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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: Sun May 08, 2011 11:53 pm

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 |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| A104HBN!   1.00     1.20 | A106V2    H1.50     2.15 | A107V2    E1.50     1.25 |
| A105      E1.50     1.35 | MO#3       1.00     0.95 | A108       1.25     0.90 |
| A106       1.25     1.35 | A107      H1.00     1.05 | A108V2     1.75     1.60 |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+

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 |
+------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Assassin 104HBN!       |    Ed     |  1.00 |  1.00 |  1.00 |(M)1.0                 |  1.20 |
| Assassin 105           | Nasenbaer | H1.25 | E1.50 |  1.50 |(Go)1.0(M)1.50(G)1.0   |  1.35 |
| Assassin 106           |   Afmob   |  1.25 |   **  |  1.00 |(M)1.25(Ed)1.25(G)1.25 | !1.20 |
| Assassin 106V2         |   Afmob   | H1.50 |   **  | H1.50 |                       |!R2.45 |
| Messy One #3           | Nasenbaer |       |  1.00 | H1.00 |(G)1.0                 |  0.95 |
| Assassin 107           |   Mike    |  1.25 | H1.00 | H1.25 |(Ed)E1.0               |  1.05 |
| Assassin 107V2         |   Mike    |  1.75 | E1.50 |  1.50 |                       | !1.45 |
| Assassin 108           | Nasenbaer |       |  1.25 | H1.25 |(Ed)H1.25(G)1.50       | !1.10 |
| Assassin 108V2         | Nasenbaer |       |  1.75 |  1.75 |                       | !1.75 |
+------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+

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 1:15 am, edited 5 times in total.

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Andrew

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

Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 2:16 am

Grand Master

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

Assassin 104 HBN! by Ed (May 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Ed: Happy Birthday Nasenbaer :cheers:

! Bit late but had any excuse to party!. Just can't seem to get my timing right. Too early for 2nd June Anniversary of the start of Assassins.
SS(v3.1)score = 1.19 Seems a bit high - a 1.0 trick puzzle. Though may have gotten lucky and spotted the key quickly for once.

Mike (mhparker): Thanks for the relaxing puzzle, Ed!
Is it only me, or was this puzzle particularly easy? Just needed to squeeze out an important candidate in step 4 (which was pretty easy to see) and the rest came very quickly, without a single "45" test being necessary anywhere! :shock:

Rating: 0.75? Upgraded to 1.0 in a later post after forum discussion.
Last but not least, as Ed said: Happy (belated) birthday, Nasenbaer!
P.S. Nice photo you've got of Nasenbaer there (taking a break from Sudoku, I see)!

Afmob: Happy Birthday, Nasenbaer! (even though it's a bit late) And also thanks Ed for providing another Assassin!
I used the same breakthrough move as Mike though with a different reasoning.
Rating: 1.0

gary w: Yep,same "step" as with Mike and Afmob.Then pretty easy.Very enjoyable!!

Andrew: Happy Birthday Nasenbaer! I hope you enjoyed solving your birthday present.
Interesting thoughts from Mike about the rating of a puzzle where there is one key move that is significantly harder than all the other moves. I think that some software solvers rate puzzles on the hardest move while others apply some form of weighting to get an average.
I'll rate A104 at 1.0 because, as Mike says, the key move isn't too difficult to find and because I finished it in one session. However one could argue for a higher rating based only on the hardest move.

Nasenbaer: Belated thanks for the late birthday wishes! :cheesey:

Just one question: WHO GAVE YOU MY PASSPORT PHOTO?!? :cheesey:

The puzzle was very nice. It took me some time to find the key move, I should have seen it coming earlier. Oh well, my age is finally showing... :doh:

Walkthrough by Mike:

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

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Andrew

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

Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 3:05 am

Grand Master

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

Assassin 105 by Nasenbaer (May 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: We have to work on that Assassin schedule. I can't believe it, still no volunteers on Thursday evening!?! :cry:

That's why you get a nasty one from me. :twisted:

It took me several hours to create this one. Either the score was too low (0.7) or way too high (1.9+). Finally this beauty came up. SSolver(3.1)score is 1.37, so you might have to kick your brain cells a little bit. :lol:

Mike (mhparker): Thanks for doing this, and working into the small hours of the morning to get it finished. You are a hero! :cheers:

As to the "nasty" puzzle, I actually quite enjoyed doing it! :shock:

(maybe because I am a masochist?

