
In Killer Sudoku we can also have: If A is right, B is right or if A is wrong, B is wrong. The second, which i used in my chain, is probably more likely to happen. This can happen because certain values only occur with another value in a cage.
Don't know if you mentioned this before. But this doesn't really fit into the strong/weak link view of AIC's.

Yes, I've discussed this before here, where I reached the same conclusion that you did, in that a new link type is needed. I called it a direct link at the time, and introduced the comma notation. However, I'm now thinking about calling them neutral links instead, because (unlike strong and weak links) they don't change the truth state of the premise at the current end of the chain.

Para wrote:

How would you qualify the chain i used in my Brick Wall WT at the end(step 46)

Yes, I'd already noticed that. Excellent move! Here's my analysis:

Quote:

46. Killer XY-Chain with 9 links (4 strong, 3 weak, 2 direct) on 7 as follows:

(7=1)r6c7-(1)r456c9=(1)r1c9,(68)r1c78-(68=3)r2c89|r3c9-(3)r123c7=(3)r7c7,(7)r6c7 => r6c7=7

This can be explained in verbose form as follows:
(i) Either r6c7 = 7 or...
(ii) ...r6c7 <> 7
(ii) => r6c7 = 1 (strong link, bivalue cell r6c7)
(iii) -> r456c9 <> 1 (weak link, n6)
(iv) => r1c9 = 1 (strong link, c9), r1c78 = {68} (direct link, combinations 15(3))
(v) -> 17(3) at r2c89+r3c9 <> {(6/8)..} (weak link, n3)
(vi) => 17(3) at r2c89+r3c9 = {3..} (strong link, combinations 17(3))
(vii) -> r123c7 <> {3..} (weak link, n3)
(viii) => r7c7 = 3 (strong link, c7), r6c7 = 7 (direct link, combinations 14(3))
In other words, "if r6c7 is not a 7, then ... it must be a 7" (contradiction)
Conclusion: r6c7 = 7

Notes:

Nomenclature: "XY-Chain" because not all links are on the same digit, "Killer XY-Chain" because some links are based on cage combinations (Note: JSudoku uses the term "Complex" instead of "Killer" here).
Chain does not make use of side-effects of previous links, and thus is fully bidirectional.
Chain contains 1 (more complex) link that is based on 2 digits ({68}) rather than the usual 1.

Para wrote:

(well i really think it is the middle because there doesn't seem to be an end in sight...).

I'm really impressed with how far you've managed to get already. Afmob's doing really well, too. BTW, I gave up after taking a peek your WT, where I realized that you'd already found everything that I had, and more besides. Maybe I'm still suffering from a kind of paranoia when it comes to so many "L" shaped cages after our experience with TJK18? :pale:

BTW, if you and Afmob get completely stuck on the Brick Wall, maybe we should merge yours and Afmob's progress and convert it to a team (tag) effort? I guess that's what you would do anyway. I personally would have preferred it to be a team solution right from the start, but you and Afmob have come so far now, I'm rather hoping that one of you can carry on and claim victory. Good luck!

Alternative to Para's step 46 (Hidden Killer Pair Type 2:0) by mhparker:

New shorter Walkthrough by Afmob (mar 08):

Walk-through by Andrew with summaries (Jan 2009):

Last edited by Ed on Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:40 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: A51-75 Assassin Archive PART B

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:39 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:16 am
Posts: 1044
Location: Sydney, Australia

Assassin 75 by Ruud (Nov 07)

Puzzle pic:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

+-------+-------+-------+
| 7 2 8 | 1 9 4 | 6 3 5 |
| 4 1 5 | 7 6 3 | 9 8 2 |
| 6 3 9 | 5 2 8 | 4 1 7 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 2 7 1 | 6 4 9 | 3 5 8 |
| 5 6 3 | 2 8 1 | 7 9 4 |
| 9 8 4 | 3 5 7 | 2 6 1 |
+-------+-------+-------+
| 3 4 2 | 8 1 6 | 5 7 9 |
| 8 5 7 | 9 3 2 | 1 4 6 |
| 1 9 6 | 4 7 5 | 8 2 3 |
+-------+-------+-------+

Quote:

CathyW: I'm struggling with it

..... I feel a bout of combo crunching coming on..Finally got there.

..Total time about 4 hours and I haven't done a WT!
sublue: My first placement was ...... But I'll be darned if I can figure out how I did it! Note to self: write this stuff down the *first* time!
gary w: After the wall this one wasn't too bad...took me about 2.5 hours
Afmob: That one was tougher than I thought.... so rating should be about 1.25..And I thought I (would) get some relaxation after the pain that was the Brick Wall. :twisted:

Andrew: On what I've done so far it feels like a 1.25..I particularly liked Susan's (sublue) use of innies/outies that are in the same columns
azpaull: I'm glad to see that this gave (or is giving) others problems, too.....I think this will go into my growing bank of "ones to come back to" for now!

