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Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 1:55 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 1895
Location: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Old SSv3.2.1 scores:

Score = SudokuSolver v3.2.1 Score, rounded to nearest 0.05
E = Easy
H = Hard
In these tables, Rating is the lowest of the ratings given by Afmob,
Andrew and Mike, including estimates for puzzles by Afmob and Mike

+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| Puzzle    Rating   Score | Puzzle    Rating   Score | Puzzle    Rating   Score |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| MO#4       1.00     1.05 | A114 Twin  0.75     -.-- | A115V0.9   1.00     0.90 |
| A114       1.00     0.85 | A114V3     -.--     4.15 | A115V2     1.50     1.75 |
| A114V2    E1.50     1.30 | A115       1.50     1.55 | MO#5      H0.75     1.00 |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+

Puzzle rating table, with links to archive entries; each of these has a link to the puzzle thread.

Abbreviations used in Rating Table on this page:

+------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Puzzle                 |  Made By  |  Est  | Afmob | Andrew|     Other Raters      | Score |
+------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Messy One #4           |   Para    |  1.00 | H1.00 |  1.00 |(G)1.0(Ed)H1.0         |  0.95 |
| Assassin 114           | Nasenbaer | E1.00 |  1.00 | H1.00 |                       | !1.15 |
| Assassin 114V2         | Nasenbaer | E1.25 | E1.50 |  1.50 |(M)1.50                |  1.30 |
| Assassin 114 Twin      | Nasenbaer | H1.25 |       |  0.75 |(U)0.50(P)H0.50(N)0.75 |       |
| Assassin 114V3         | Nasenbaer |       |       |       | No walkthroughs posted|!R5.30 |
| Assassin 115"Beijing"  |  udosuk   | H1.25 | H1.50 |  1.50 |(Az)H1.25              | !1.85 |
| Assassin 115V0.9       |  udosuk   | H0.75 |       | E1.25 |(M)1.0(U)0.75          | !1.00 |
| Assassin 115V2         |  udosuk   | E1.75 |  1.50 |  1.50 |                       |  1.80 |
| Messy One #5           | Nasenbaer |  0.75 | H0.75 | H0.75 |(Az)1.0                |  0.95 |
+------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+

Some of the selected quotes in the puzzle entries have been edited to remove "spoilers"; the full rating comments are included with the walkthroughs. In some cases the puzzle makers gave hints; these are included in tiny text in the selected quotes.

Last edited by Andrew on Thu Aug 04, 2011 1:16 am, edited 4 times in total.

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:43 pm

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 1895
Location: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Messy One #4 by Para (July 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Para: Puzzle number 3 from me within a week. But will be a while before the next. Starting work again next week.
So enjoy this one! Just a regular killer, not too hard.
SS-score: 1.04. Estimated rating: 1.0. Have fun!

Afmob: That was a fun puzzle which had interesting ... to solve it. Thanks Para!
Rating: (Hard?) 1.0.

gary w: A very enjoyable puzzle...took me about an hour to solve.1.0 seems a pretty reasonable rating.

Andrew: Thanks Para for a fun puzzle. I hope the creators of the first three Messy Ones won't mind me saying that I found this one the most enjoyable so far. Maybe it fitted my solving style better?
I'll rate Messy One #4 as 1.0.

Ed: I missed that nice ... even though I found ... that started it. Nice one guys!

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Solving Outline by gary w:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Key Breakthrough Steps by Ed:

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:27 pm

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 1895
Location: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Assassin 114 by Nasenbaer (July 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: There was a lot of sweat here last week. Half of it came from the heat, the other half from Assassin 113 V1 and V2. And then there was Messy One 4 which almost made me miss the deadline for this post. :oops:

So I thought this week should be a little easier and not so messy. Almost like a regular sudoku. But only almost.
The simple design gives you an easy start and should get you hooked, but be warned, there are still a few surprises. :twisted:

Rating SSolver(3.2.1): 0.84. My personal rating: (easy) 1.0.
V2 is already waiting to be posted, as is an Extra Special Version! :twisted:

Have fun!

Afmob: Thanks Nasenbaer for a fun and most of the time relaxing Killer! :cheesey:

This puzzle even allowed me to be creative, so I spotted
Rating: 1.0.

Nasenbaer: Thanks for the thanks. :cheesey:

Very clever! :applause:

I didn't see that one! As always you found a much smoother way through the puzzle than me. :applause:

Andrew: Thanks for a fun puzzle. I like the simple design. It was so easy to colour the cages.