). Will post my WT later, after I have a chance to work through my rough notes. :study:

goooders: Not particularly scientific but I rate assassins on how long it takes me to do them.This was less than an hour so I would give it a 1.0

Afmob: This was quite a Killer. I took me quite some time to make progress (hence the high rating) and there is probably an easier way to solve it. But it was still interesting because I discovered ...
Rating: (Easy) 1.5.

Mike(mhparker): As promised, here my walkthrough for the Assassin 105. Very nice puzzle, Nasenbaer. Many thanks! :-D

Even though it didn't take me so long to do (more like 2 hours for me), as far as techniques are concerned, it's probably in the 1.5 rating category.
Hopefully, others can get involved in posting Assassins in the future. Variants are nice, but the priority has to remain on keeping to the Assassin schedule as closely as possible, so that people get used to checking out this site every Friday.

udosuk: Mike, great walkthrough, with step 4 being the thoughtful critical move that cracks it all open. :thumbs:

Then various discussions and suggested alternatives to a couple of Mike's steps; these posts are included in the walkthroughs below.

gary w: A nice puzzle..
about 1.0-1.25?

Andrew: Thanks for a challenging puzzle Nasenbaer!
I found it difficult because I didn't spot Mike's step 4. Nice one! I also liked the way that Afmob used ...
I decided to post my walkthrough to show there is another way to break this puzzle open; mine was steps 28 and 29. It's good when some puzzles have multiple ways to solve them yet are also challenging.
I'll rate A105 at 1.5 the way I solved it.

Nasenbaer posted "If you are interested here is the scoring output of the puzzle. WARNING. Might contain spoiler.":

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Afmob wrote:

This was quite a Killer. I took me quite some time to make progress (hence the high rating) and there is probably an easier way to solve it. But it was still interesting because I discovered 3 Killer quads but one was omitted since it was redundant after some less difficult moves.

A105 Walkthrough:

1. C1234
a) Innies C12 = 14(2) = [86/95]
b) Innies = 23(3) = {689} locked for C4
c) Innies+Outies N7: -13 = R8C4 - R7C13 -> R8C4 <> 5
d) 10(3): R34C3 <> 5,6,7 because R3C2 >= 5;
e) 16(3) @ R1: R1C3 <> 8,9 because R1C2 >= 8
f) 8(3) = 1{25/34} -> 1 locked between N7+R8 -> R8C12 <> 1
g) 9(2): R7C2 <> 8
h) 8(3): R8C4 <> 4 because (13) is a Killer pair of 10(3)
i) 8(3): R89C3 <> 3 because (34) is a Killer pair of 10(3)
j) 9(2) <> 4,5 because (45) is a Killer pair of 8(3)
k) 18(3): R5C3 = (6789) because R56C4 <= 12; 18(3) <> 1 because R56C4 <> 8,9
l) 18(3): R5C3 <> 7 because (689) only possible there

2. R1234
a) Innies R1 = 11(3) <> 9; R1C1 <> 8 because R1C9 >= 3
b) Outies R12 = 10(2) <> 5; R3C6 <> 1,2,4
c) 14(3) @ N1: R2C3 <> 1 because R23C4 <= 12
d) 14(3) @ N3: R2C67 <> 8 because R3C6 <> 1,2,4,5
e) 18(3) <> 1 because R1C2 = (89)

3. R789
a) Innies N8 = 7(2) -> R8C6 = (456)
b) 19(3) <> 2,3 because R8C6 = (456)
c) Innies+Outies N9: -1 = R8C6 - R7C79; R8C6 = (456)
-> R7C7 <> 7,8,9
d) 11(2): R6C7 <> 2,3,4

4. N5+C6789 !
a) Outies N5 = 24(2+1) <> 1,2,3,4,5; R3C5 = (789)
b) Innies C89 = 13(2) <> 1,2,3
c) Innies C6789 = 11(3) <> 9
d) Using Innies C89: Innies N3 = 12(4) <> 7,8,9
e) ! 20(3) <> 6 because (569) is a Killer triple of Innies C89

