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A201 v0.8     SS score 0.81, ALT5: 0.85 ◄ Select to see the SS score
A201 v0.9     SS score 0.83, ALT5: 1.00 ◄ Select to see the SS score
A201 v1     SS score 1.16, ALT5: 0.99 ◄ Select to see the SS score
A201 v2     SS score 2.51, ALT5: 2.59 ◄ Select to see the SS score

V1 took me about 45 minutes (with ball-point pen on a paper printout, as usual: I like the pale colours, but if the dotted cage-margins were a bit closer to the cell boundaries it would leave more room for writing the candidates in the corners). I don't do walks-through, but
cheers

_________________
Joe

Joe,
Nice to see that you are still around.

If you before printing an image on paper scales it 150% in Paint, you should have plenty of space. An image scaled 150% fits on both A4 and Letter. Use 10mm margins when printing on A4.

That's why I made v2, especially for you, with an other cage layout than v1
Should take you considerably longer than 45 minutes.

It did
cheers

_________________
Joe

Another really high quality cage structure and puzzle. Thanks Børge! Love the 3D effect of the first V2 pic! Looks like Joe-Casey worked in the same area as I did but the way to crack it was very hidden for me (step 6).

A201 V1Cheers
Ed

My Images with "udosuk Style Killer Cages" are made with an Excel program I have written, based upon an original idea and Excel cell format by udosuk, and he certainly knew what he did.
Here a screen shot also showing the Excel "Row & column headers".


Each Killer-Cell is made up of 8x8 quadratic Excel-Cells, allowing 1 Excel-Cell as a DMZ (demilitarised zone) between the dotted cage-margin and the cell boundary.
The height and width of the Excel cells are such that they are quadratic and the dotted line around the cage-margins repeats exactly over 2 Excel-Cells and over any length of a cage side.
The only way I can think of to get the dotted cage-margins closer to the cell boundaries, is to halve the height and with of the Excel-Cells and use 16x16 Excel-Cells for a Killer-Cell.

Doing this causes at least the following two problems:
1)
The dotted line around the cage-margins will not to repeat exactly over any length of a cage side, causing many cage layouts to look "funny".
The height and width of an Excel cell CANNOT be set to any given real number, but only be increased/decreased in steps, which are different for the height and width, hence prohibiting the construction of quadratic cells of many sizes, i.e. causing the resulting image to be noticeably smaller or larger.

2)
Cage corners will touch or even overlap with "connector tubes". I call the short connections between really disjoint cage parts ( I also prefer the term “disjoint cages” over “remote cages”) "connecting tubes" and the long diagonal ones directly connecting cage parts for "connector tubes". My program automatically tries to calculate the optimum number of connecting tubes and their placement.

Before settling for the current layout I tried several other ones, including using smaller 16x16 Excel-Cells for a Killer-Cell.
The bottom line is, that all other Excel cell formats I tried made the images look less attractive.
So if you need more space, I think the best way is to scale an image up using MS-Paint, paint.NET or a similar program of your choice.

Hope this post explains the origin and ancestry of the selected distance between the dotted cage margin and the cell boundary.

I've posted an Old Lace test in the variants section for those of you who have completed any of these.

Thanks Børge for a fun pair of cage patterns!

I finished A201 and the V0.9 a few days ago, then had a go at HATMAN's Old Lace Test (see my later post in this thread) before checking my walkthroughs.

Nice walkthrough Ed! We both found our breakthroughs in a similar area but in different ways, Ed's step 6a and my step 20.


Here is my walkthrough for A201.