Afmob's steps ... were really neat!
I'll rate A114 as Hard 1.0.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 10:08 pm

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 1895
Location: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Assassin 114 V2 by Nasenbaer (August 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: Time for V2 (actually more like V1.5). Usually that would be a slight variation of the design. But not this time. I like the simplicity of the design. So today we have a variation of the solution.
Rating SSolver(3.2.1): 1.29. My personal rating: (easy) 1.25.
I hope Afmob doesn't find another of those cracking moves to shorten the puzzle.

Have fun!

Afmob: I didn't find a shortcut this time and had to use ... After going through SudokuSolver's log I saw that this Killer allowed some really cool moves ... which I didn't find, so my moves are probably too difficult for this puzzle.
Rating: (Hard) 1.25 - (Easy) 1.5.

udosuk: Here is my walkthrough for v2: The first 5 steps are probably the standard opening moves until it gets interesting.
My steps 7,8,9 are probably not the most elegant tricks but at least they keep the solving path relatively short. :geek:

Mike(mhparker): Many thanks for this great little puzzle, Nasenbaer! You certainly seem to be becoming master of the Killer-X! :salute:

I'll certainly go along with the 1.5 rating.

Andrew: The walkthroughs by Afmob and udosuk, plus the partial one by Mike, were all interesting. I particularly liked ...
I'll rate A114V2 at 1.5 the way I solved it.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by udosuk:

Partial Walkthrough by Mike:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Discussion by Mike about an interesting move found by SudokuSolver:

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 10:47 pm

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 1895
Location: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Assassin 114 TwinKiller by Nasenbaer (August 2008) here

Puzzle Diagrams:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: While trying to create a decent Assassin with the now familiar design I stumbled upon this one. If you add the diagonals constrain to the left Killer you actually have a Killer-X with a unique solution. But SSolver(3.2.1) rating is 4.13, with extended T&E (several Bowman's Bingo). So I wouldn't advice you to try it, unless you are a complete masochist.

Then I started thinking. What if I would rotate the design? I tried it, but now uniqueness was gone. Then I remembered those wonderful TwinKillers on DJApe's site. That was it! And it was solvable, even without the diagonals constrain! So here it is, the first Assassin TwinKiller! [creativity mode on] (Or should I say TwinAssassin? AssassinTwin? TwAssi? Or maybe ...) [creativity mode off] Ups, sorry about that.

So here is something to do for you on this wonderful Sunday.

(Here it's cloudy with random rain showers)
SSolver(3.2.1) can't rate it. I tried it by adding all cages from the second killer as hidden cages to the first killer and then hit F7 for rating. But that didn't work. (BTW, that's what my question was about in this post, Richard.)
My personal rating: (hard) 1.25. Have fun!

udosuk: And it's an easy one too, probably a 0.5. I wouldn't make it an assassin. :ugeek:

Para: I agree with udosuk on the twin killer sudoku. I have done these frame killers before too and have also done loads of kakuros(which i'm not too bad at creating either). It's not that hard, prob 0.5 (hard). If you have done enough kakuros it's really a breeze and as kakuro has a lot of similarities to killer sudoku, it isn't really that hard. You just have to learn to think in a little bit of a different way.

Nasenbaer: I did the Twin Killer again, and I have to say it really is much too easy. :oops:

Sorry about that. I would rate it now a 0.75 (because you still have to take a lot of steps). Somehow I was fooled by the orginal X-version of the left one which was rated very high.

Andrew: TwinKiller was a fun puzzle. Thanks Nasenbaer!
I've never tried to solve a Kakuro or a twin killer before; I just applied my normal methodical approach to solving it.
I'll rate TwinKiller at 0.75; it might even be considered to be Easy 1.0. The steps weren't difficult but it was long and at times it was hard to spot which 3-cell cage should be analysed next.
udosuk and Para suggest the rating should only be 0.5 even though udosuk then gave a very nice walkthrough using elimination solving. Mike's definition of 0.5 is a killer that can be solved with very few "pencil marks". If it can be solved (almost) as easily that way then I'll accept 0.5 but I feel that the combination analysis is much easier using elimination solving.
Another reason I'll give for rating it 0.75 is that 0.5 is defined as being equivalent to the hardest newspaper puzzles, which I think are equivalent to the hardest killers on http://www.sudoku.org. TwinKiller took me significantly longer to solve than any of those killers, even though it only required combination analysis with a few killer pairs.

Walkthrough by Andrew:

The thread also included discussion about the similarity between Twin Killers and Kakuros starting here.

Nasenbaer also posted his Cookbook for creating Killers here.