5. N5+C3456 !
a) ! Hidden Killer quad (1234) in 18(3) for N5 because 17(3) can only have one
and 34(6) must have two of (1234) -> 18(3) <> {567}
b) 18(3) must have 8 xor 9 -> R5C3 <> 6
c) Killer pair (89) locked in R5C3+15(2) for C3
d) Both 14(3): R2C37 <> 4 because 10(2) @ R23C4 or R23C6 clashes with Outies R12
e) 18(3) @ N2: R1C6 <> 5 because 13(2) @ R1C78 clashes with Innies C89
f) 16(3): R1C4 <> 2 because 14(2) @ R1C23 clahes with Innies C12

6. R123+C34 !
a) Using Innies C12: Innies N1 = 20(4): R3C1 <> 1,2,3 because R123C3 <= 16
since {467} is blocked by Killer pair (67) of 15(2)
b) 14(3) @ N1: R2C3 <> 2,3 because (47,57) are Killer pairs of 18(3) @ N5
c) Innies N1 = {1379/1478/2378/2459/2468/3467} since other combos blocked by Innies C12
d) Innies N1: R3C1 = (6789) since 8,9 can only be placed there and only
one of (67) can be placed @ R12C3 because of Killer pair (67) of 15(2)
e) ! Hidden Killer quad (1234) in R1C3 for N1 since 11(3) must have two of (1234) -> R1C3 = (1234)
f) 16(3) @ R1: R1C4 <> 1 because R123 <= 13

7. N14 !
a) ! Innies+Outies N14: -26 = R1C4 - (R256C3+R6C1)
-> R1C4 <> 5,7 because R256C3+R6C1 <= 30
b) 16(3) @ R1 = {349} -> R1C2 = 9 -> {34} locked for R1
c) Innies C12 = 14(2) = [95] -> R3C2 = 5

8. C789
a) 18(3) = {567} locked for R1, 5 also locked for N3
b) R1C9 = 8 -> R2C89 = {39} locked for R2+N3
c) Innies C89 = 13(2) = {67} locked for C8+N3
d) 8(2) = {35} locked for C8+N9
e) Hidden Single: R4C7 = 3 @ C7 -> R3C78 = 10(2) = [46] -> R3C7 = 4, R3C8 = 6
f) R1C7 = 5
g) 11(2) = {29} -> R7C7 = 2, R6C7 = 9
h) 17(3) @ N9 = 7{19/46} -> 7 locked for C9+N9
i) 16(3) = {268} -> R3C9 = 2, R4C9 = 6, R4C8 = 8
j) 19(3) = {568} -> R8C6 = 5

9. R789
a) Innies N8 = 7(2) = {25} -> R8C4 = 2
b) 8(3) = {125} -> R8C3 = 1, R9C3 = 5
c) 9(2) = {36} locked for C2+N7
d) 3 locked in 18(3) @ R9 for N8 -> 18(3) = 3{69/78}
e) 17(3) = {179} locked for N9

10. Rest is singles.

Rating: (Easy) 1.5. I used two Killer quads and Innies+Outies analysis.

Walkthrough by Mike:

udosuk's alternative step 9:

Mike's further thoughts on step 4:

And udosuk's further thoughts on step 4:

gary w's solving outline:

udosuk "Here is a walkthrough following gary w's efficient approach":

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Top

Andrew

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

Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 4:03 am

Grand Master

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

Assassin 106 by Afmob (June 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Afmob: The funny thing about this Assassin is that it was quite hard to find a fitting V1 since I created the forthcoming V2 first (in about 15 minutes) but it took me nearly 1 and a half hour to find a suitable V1. I created this Assassin around the two "remote" cages (not really remote if you look around the corner), the center Nonet and those T-shaped cages at N2 and N8. I hope you recognize the symmetry of this Killer.
V2 will be posted when someone has volunteered for A107.
SS Score (v3.2): 1.34. Estimated rating: 1.25.

Andrew: Thanks Afmob for a fun puzzle!
It's good to be able to post the first walkthrough, which I rarely manage to do on the day that a puzzle appears. Puzzles by Afmob obviously give me a better chance to be first.

It's also helpful to be in North America for easier puzzles.
I'll rate A106 at 1.0.

Para: I agree with Andrew. I did about the same as Andrew. And yeah, you just need to spot Andrews first step (although i used 4 innies) and it's not really hard from there on.