Brief outline by gary w:

Walkthrough by sublue: less-intuitive, defensable:

Walkthrough by Afmob: forcing chains:

Walkthrough by Andrew: Interesting interactions between split cages sharing a common cell:

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Post subject: Re: A51-75 Assassin Archive PART B

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:00 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:16 am
Posts: 1044
Location: Sydney, Australia

Copy of A50-75 Ratings post @ sudocue.net http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5001#5001

http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3182#3182

mhparker's rating post:

This is my interpretation of Mike's excellent ratings ideas. Comments, criticisms, corrections and suggestions please! I plan to regularly update this list.

Puzzles in each rating category are arranged according to the number of steps taken by rcbroughton's Sudoku Solver & Helper w/o singles (number in brackets next to puzzle name).

A (mostly) chronological list. NOTE: many ratings no longer apply. See the Archive Tables for up-to-date ratings.

Hidden Text:

Assassin 50-75 & Forum Killers' (& Killer X) Ratings (number in brackets is the number of steps taken by Sudoku Solver w/o singles)
___________________________________________________________
Rating 4.0

Hidden Text:

___________________________________________________________
Rating 3.0

Hidden Text:

__________________________________________________________
Rating 2.5

Hidden Text:

______________________________________________________
Rating 2.0

Hidden Text:

Assassin 55V2 (DNS 30 No progress) http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2825#2825

mhparker wrote:

2.0: Traditional "V2" standard, typically requiring a team effort and maybe (but not necessarily) involving limited use of hypotheticals. Example: A55V2.

sudokuEd wrote:

can't resist trying the lollie. But will need lots of help. Any other suckers

Quote:

Tag solution by sudokuEd, CathyW, mhparker
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2835#2835

Assassin 62V2 (DNS 42 No progress) http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3221#3221

mhparker wrote:

not so much of an Assassin, this one. More like a Terminator!

mhparker wrote:

I could eventually solve without hypotheticals, but only by using several grouped AICs..I rated the A62V2 at 2.0

Quote:

Long, optimized Walk-through by Grandmaster mhparker and uses several AICs, and some other creative moves http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4204#4204

Assassin 53 V0.1 (DNS 46 No progress) http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2763#2763

Para wrote:

53V0.1 i still have no clue on how to advance. I did the basics and am stuck.

mhparker wrote:

Had to use a hypothetical to continue

Quote:

tag solution by Para and mhparker. Starts at
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2794#2794

Assassin 74 Brick Wall http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3868#3868

Ruud wrote:

a little off the Assassing scale:..A solving tip: Brick wall

mhparker wrote:

I'm still suffering from a kind of paranoia when it comes to so many "L" shaped cages after our experience with TJK18! pale.. the second half of the puzzle would have been paradise for me

gary w wrote:

I've made a little bit of progress but am now stuck in a morass of either/ors which just don't want to seem to yield..I really ran into a featureless wall of rock

Afmob wrote:

What a monster! That was the most difficult Killer Sudoku I've solved so far. But I got no idea about the rating since the hardest I've solved was about 1.75...

Para wrote:

...some cracks and a few holes but it is still not falling down..[Edit]Now got 12 digits placed.
[Edit].. Now 13 digits placed...[Edit]...Now 81 digits placed Wink

gary w wrote:

A privilege to go thro' Afmob's and Para's wts...Great to see two masters at work

gooders wrote:

c'est magnifique! well done para i got a long way last weekend but could not bust the top three nonets

Para wrote:

It is probably a high 2.0. ...It took me 3 days to solve (officially 4 days as i had tried it once when Ruud posted but gave up pretty quickly)

mhparker wrote:

the Brick Wall can be solved quite elegantly, as Para has just proved so well

over 4 months later Afmob wrote:

I finally decided to solve it again in an appropiate way without resorting to long contradiction chains...Rating: 2.0. I used lots of forcing chains and combo analysis (but not as heavy as in A60 RP) to solve this monster

Quote:

Walk-through by Afmob including a "last big contradiction move on R2C1" http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3897#3897
Walk-through by Para http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3904#3904
Solving outline using "hypos" by gary w http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3907#3907
Analysis of Para's step 46 (Killer XY-Chain) by mhparker http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3916#3916
Alternative to Para's step 46 (Hidden Killer Pair Type 2:0) by mhparker http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3922#3922
new shorter Walk-through by Afmob (mar 08) http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4782#4782

Assassin 52 V2 (92) http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2688#2688

Para wrote:

doesn't seem i am going to solve this one by myself.

mhparker wrote:

.. the puzzle was not that difficult - certainly not "terrifying", and easily within range of ordinary mortals.