Prelims

a) 14(2) cage at R1C1 = {59/68}
b) R1C34 = {13}
c) R12C5 = {79}
d) R1C67 = {29/38/47/56}, no 1
e) 7(2) cage at R1C9 = {16/25/34}, no 7,8,9
f) R34C1 = {13}
g) R34C9 = {29/38/47/56}, no 1
h) R5C12 = {18/27/36/45}, no 9
i) R5C89 = {59/68}
j) R67C1 = {59/68}
k) R67C9 = {17/26/35}, no 4,8,9
l) 5(2) cage at R8C2 = {14/23}
m) R89C5 = {16/25/34}, no 7,8,9
n) 8(2) cage at R8C8 = {17/26/35}, no 4,8,9
o) R9C34 = {69/78}
p) R9C67 = {18/27/36/45}, no 9
r) 11(3) cage at R3C4 = {128/137/146/236/245}, no 9
s) 10(3) cage at R3C6 = {127/136/145/235}, no 8,9
t) 23(3) cage at R5C4 = {689}
u) 19(3) cage at R6C2 = {289/379/469/478/568}, no 1
v) 11(3) cage at R6C8 = {128/137/146/236/245}, no 9
w) 26(4) cage in N9 = {2789/3689/4589/4679/5678}, no 1

Steps resulting from Prelims
1a. Naked pair {13} in R1C34, locked for R1, clean-up: no 8 in R1C67, no 4,6 in R2C8
1b. Naked pair {79} in R12C5, locked for C5 and N2, clean-up: no 2,4 in R1C7
1c. Naked pair {13} in R34C1, locked for C1, clean-up: no 6,8 in R5C2, no 2,4 in R8C2
1d. Naked triple {689} in 23(3) cage at R5C4, CPE no 6,8,9 in R6C4

2. Naked pair {13} in R1C3 + R3C1, locked for N1

3. 45 rule on N1 3 innies R1C3 + R3C13 = 6, R1C3 + R3C1 = {13} = 4 -> R3C3 = 2, clean-up: no 9 in R4C9
3a. 14(3) cage at R2C4 = {239/248/257}, no 1,6
3b. 7,9 only in R4C2 -> no 3,5 in R4C2
3c. 2 in N2 only in R12C6, locked for C6, clean-up: no 7 in R9C7

4. 45 rule on N7 3 innies R7C13 + R9C3 = 24 = {789}, locked for N7, 7 also locked for C3, clean-up: no 8,9 in R6C1, no 9 in R9C4

5. 45 rule on N3 3 innies R1C7 + R3C79 = 20 = {389/479/569/578}, no 1

6. 11(3) cage at R3C4 = {128/146/236/245}
6a. 2 of {128/236/245} only in R4C5 -> no 3,5,8 in R4C5

7. Grouped hidden killer pair 8,9 in 23(3) cage at R5C4, R9C34 and rest of C34, 23(3) cage contains both of 8,9, R9C34 contains one of 8,9 -> rest of C34 must contain one of 8,9
7a. 19(3) cage at R6C2 = {289/379/469/478/568}
7b. 2 of {289} must be in R8C4 (R7C3 + R8C4 cannot be {89} because of grouped hidden killer pair) -> no 2 in R6C2
[Can completely eliminate {289} but that’s a bit “chainy” so I’ll leave it for now.]

8. 2 in N4 only in R5C12 = {27}, locked for R5 and N4, clean-up: no 5 in R2C4 (step 3a)

9. 10(3) cage at R3C6 = {136/145/235} (cannot be {127} because 2,7 only in R4C7), no 7

10. R1C34 = {13}, R34C1 = {13}, R1C3 + R3C1 are naked pair {13} -> R1C4 + R4C1 = naked pair {13}, CPE no 1,3 in R4C4

11. 8 in C5 only R3567C5, CPE no 8 in R4C46 + R6C6

12. 2 in 45(9) cage at R3C5 only in R46C4 + R7C5, CPE no 2 in R46C5
12a. 2 in N5 only in R46C4, locked for C4 and 45(9) cage at R3C5, no 2 in R7C5

13. 2 in C5 only in R89C5 = {25}, locked for C5 and N8, clean-up: no 4 in R9C7

14. 11(3) cage at R3C4 (step 6) = {146} (only remaining combination), CPE no 4,6 in R4C4