Mike (mhparker): Many thanks to Afmob for another enjoyable puzzle. :-D

Thought my step 2 would be Andrew's step 1 that he and others were talking about, which proved not to be the case. Unfortunately, my step 2 didn't get me as far as I would have liked. :-(

I'll rate this puzzle, as Afmob did, as 1.25.
Looking forward (with some trepidation...) to the V2.
P.S. Good to see you back around, Para! :sun:

Ed: As usual, Para gets the 'just', just right! So, congrats to Andrew for getting this key move so quickly and making it look very pedestrian in an excellent Walkthrough ;clapclap;

. I didn't get it so quickly and missed (my path's equivalent to) Andrew's step 4 ( :oops:

). So, I'll invoke the "narrow" clause in the ratings and call this one a 1.25. It seemed way harder than A104 or Messy One #1 for example, both of which got a 1.0 rating from respondents.
Will be interested if others found the same narrowness.
I really enjoyed the remote cages in this one. Thanks for another fun innovation Afmob!

gary w: Yes,V1 was a good puzzle.I too used ...
Didn't take long to do...< 1 hour ..but it seems quite a tricky move to find.1.25??

goooders: I'm hopeless at doing walkthroughs I tried and failed twice on sudocue(tiny text). Anyway I thought that was about 1.25 to 1.5.
The question I have is this .I like killersudokuonlines weekly offering because it can always be solved by logic (ie not attrition) The cage sizes are much bigger . I think only Gary has referred to them .Also some of ND,s killers have similarly large cage sizes and fall by logic not attrition.Probably this is the wrong place to raise the issue(logic v attrition) anyway I did

There was some discussion on goooders question; see hidden section after the walkthroughs.

Andrew replied: Thanks goooders for mentioning nd's puzzles. I found them shortly before I found Ruud's Assassins. There are still some of nd's puzzles that I've never solved although I never tried them using elimination solving; I must try them again that way.
They can be found at http://www.ndorward.com/blog/?page_id=71 and there are WTs for each puzzle. Have fun with them!
nd#10 was first posted on Ruud's Assassin forum in December 2006. It's included in Ed's Assassin Archive & Ratings Update, page 3, as A New One. nd's other puzzles are only on his website. I think the hardest ones are reckoned to be #6alt, #9 and #10.
(Note added for archive)Ed later posted nd's #9; see Archive, Part C.

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Walkthrough by Mike:

gary w's solving outline:

Discussion of goooders question:

goooders: The question I have is this .I like killersudokuonlines weekly offering because it can always be solved by logic (ie not attrition) The cage sizes are much bigger . I think only Gary has referred to them .Also some of ND,s killers have similarly large cage sizes and fall by logic not attrition.Probably this is the wrong place to raise the issue(logic v attrition) anyway I did

Afmob: Goooders, are you talking about V1 or V2? Both can be solved using logic only (whatever that means) and even V2 didn't require any contradiction moves or chains.

goooders: OK I accept that intellectually killers are solved by logic if each cage has all numbers 1 to 9 enumerated and bit by bit they get chipped away .I think all I am trying to say is that there is much more satisfaction if killers can be solved by "putting numbers in rather than taking them away" I couldnt do this with your V2.Row 1 column 9 had three options .Thereafter there is a "tree diagram" of options.I think thats all I am saying By the way thanks for producing such brilliant puzzles

Andrew: Thanks goooders for mentioning nd's puzzles. I found them shortly before I found Ruud's Assassins. There are still some of nd's puzzles that I've never solved although I never tried them using elimination solving; I must try them again that way.
They can be found at http://www.ndorward.com/blog/?page_id=71 and there are WTs for each puzzle. Have fun with them!
nd#10 was first posted on Ruud's Assassin forum in December 2006. It's included in Ed's Assassin Archive & Ratings Update, page 3, as A New One. nd's other puzzles are only on his website. I think the hardest ones are reckoned to be #6alt, #9 and #10.

Andrew, again:

goooders wrote:

OK I accept that intellectually killers are solved by logic if each cage has all numbers 1 to 9 enumerated and bit by bit they get chipped away .I think all I am trying to say is that there is much more satisfaction if killers can be solved by "putting numbers in rather than taking them away"

I ought to have also replied earlier to this point.

When I first started doing Assassins, having done easier Killers on a different site which I still do, I also used insertion solving. For some time I resisted changing over to elimination solving, although others started using it before I did as can be seen from posted walkthroughs. I was surprised to see, from Ed's excellent Assassin Archive & Rating Update thread, that I was still using insertion solving as late as A27.

