Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:29 am Posts: 302 Location: Sydney, Australia
My last Assassin created was A123 "Roulette", exactly 52 weeks ago. So a whole year has been passed (time flies!), with many excellent puzzles produced by volunteers here. Hopefully this one is "right up to the standard"!
About the name of this series: they say Steve Erwin, the famous Aussie crocodile hunter, was killed by one of the rays. So naturally these creatures can be very deadly assassins! And roughly a year ago (when I post my last assassin), a team called "Tampa Bay Rays" (formerly "Tampa Bay Devil Rays") fought and made the World Series, despite losing against the Philadelphia Phillies at the end. Not that I'm a fan of either team, but I hope you guys have a similar success to those Phillies in tackling these "Rays"!
Just a few more notes before I show the actual puzzle below:
1. The unique solution grid of all puzzles in this series possesses a very rare property - but unlike last time this special property has nothing to do with the actual "killer solving". At the end of the day I suppose you might use this property (if you find it) to try solving them with more ease, but that is totally irrelevant to the actual difficulties of these puzzles.
2. All these puzzles have the same symmetry (diagonal reflection) which those who do the KSO (KillerSudokuOnline) puzzles should be familiar. As a matter of fact, the current weekly puzzle (#195) has that symmetry (and a cage pattern a bit resembling to these puzzles). But I swear I made these puzzles way before KSO weekly #195 was published!
3. Just for these puzzles I installed and used Richard's great SudokuSolver for the very first time. And to my surprise the harder ones immediately gave the program a hard time! The two most difficult from my series (v2 & v3) were totally unsolvable to the program (leading it to run into bugs), while my v1 below was only solvable under certain sets of "solvers".
And the SS scores were all very surprising, giving my v0.75 (which I'll show next time) a whopping 3.36 compared to a "mere" 2.78 of the v1, despite it being clearly easier! But from recent experiences (such as Manu's A171 "v2.5") you should know that often SS scores can be misleading. So don't feel discouraged from those figures - these creatures are intimidating but if you find their weak spots you will manhandle them easily!
So that's enough background info. Here is the actual v1 and good luck "fishing" all these deadly sea creatures (no pun intended)! Like I said in the scheduling thread I'll award the first solver who post a "decent" walkthrough (to me) a sneak preview of all other versions (6 in total), but it's just all for fun and hope you enjoy the solving process, which is the most important!
Eureka! I've done it. It took me about 2 hours. I dont do walkthroughs so no prize. However I will say the puzzles "weakness" is ARE(thats an acronym). I thought I shouldnt say more at this stage. However if anyone asks I'm happy to say what it stands for
Quite a tough start for your series! Despite some interesting moves the actual solving path was quite tedious and my original walkthrough had 24 sections, so you can imagine how many different moves I had applied with a lot to no avail.
I don't think I want to see the other versions to soon since I probably get some nightmares reminding of past horrors like The Brick Wall or A60 RP.
A175 Walkthrough 1. R789 a) Outies R89 = 22(3) = 9{58/67} -> 9 locked for R7 b) 1 locked in Innies N9 = 11(3) = 1{28/37/46} <> 5,9 for C7 c) Innies R9 = 9(2) <> 9 d) Outies R9 = 19(3) <> 1
3. R789 ! a) ! Outies R89 = 22(3): R7C3 <> 6 because R7C89 = {79} forces both 11(2) = {29} + {47} which is blocked by Killer triple (479) of 12(2) b) Both 11(2): R8C89 <> 7,8,9 c) Outies R9 = 19(3): R8C12 <> 5 since R7C3 <> 6,8 d) Innies C1 = 7(2): R9C1 <> 2 e) Innies R9 = 9(2) <> 7 f) Outies C1 = 21(3): R7C3 <> 5 because R9C2 <> 7,9
4. R789 ! a) ! Killer quad (1234) in Outies R9+10(2)+16(3) @ R8 blocks R8C89 = (234) -> R8C89 must have one of (56) -> One of 11(2) must be {56} -> 5,6 locked in both 11(2) for N9 b) 12(2) <> 7 c) Both 11(2) <> {38} since it's a Killer pair of 12(2) d) Outies R89 = 22(3) = {679} locked for R7; 6 also locked for N9 e) 5 locked in R8C89 @ N9 for R8 f) Innies N9 = 11(3) <> 4 g) ! Consider placement of R7C3 -> R8C12 <> 6: - i) R7C3 = 7 -> Outies R9 <> {469} - ii) R7C3 = 9 -> R7C89 = {67} -> One of 11(2) must be [74] -> Outies R9 <> {469}
5. R789 a) Innies C1 = 7(2) <> 1 b) Innies R9 = 9(2) <> 8 c) Outies R9 = 19(3) can only have one of (234) -> R8C2 <> 4
6. R1+C9 ! a) ! Innies R1+C9 = R1C1+R19C9 = 10(2+1) <> 7,8,9 since R9C9 >= 3 b) 10(2): R2C1 <> 1,2,3 c) 1 locked in 36(7) @ C9 for 36(7)