15. Caged X-Wing for 1 in R34C1 and 11(3) cage at R3C4, no other 1 in R34
15a. 1 in C5 only in R4567C5, CPE no 1 in R6C46

16. 10(3) cage at R3C6 (step 9) = {136/145/235}
16a. 1 of {136/145} must be in R5C6 -> no 4,6 in R5C6

17. 5 in 45(9) cage at R3C5 only in R4C46 + R5C37 + R6C46, CPE no 5 in R5C6
17a. 5 in N5 only in R46C46, locked for 45(9) cage at R3C5, no 5 in R5C37

18. 5 in R5 only in R5C89 = {59}, locked for R5 and N6, clean-up: no 6 in R3C9, no 3 in R7C9
18a. 5 in R4 only in R4C46, locked for N5

19. 9 in 23(3) cage at R5C4 only in R6C3 + R7C4, CPE no 9 in R7C3

20. 19(3) cage at R6C2 = {379/478} (cannot be {469} because R7C3 only contains 7,8, cannot be {568} = [586] which clashes with R67C1), no 5,6

21. R6C1 = 5 (hidden single in R6), R7C1 = 9, clean-up: no 5,9 in R2C2, no 6 in R9C4

22. Naked pair {68} in R57C4, locked for C4 and 23(3) cage at R5C4 -> R6C3 = 9, R9C4 = 7, R79C3 = [78], clean-up: no 1 in R6C9, no 1 in R8C8, no 1 in R9C6, no 1,2 in R9C7

23. 14(3) cage at R2C4 (step 3a) = {248} (only remaining combination) -> R2C4 = 4, R4C2 = 8, R2C2 = 6, R1C1 = 8, R2C1 = 7, R12C5 = [79], R2C3 = 5, R3C4 = 1, R1C34 = [13], R34C1 = [31], R5C12 = [27], R9C1 = 4, R8C2 = 1, R8C1 = 6, R8C3 = 3, R8C4 = 9, R6C2 = 3 (step 20), R6C4 = 2, R4C4 = 5, clean-up: no 2 in R1C9, no 5,6 in R7C9, no 5 in R9C7, no 2,5 in R9C9

24. Naked pair {46} in R4C35, locked for R4, clean-up: no 5,7 in R3C9
24a. Naked triple {237} in R4C789, locked for R4 and N6 -> R4C6 = 9, R6C9 = 6, R7C9 = 2, R79C2 = [52], R89C5 = [25]

25. Naked pair {36} in R9C67, locked for R9 -> R9C8 = 9, R9C9 = 1, R8C8 = 7, R5C89 = [59], clean-up: no 1 in R2C8

26. 45 rule on N9 2 remaining innies R79C7 = 9 = {36} (only remaining combination), locked for C7 and N9 -> R4C78 = [23], R4C9 = 7, R3C9 = 4, R1C9 = 5

27. R3C6 = 5 (hidden single in N2), R5C6 = 3 (step 16)

and the rest is naked singles.

After doing the V1, I decided to try the V0.9 next because it has he same cage pattern. Unlike the V1, which I found flowed nicely, I struggled with V0.9 but that was because I'd missed a very simple step which took me two days to find.


Here is my walkthrough for V0.9.