It's certainly more satisfying if one can make steady progress rather than chipping away one candidate or one combination at a time. That sort of progress can happen with many puzzles, whether one is using insertion or elimination solving.

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Andrew

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

Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 4:26 am

Grand Master

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

Assassin 106 V2 by Afmob (June 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Afmob: Here is the original or first Assassin I created for this week but judging by SS score it was too hard, so I created V1 afterwards. I checked through a lot of Innies+Outies and this one shouldn't fall so fast and should provide a good practice for your creativity.
SS Score (v3.2): 2.15. Estimated rating: 1.5 - (Hard) 1.5.

udosuk: If just judging by difficulty of techniques involved, this one is not particularly hard. But it's quite tricky with the ... :ugeek:

Andrew, in 2010: I jumped back a bit to my earliest unfinished puzzle on this site, as a change from working backward through my unfinished puzzles.
Thanks Afmob for a challenging variant! It deserves more than one walkthrough.
At the time when this puzzle appeared I'd got stuck after step 15. When I started again last week I got stuck again after step 32 so I took a break and solved another of my backlog, one from Ruud's site, before trying again and finding how I could use ... I'm glad that I persevered as I enjoyed finding the somewhat unusual step 46.
I'll rate my walkthrough for A106 V2 at least Hard 1.5.

Walkthrough by udosuk:

Walkthrough by Andrew in 2010:

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Andrew

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

Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 4:56 am

Grand Master

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

Messy One #3 by Nasenbaer (June 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: Well, the next 3 Assassins are booked, so it's time for a new Messy One! :cheers:

Have fun!
SScore(3.2.0): 0.97

Afmob: Thanks Nasenbaer for providing a fun killer! I think of all Messies posted so far, this one was the easiest.
Rating: 1.0.

gary w: Not messy at all !!
Agree with Afmob.1.0 at most.

Nasenbaer: pointed out that Messy One #3 meets all of Ed's rules for Messy Ones.

Andrew: After doing A108 I moved on to Messy One #3, two puzzles in a row by Nasenbaer.
I think I found this one a bit harder than Messy One #1, possibly because I took some time to find the key step ...
Maybe I'm going a bit high but I'll rate it as High 1.0.
I won't post a full walkthrough. My one was fairly similar to Afmob's apart from the order of some steps.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Solving Outline by gary w:

Andrew's post, including "spoilers":

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Andrew

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

Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 8:13 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 107 by Mike(mhparker) (June 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Mike: Time for the next Assassin and I still haven't had the chance to take a look at Afmob's A106V2

.
Here's an interesting and unusual cage pattern that will drive you crazy (well, at least it almost drove me crazy!). Like trying to break out of a fortress guarded by a huge moat...
SudokuSolver v3.2.0 score: 1.05. Est. rating: 1.25

Afmob: Thank you Mike for a relaxing killer! I had to use one small trick (step 3f) to crack it which I think deserves to be of rating 1.0. By the way, this is my shortest wt so far (farewell, A102X :salute:

).
Rating: (Easy) 1.0. Edit: I think my initial rating is too low like Andrew mentioned, so following my wt A107 would be of rating (Hard?) 1.0.

gary w: V1 solving path same as Afmob's..including the "blocking" move.I don't think I'll ever beat him to the tape though !!!

Ed: Ditto & ditto. Easy 1.0 rating seems generous but correct. For once I agree with Afmob

.
With no word from Ruud, seems just a matter of when the forums go down again as well as sudocue.net.

Andrew: Congratulations to Afmob, Ed, Gary and anyone else who found Afmob's step 3f.
I think the key to solving this puzzle was ...
I'll rate my walkthrough as solid to hard 1.25.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

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Andrew

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

Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 8:27 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 107 V2 by Mike(mhparker) (June 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Mike: And just so you don't have to wait in suspense, here's a V2:
SudokuSolver v3.2.0 score: 1.26. Est. rating: 1.75.

Afmob: This one was certainly tougher than V1. I wonder whether my chain in step 8a can somehow be replaced by an easier move.
Rating: (Easy) 1.5.