Quote:

Tag solution by Para, mhparker, Jean-Christophe
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2694#2694
full walkthrough for the V2, based on tag solution.
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2743#2743

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Rating 1.75

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Rating 1.5

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Rating 1.25

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Rating 1.0

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Assassin 74

Andrew wrote:

This one flowed easily for quite a time, then got a bit stubborn so I'll rate it at 1.0..There was certainly plenty of pattern repetition giving repeating themes for the solving path

CathyW wrote:

13 placements during lunch break

Afmob wrote:

This assassin was pretty straightforward but it took me quite a while to finish it since I found no obvious shortcuts..Rating: 1.0,

gary w wrote:

perhaps this was about a 1.0? Took me about 2.5 hours..I notice Ruud likes to use 3 cages but he excelled himself here.. and all but one was L shaped.

Quote:

Walk-through by sublue including Venn Diagram logic and algebra http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3851#3851
Walk-through with no short-cuts by Afmob http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3858#3858
Solving outline by gary w http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3861#3861

Assassin 73

Andrew wrote:

Thank goodness for another fairly easy one. I liked the way that one theme kept repeating itself ... I'll rate this as 1.0

gary w wrote:

pretty straightforward one and no combo crunching required

Afmob wrote:

Although this Assassin was "just" of rating 1.0 it kept me busy

Quote:

Walk-through by Andrew http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3819#3819
Solving outline by gary w http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3828#3828
Walk-through by Afmob http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3829#3829

Assassin 68

CathyW wrote:

(took a couple of hours including doing the WT..a reasonable challenge...Estimated rating 1-1.25

Para wrote:

It was a really fun puzzle. I enjoyed solving it. I agree with Cathy about the rating.

Andrew wrote:

I'll rate it as 1.25. I found it a difficult cage pattern because I didn't find any innies/outies that helped

Quote:

Walk-through by Frank http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3568#3568
Walk-through by CathyW http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3570#3570
Walk-through by Para http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3574#3574
Walk-through by Andrew http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3630#3630

Assassin 66 (SSscore 1.25)

Howard S wrote:

One of the easier ones - I am torn between 0.75 and 1.0

Andrew wrote:

I think I'll rate this as 1.0. Step 32 isn't a difficult one but I found it was hard to spot

CathyW wrote:

0.5 because I only used Innies, Outies, Outies-Innies, cage combinations, killer combos and combination analysis and because it only took me just over an hour including writing down my steps as I did them

azpaull wrote:

this was the first Assassin in several weeks that I have been able to do on my own....I'll give it a 0.75....let me thank you all for your walk-throughs and your commentary

gary w wrote:

both a66 and a67 took me about 1.5-2 hrs to do.A "deadly" killer in The Times normally takes me about 0.5 hrs so i'ld rate both of these as significantly harder

Quote:

Walk-through by Andrew (SSscore 1.32)
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3436#3436
Walk-through by Cathy (SSscore 0.98)
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3437#3437

Assassin 53 (85)

Para wrote:

This was a quick puzzle. But as this is the first of the new assassin year, this one could get some newer players excited.

Quote:

Para walk-through
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2750#2750
CathyW walk-through
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2756#2756
Andrew walk-through
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2785#2785

Assassin 63 V1.5 (80) http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3272#3272

Para wrote:

1.5 seems overrated. Didn't have any more trouble with this one than with the V1. Nothing special needed

Andrew wrote:

would probably be rated as 1.0 for Para's solving path

Quote:

Para walk-through
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3273#3273
Andrew walk-through
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3279#3279

Assassin 58 (78)

CathyW wrote:

Struggling with this one! Confused

mhparker wrote:

The V1 had a (probably unintentional) design weakness that was admittedly not easy to spot

herschko wrote:

I did not find this one hard at all.

Quote:

CathyW walk-through
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2992#2992
Andrew walk-through
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3072#3072

Assassin 57 (43)

mhparker wrote:

1.0: "Average" V1 Assassin (looking back over a longer period of time). Something like A57, perhaps.

Jean-Christophe wrote:

It isn't as hard as usual.

CathyW wrote:

I thought more combination analysis would be required from Ruud's comment on the puzzle page. Still fun to solve!

Andrew wrote:

A bit easier than some recent ones and definitely less combination work than suggested by Ruud's introduction

Quote:

CathyW walk-through
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2900#2900
Andrew walk-through
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2921#2921

Assassin 57 V1.5 (43) http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2902#2902

CathyW wrote:

Plenty of combination analysis required .... methinks!

Quote:

tag solution CathyW & Para
http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2904#2904

Assassin 72

frank wrote:

It is nice to claim victory for a change

Andrew wrote:

Fairly straightforward but I did need some hidden killers, expressed directly or indirectly so I can't rate it lower than 1.0

Afmob wrote:

I think the problem with this assassin was not to solve it but to make the solving path not too long so I tried to keep it as small as possible. Rating: 0.75 - 1.0 but more 1.0 than 0.75

CathyW wrote:

Enjoyed this one. I'd agree with the 1.0 rating

gary w wrote:

A nice easy one after last week's horror!

Quote:

Walk-through by Andrew http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3788#3788
Walk-through by Afmob http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3790#3790
Solving outline by gary w http://www.sudocue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3795#3795

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Rating 0.75

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