Prelims

a) 15(2) cage at R1C1 = {69/78}
b) R1C34 = {16/25/34}, no 7,8,9
c) R12C5 = {39/48/57}, no 1,2,6
d) R1C67 = {12}
e) 8(2) cage at R1C9 = {17/26/35}, no 4,8,9
f) R34C1 = {29/38/47/56}, no 1
g) R34C9 = {29/38/47/56}, no 1
h) R5C12 = {15/24}
i) R5C89 = {69/78}
j) R67C1 = {19/28/37/46}, no 5
k) R67C9 = {16/25/34}, no 7,8,9
l) 9(2) cage at R8C2 = {18/27/36/45}, no 9
m) R89C5 = {18/27/36/45}, no 9
n) 13(2) cage at R8C8 = {49/58/67}, no 1,2,3
o) R9C34 = {17/26/35}, no 4,8,9
p) R9C67 = {39/48/57}, no 1,2,6
q) 23(3) cage at R2C6 = {689}
r) 22(3) cage at R5C4 = {589/679}
s) 10(3) cage at R6C5 = {127/136/145/235}, no 8,9
t) 12(4) cage in N1 = {1236/1245}, no 7,8,9
u) 26(4) cage in N3 = {2789/3689/4589/4679/5678}, no 1
v) 13(4) cage in N9 = {1237/1246/1345}, no 8,9

Steps resulting from Prelims
1a. Naked pair {12} in R1C67, locked for R1, clean-up: no 5,6 in R1C34, no 6,7 in R2C8
1b. Naked pair {34} in R1C34, locked for R1, clean-up: no 8,9 in R2C5, no 5 in R2C8
1c. 12(4) cage in N1 = {1236/1245}, 1,2 locked for N1, clean-up: no 9 in R4C1
1d. 13(4) cage in N9 = {1237/1246/1345}, 1 locked for N9, clean-up: no 6 in R6C9
1e. 22(3) cage at R5C4 = {589/679}, CPE no 9 in R6C4
[There would also be 23(3) cage at R2C6 = {689}, CPE no 6 in R2C8 if this hadn’t already been eliminated by the clean-up in step 1a.]

2. Killer pair 3,4 in R1C3 and 12(4) cage, locked for N1, clean-up: no 7,8 in R4C1

3. 45 rule on N3 3 innies R1C7 + R3C79 = 11 = {128/146/236} (cannot be {137/245} because R3C7 only contains 6,8,9), no 5,7,9, clean-up: no 2,4,6 in R4C9
3a. R3C7 = {68} -> no 6,8 in R3C9, clean-up: no 3,5 in R4C9
3b. 8(3) cage at R1C9 = [53/71] (cannot be [62] which clashes with R1C7 + R3C79), no 2,6
3c. Killer pair 1,3 in R1C7 + R3C79 and R2C2, locked for N3
3d. 9 in 23(3) cage at R2C6 only in R2C6 + R4C8, CPE no 9 in R4C6

4. Naked quad {6789} in R45C89, locked for N6
[I missed something very simple here, which I didn’t spot until step 12.]

5. 45 rule on N7 3 innies R7C13 + R9C3 = 11 = {128/137/146/236/245}, no 9, clean-up: no 1 in R6C1

6. 45 rule on N9 3 innies R7C79 + R9C7 = 19 = {289/379/469/478/568}
[{478} can be eliminated by triple block with 13(2) cage at R8C8 but I’ll leave that for now because of the low SS score.]
6a. 2,3 of {289/379} must be in R7C9 -> no 2,3 in R79C7, clean-up: no 9 in R9C6
6b. 5 of {568} must be in R79C7 (R79C7 cannot be {68} which clashes with R3C3) -> no 5 in R7C9, clean-up: no 2 in R6C9

7. 12(4) cage in N1 = {1236/1245}
7a. R1C2 = {56} -> no 5,6 in R2C13 + R3C2

8. 3 in R5 only in R5C3567, CPE no 3 in R4C46 + R6C46

9. 12(3) cage at R6C8 = {129/138/147/156/237/246/345}
9a. 8,9 in {129/138} must be in R7C7 -> no 8,9 in R8C6

10. 9 in N8 only in R7C45 + R8C4, CPE no 9 in R4C4
10a. 9 in R6 only in R6C1236, CPE no 9 in R5C3
10b. 9 in 45(9) cage at R3C5 only in R357C5 + R6C6, CPE no 9 in R4C5

11. 45 rule on C89 2 outies R28C7 = 2 innies R46C8 + 3
11a. Min R46C8 = 7 -> min R28C7 = 10 -> no 2 in R2C7

[At this stage I was finding it hard to see what to do next and spotted the OTT step
R2C5 cannot be 3 => R5C6 = 3 (hidden single in N5) => cannot place 3 for 45(9) cage at R3C5.]