Andrew, in 2010: Continuing working through my backlog, the next variant I tried was A107 V2 which I found that I hadn't started.
Thanks Mike for a challenging variant!
My solving path is very similar to Afmob's and we used the same breakthrough move but our reasoning for steps was sometimes different so I'm posting my walkthrough.
I could have gone with Afmob's rating but I decided to go for a solid 1.5.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by Andrew, in 2010:

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Andrew

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

Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 9:11 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 108 by Nasenbaer (June 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: Dear Assassin friends,
due to the European Soccer Championship quarter final game Germany vs. Portugal there will be a slight delay of 1-2 hours for Assassin 108. As soon as I'm back home I'll start posting (even if we lost).

Børge: Since Norway is not participating in the European Soccer Championship, Drücke ich heute Abend Deutschland die Daumen!

Nasenbaer: :cheers:

3-2 victory!!! Hurray!!! :applause:

Well, that was a great game. And because of that I'm in a kind mood. :cheesey:

Here's an easy v1 with a rating of 0.9. I know, it's too easy for you

, but I liked the symmetry, and v2 (which will be posted tomorrow) will destroy that.
Have fun!

udosuk: Congrats on the German victory! :cheers:

I've stated elsewhere before the start of the tournament that I tipped Germany to win it all, but even I wasn't confident enough to predict them to beat Portugal based on the group matches performance. Glad to see Ballack finally get some payback from C-Ron after the Premier and Champions Leauge rivalries. :applause:

Will try your v2 later. :cheesey:

(see next archive entry for the v2 and udosuk's walkthrough)

Afmob: Thanks Nasenbaer for an interesting Killer ... It took me some time to find the key moves and it didn't fall so fast, so I rate it higher than SS. I have to see if I missed something obvious.
Rating: 1.25.

Ed: Yes, it was a really good challenge. I (finally) found a way to make big inroads quickly so by step 8 I was thinking, "yep - hard 1.0 rating". But it didn't give in!
I'll say this one is a hard 1.25 rating. Back to my usual half a rating higher than Afmob! For quite a few puzzles recently, the SSscore is coming in a bit low. Might be time to tweak it up half a rating.
So thanks Nasenbaer for a fine challenge!
BTW - Mike hasn't logged in for over a week. Hope he's OK. [edit: just noticed he went on holidays this time last year. So, hopefully, lots of warm sun now

]

gary w: Wow!! v1 was MUCH harder than I anticipated given the 0.9 rating.It wasn't until I saw ...
I'ld rate it about 1.5..I really struggled for a long time!

Nasenbaer: I'm glad you appreciated this Assassin! Truth is that the rating of 0.9 also seemed to be a little off for me, but hey, I'm no rating expert.

Now I'll have to look at all your nice walkthroughs. I'm almost sure that one of you found an easier way than I did...

Andrew: Thanks Nasenbaer for an enjoyable and challenging Assassin.

I'm slowly catching up with them after our holiday.
Ed's step 4 was a clever move. Maybe Mike can tell us what sort of step this is?
I'll also rate A108 as Hard 1.25.
I'm not sure whether I'll try the V2, certainly not until I've caught up on the V1s and other forum puzzles. (I only tried it 2 years later, see next archive entry)

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by Ed:

gary w's solving outline:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Top

Andrew

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

Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 9:29 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 108 V2 by Nasenbaer (June 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: I wanted to post v2 a little earlier but sadly the forum was down. Too much celebration, heh?

For this version I combined the cages n6:10(2) and n9:13(3) to one cage n69:23(5) - small change, big difference (SSolver(3.2.0) rating: 1.6). The solution is the same.

udosuk: This is my walkthrough for v2: :king:

Had to employ some powerful moves to crack it up, but very enjoyable. :ugeek:

BTW congrats Ed for you 100th post. The bulk of your posts have been great archival work for this community. Keep up the great work! :thumbs:

Afmob: This was a true V2! Similar to V1, it took me quite some time to find the important moves ...
Rating: 1.75.

Andrew, in 2010: Another variant from my backlog of unfinished puzzles. Thanks Nasenbaer for a challenging variant.
A108 V2 was a very hard puzzle. However Afmob, udosuk and I managed to solve it with different solving paths ...
I found it hard to decide what rating to give my walkthrough. I'll rate it at 1.75, the same rating that Afmob gave for his walkthrough, because I think our solving paths were of similar difficulty.

Walkthrough by udosuk:

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by Andrew, in 2010:

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