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 11:18 pm

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 1895
Location: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Assassin 114 V3 by Nasenbaer (August 2008) here

Thanks to Børge for providing the diagrams and code string for this variant.

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Andrew (not posted): I once tried starting this variant and gave up after a few steps. I'm not that much of a masochist.

SSv3.3.1 gives the score as 5.31. In Solver mode it took 301 steps to solve it!

(Archive Note) Also posted in the Unsolvables thread.

Last edited by Andrew on Fri May 04, 2012 11:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:17 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 1895
Location: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Assassin 115 "Beijing" by udosuk (August 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

udosuk: Here it is. Hope it won't distract you too much from the big event. :alien:

SSolver 3.2.1 Rating: 1.56. Personal Rating: 1.25 (Hard).
According to SS it is as hard as Para's Assassin 113. But there is a key move in the puzzle which if you can spot will make a huge breakthrough in the solving. And then I've found 2 different approaches to the "critical step", which I'll be glad if you guys can find a 3rd. :geek:

There is also a V2 available, but I suspect it won't be as hard as Para's Assassin 113 v2 which he is keeping to himself. (There is even a V3 but even I ain't gutsy enough to throw it out.) :ugeek:

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi! :mrgreen:

Afmob: Thanks for this challenging Killer!
It felt as difficult as Para's Assassin and I also didn't find a nice way to crack it.
Rating: (Hard?) 1.5.

Andrew: Assassin 115 deserves more than one walkthrough.
I struggled and had to resort to ...
I'll rate A115 as 1.5.

azpaull: I feel like the straggler coming in long after the medalists, but I finally solved the puzzle last night! Probably the toughest one I've completed to date - thanks, udosuk! (I don't think I've solved a 1.5 to date, so that rating sounds right to me.)
On a side note, it is great to see the image problem prompt a couple more of the invisible solvers to start posting! :applause:

I hope that others join in the conversation every now and then.

udosuk: Thanks for the nice words, azpaull. Glad that you enjoyed my puzzle. I'm sure there will be many more for you in the future. :alien:

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Walkthrough by udusok:

There is also discussion in this thread about the best way to post links to diagrams stored on image hosting sites.

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:58 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 1895
Location: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Assassin 115 V0.9 "Beijing" by udosuk (August 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

udosuk: On the other hand, after reading mhparker's post :arrow:

here, here is a v0.9 specially catered for him:
(Warning: potential spoiler to anyone who'd like to tackle the official version seriously)
SSolver 3.2.1 Rating: 0.92. Personal Rating: 0.75 (Hard).

Mike(mhparker): Nice that you created a 3rd (bronze?) version just for me! :-)

Thanks!
I'm doing it right now, but haven't finished it yet. Indeed... as I speak... just realized that I've hit a contradiction! :doh:

Will have to unwind a few steps. Fortunately, I save the grid after each move or two, even if I don't keep a WT. A bit like a climber hammering pitons into the rock face to limit his fall...

Mike(mhparker) in a later post: Thanks once again to udosuk, for creating a puzzle specially dedicated to me! Fame at last! :dance:

(Although, I suppose, being only a "bronze medal" version, I could take it both ways - but I prefer to take it as a compliment...)
I don't know how many people have already tackled it, or intend to tackle it, but it's actually not actually that easy, being of typical Assassin V1 standard, from the time that Ruud used to make 'em.
Indeed, at first I thought that it would even be a candidate for a 1.25 rating, having several moves of this category in my original walkthrough, but I eventually found a way through that restricts itself to simpler moves. Even so, I'll rate it as no less than 1.0. For example, it took me much longer to do this puzzle than Messy Ones #1 and #3 (from Ed and Nasenbaer, respectively), both of which were also rated as 1.0.
Despite one or two of udosuk's comments earlier in this thread, which make this puzzle sound like an easy (even almost trivial :shock:

) option, it's actually totally unsuitable for beginners and, on the contrary, requires a solid understanding of the principles of solving Killers, as can be seen from the WT below:

Børge

mhparker wrote:

P.S. No idea what the "spoiler" for the Original version was that udosuk was referring to...

Oh Mike, come on, I'm :shock:

Even I, who have never attempted to solve a Killer can spot the spoiler, I think.

Hidden Text:

udosuk replied to Mike's posts: Glad you didn't take it the "other" way...