[Then I spotted something simple which I ought to have seen immediately after step 4.]

12. Naked quad {6789} in R45C89 = 30, R5C89 = {69/78} = 15 -> R4C89 = 15 = [69/87], no 9 in R4C8, no 8 in R4C9, clean-up: no 3 in R3C9

13. 23(3) cage at R2C6 = {689} -> R2C6 = 9, R3C7 + R4C8 = {68}, CPE no 6,8 in R3C8, clean-up: no 6 in R1C1, no 3 in R2C5

14. R1C7 + R3C79 (step 3) = {128/146} -> R1C7 = 1, R1C6 = 2, R2C8 = 3, R1C9 = 5, R1C2 = 6, clean-up: no 9 in R1C1, no 7 in R2C5, no 5 in R4C1, no 2 in R7C9, no 8 in R8C8, no 3 in R9C1
14a. 1 in N6 only in R6C89, locked for R6
14b. R89C1 = {18/27/36} (cannot be {45} which clashes with R2C5), no 4,5

15. Naked pair {78} in R1C15, locked for R1 -> R1C8 = 9, clean-up: no 6 in R5C9, no 4 in R9C9
15a. Naked pair {78} in 15(2) cage at R1C1, locked for N1, clean-up: no 3,4 in R4C1
15b. Naked pair {59} in R3C13, locked for R3

16. 12(4) cage in N1 = {1236} (only remaining combination) -> R3C2 = 3, R2C13 = {12}, locked for R2, R1C3 = 4, R1C4 = 3, clean-up: no 6 in R9C1, no 5 in R9C3

17. 9 in N5 only in R5C45, locked for R5, clean-up: no 6 in R5C8

18. Naked pair {78} in R5C89, locked for R5 and N6 -> R4C8 = 6, R3C7 = 8, R4C9 = 9, R3C9 = 2, R4C1 = 2, R3C1 = 9, R3C3 = 5, R2C13 = [12], clean-up: no 4 in R5C12, no 8 in R67C1, no 7,8 in R8C2, no 4 in R8C8, no 6 in R9C4, no 4 in R9C6, no 7 in R9C9

19. R5C12 = [51], clean-up: no 4 in R8C2, no 8 in R9C1

20. R5C8 = 8 (hidden single in C8), R5C9 = 7

21. R9C9 = 8 (hidden single in C9), R8C8 = 5, R8C2 = 2, R9C1 = 7, R1C1 = 8, R2C2 = 7, R1C5 = 7, R2C5 = 5, clean-up: no 3 in R67C1, no 1 in R8C5, no 1 in R9C34, no 2 in R9C5, no 5 in R9C6, no 4 in R9C7

22. R9C67 = [39], R9C3 = 6, R9C4 = 2, R9C5 = 1, R8C5 = 8, R9C8 = 4, R9C2 = 5, R3C8 = 7, R5C3 = 3, R67C1 = [64], R8C1 = 3

23. R7C9 = 3 (hidden single in N9), R6C9 = 4, R7C7 = 7 (step 6)

24. 15(3) cage at R3C4 = {348} (only remaining combination, cannot be {168} because 1,6 only in R3C4) -> R3C4 = 4, R4C35 = [83]

and the rest is naked singles.

I can strongly recommend trying this, even if like me you've never done a Windoku puzzle before; the Old Lace Test is a Windoku Killer-X.

Step 2 of Simon's walkthrough gets straight to one of the key features of the Old Lace cage pattern. That step could be applied directly to A201 and the V0.9, possibly also for the other cage pattern in the V0.8 and the V2 although it's not immediately obvious what the benefit would be for them.