7. C123 a) 28(5) = 4{2589/3579/3678} since 269{38/47} clashes with Innies C1 and {25678} clashes with Innies R9 -> 4 locked for N7 b) 4 locked in R7C456 @ R7 for N8 c) 10(2) @ N7 <> 6 d) 6 locked in 16(3) @ R8 = 6{19/28/37} for N8 e) 16(3): R8C56 <> 1 since R8C7 <> 6,9 f) 4,5 locked in Innies R8 = 19(4) = 45{28/37} g) 9 locked in R789C3 @ N7 for C3 h) Outies C12 = 19(3) <> 5 since R7C3 <> 5,6,8
8. C123 ! a) 16(3) <> {178} since it's blocked by R8C2 = (78) b) Killer triple (456) locked in 16(3) + 7(2) + R9C2 for C2 c) Hidden Killer pair (69) in R89C3 for N7 since Outies C1 can only have one of (69) d) ! Outies C12 = 19(3) <> 6 since {469} blocked by Killer pair (69) of R89C3 e) 9(2) = [18/27/72] f) 10(2) @ N1 <> {28} since it's a Killer pair of 9(2) g) 5 locked in Innies N1 = 15(3) = 5{19/37/46} <> 2,8 for R3 since {258} blocked by Killer pair (28) of 9(2) h) Hidden Killer pair (28) in 11(2) for N1 since 9(2) can only have of (28) -> 11(2) = [38/83/92] i) Outies C12 = 19(3) = 9{28/37} -> R7C3 = 9
9. R123 a) Outies C1 = 12(2) <> 6 b) Innies R9 = 9(2) = {45} locked for R9+N7 c) R9C9 = 3 -> R9C8 = 9 d) Hidden Single: R9C3 = 6 @ N7 e) 7 locked in R8C23 @ N7 for R8 f) Both 11(2) = {47/56} locked for N7 g) Naked triple (128) locked in R789C7 for C7 h) 7(2): R6C2 = (456)
10. C123 ! a) 7(2) can't have the same combo as Innies C1 since Innies C1 see R7C2 b) ! 7(2): R6C2 <> 4,5 since if R6C2 = 4/5 -> R9C2 = 5/4 -> R9C1 = 4/5 which forces Innies C1 to have the same combo as 7(2) c) R6C2 = 6 -> R7C2 = 1 d) 9(2) = {27} locked for R1+N1 e) 11(2) = {38} locked for R2+N1 f) 9 locked in 16(3) @ C2 = 9{25/34} g) 10(2) @ N7 = [28/73/82] h) Hidden Single: R8C7 = 1 @ R8
11. C6789 a) 16(3) @ R8C5 = {169} b) Outies C6789 = 14(3) = {167} -> R8C5 = 6; 1,7 locked for N8 c) R8C6 = 9 d) 11(2) @ N6 <> 8 e) 8 locked in 36(7) @ C9 for 36(7) f) 3 locked in Outies C9 @ R1 = 16(3) = {349} locked for R1+36(7) -> R1C7 = 9 g) 9 locked in 11(2) @ N6 = {29} locked for N9+C6 h) 36(7) = {1345689} -> 5,6 locked for C9 i) 13(2) = {58} locked for R1+N2 j) R7C9 = 7, R8C9 = 4, R7C8 = 6, R8C8 = 5
12. N236+C6 a) Outies N236 = 13(1+1+1): R7C7 = (28) -> R3C3+R4C6 = 5/11 = [14/41/47/56] -> R4C6 = (1467) b) 5 locked in 16(3) @ C6 = 5{38/47} c) Killer pair (34) locked in R1C6 + 16(3) for C6 d) 19(4) = 67{15/24} because (345) only possible @ R34C7 e) 3 locked in 22(5) @ R5C7 @ C7 for N6 f) 22(5) @ R5C7 = 34{168/258/267} because R7C7 = (28) -> 4 locked for N6
13. R1234 a) 2 locked in 22(5) @ C8 for 22(5) = 128{47/56} because R1C8 = (34) blocks 234{58/67} -> 8 locked for C8 b) Hidden Single: R1C8 = 3 @ N3 c) R1C6 = 4 d) 10(2) = [19/64]
To Udosuk Almost but not quite I sent you a PM at 5.28pm (ie before Afmobs post) but it remains in my outbox.Have you disabled PMs?
A PM remains in the senders outbox until the recipient has read it.
Normally udosuk replays pretty fast to PMs, but he has now probably/hopefully been asleep for some hours. GMT Saturday 2009/10/03 20:30 (8:30pm) = Sydney local time Sunday 2009/10/04 07:30 (7:30am)
So if you sent udosuk a PM at GMT 5:28pm, it was 4:30am in the morning for udosuk.
_________________ Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Normal: [D Y-m-d, G:i] PM->email: [D, d M Y H:i:s]
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:29 am Posts: 302 Location: Sydney, Australia
Thanks guys for the feedback. I've addressed all via PM.
As expected Afmob drew the first blood by posting a decent walkthrough (to my standard). As such I've sent him the prize (a collection of the whole series) via PM. But I'll also do the same for all subsequent posters who post a good walkthrough for any puzzle in this series. So just keep them coming!
Anyway, I'll post the next one (v0.75) Monday at noon (GMT/UTC 0). The experience working on v1 should allow most of you guys to have the satisfaction of easily cracking a SS 3.36 puzzle!
When we were on Ruud's site there was a strange Japanese(?) title after Grand Master. I was glad that I never posted enough messages there to reach that level. I was happy to stay at Grand Master.
Grand Master seems to me that it ought to be the ultimate title. If there were to be one more beyond that I would suggest Champion but only to the one person with the most posts and that if that person was overtaken then the title would be handed over and the previous Champion revert to Grand Master.
If there are any plans for further levels of title I suggest that Richard might hold a poll to find which title is favoured and possibly also provide the option for people to vote against some possible titles.
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The two most difficult from my series (v2 & v3) were totally unsolvable to the program (leading it to run into bugs), while my v1 below was only solvable under certain sets of "solvers".
compared to a "mere" 2.78 of the v1, despite it being clearly easier! But from recent experiences (such as 