I made that version for you because I fully understand your post, as I also enjoy puzzles which are fully solvable without any help from programs. (That said, I also enjoy the process of making a nice elegant walkthrough for a challenging puzzle with a little help from a program. :ugeek:

)
I gave it a 0.75 (hard), although it is very close to a 1.0 (easy) from the SS rating of 0.92. I will study your walkthrough and see if there's any shortcut you've missed. :study:

Andrew: After A115 I've now done the V0.9. As Mike said it's still a good challenge.
Congratulations to Mike for re-working it with simpler steps to get the rating down to 1.0. I missed his step 30 which isn't available in A115 and isn't an easy one to spot.
Although V0.9 is definitely easier than A115, I found that several sub-steps ... were no longer available so I had to find other ways to make those eliminations.
I'll rate V0.9 as Easy 1.25 the way I solved it. If I'd found Mike's step 30 it would have been 1.0.

udosuk: Børge has explained correctly what the "spoiler" is. I know the 2 puzzles each has some constraints the other hasn't but if you combined these 2 together you can solve each puzzle much more easily. So in a way v1 is also a "potential spoiler" to v0.9. This is probably what annoys many experts here.

udosuk, when posting his walkthrough: Notice the shortness of the solving path. People can argue some moves are quite tricky but I still think it's a 0.75. :ugeek:

Walkthrough by Mike:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Walkthrough by udusok:

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:39 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 1895
Location: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Assassin 115 V2 "Beijing" by udosuk (August 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

udosuk: Anyway, this is the much anticipated :?:

v2:
SSolver 3.2.1 rating: 1.73. Personal rating: 1.75 (easy).
You can find some common moves from v1, but probably need to find a different critical move. :ugeek:

I can guarantee it's easier than defeating the USA men's basketball team. :king:

Afmob: Thanks for this interesting puzzle! Strangely though, I found it a bit easier than V1.
Rating: 1.5. I used an interesting ...

udosuk: Afmob was right that the solving path of this might be a bit shorter than v1, but the critical move ... is definitely more complicated. :idea:

I had a brief look at many walkthroughs posted but don't have time to comment much about them. I don't even have time to write a walkthrough for Ed's attractive A116 Venus. :rambo:

Work has been busy, and I have been too excited watching USA getting stomped on the gold medal tally by one of my "parent countries". :king:

Andrew: I eventually found time to have a go at A115V2.

Afmob wrote:

Thanks for this interesting puzzle! Strangely though, I found it a bit easier than V1.

I won't go quite that far ...
There is a lot of similarity between Afmob's walkthrough and my one so there must be a fairly narrow solution path.
I'll also rate A115V2 at 1.5.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by udusok:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Last edited by Andrew on Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part D. Assassins 101-125, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 4:06 am

Grand Master

Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 1895
Location: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Messy One #5 by Nasenbaer (August 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: So, here's my donation for Messy One round 2. :cheesey:

Actually it's Messy One #5v6

. Tuning it for the right rating (and removing a uniqueness problem I overlooked :brickwall:

) took a lot of time. I think it's really messy, and the rating now is 1.02 although for me it feels more like a 0.75. There is also a nice shortcut (which isn't found by SSolver).
Have fun!

Afmob: Thanks for this fun Killer, Nasenbaer! I guess I didn't found the shortcut since SudokuSolver's path is not much different from mine though certainly longer. :cheesey:

Rating: 0.75 - (Hard) 0.75.

Jean-Christophe: I went the same way as Afmob. But after solving, I found this:

Hidden Text:

Nasenbaer: Actually I was thinking about this:

Hidden Text:

Not an obvious move, but since I knew what to look for... :whistle:

Andrew: Thanks Nasenbaer for a fun puzzle. I think this was the easiest Messy One so far.
I was amazed when I went through Afmob's walkthrough to find that I hadn't used his first move. I'm not sure how I missed that one. Maybe it's because of the format I use on my Excel worksheet with coloured cages. However when I now look at my worksheet it's obvious. As a result my walkthrough is very different but probably not significantly slower or harder.
I also missed the shortcuts posted by J-C and Nasenbaer; I feel I ought to have seen J-C's one. Nasenbaer's is one that I think is much easier for the puzzle creator to see than for solvers to spot.
I'll rate my walkthrough at Hard 0.75 because a few of my steps are slightly harder than a normal 0.75.

azpaull: I think my breakthrough - and first placement - finally came from analyzing the

Hidden Text:

(Sorry, I'll have to work on my walk-thru skills - I have a tendency to do these puzzles in little bits and pieces in various places, instead of sitting at a computer or with a second sheet of paper.)

I'll give it a 1.0.

(P.S. I know I probably didn't need to use *hide", but I never have had the chance to use it, and I wanted the practice.

)

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

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