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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: Tue May 10, 2011 12:19 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 |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| SOK1      E1.00     0.80 | A110XV2   H1.25     1.30 | A112V2     1.25     2.50 |
| SOK1 var   0.75     -.-- | A111       1.25     1.25 | A113       1.50     1.55 |
| A109       1.00     1.15 | A112       0.75     1.35 | A113-Lite  1.00     1.05 |
| A110X      1.00     0.80 |                          |                          |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+

Puzzle rating table, with links to archive entries; each of these has a link to the puzzle thread.
Assassin 113 and Assassin 113-Lite are in the same archive entry.

Abbreviations used in Rating Table on this page:

+------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Puzzle                 |  Made By  |  Est  | Afmob | Andrew|     Other Raters      | Score |
+------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| SOK1                   | Nasenbaer |       | E1.00 | E1.00 |                       |  0.80 |
| SOK1 var               | Nasenbaer |       |       |  0.75 |                       |  0.75 |
| Assassin 109           |   Afmob   | E1.25 |  1.25 | H1.25 |(M)1.0                 |  1.10 |
| Assassin 110X          |    Ed     |       |  1.00 |  1.00 |(M)1.0                 | !1.00 |
| Assassin 110XV2        |    Ed     |  1.50 | H1.25 | H1.25 |                       |  1.35 |
| Assassin 111           | Nasenbaer | E1.50 |  1.25 | H1.50 |(G)1.25                |  1.30 |
| Assassin 112           |   Afmob   | H0.75 |   **  |  0.75 |(F)H0.75(G)H0.5        | !0.80 |
| Assassin 112V2         |   Afmob   |  1.25 |   **  |  1.50 |(M)1.50                |  2.50 |
| Assassin 113           |   Para    | H1.25 |  1.50 |  1.50 |(Go)1.50(Ed)2.0        |  1.55 |
| Assassin 113-Lite      |   Para    |  1.00 |       |  1.00 |                       |  1.10 |
+------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+

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 4 times in total.

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Andrew

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

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 2:58 am

Grand Master

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

SOK (Special Occasion Killer) 1 by Nasenbaer (June 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: Sorry to do that (actually, no, I'm not

), but I have a SOK - a Special Occasion Killer. I know, nobody has yet volunteered for A110 so there should be no other killer - but, just as the title says, it's a special occasion. :cheesey:

Yesterday evening there was the first semi-final in the European Soccer Championship, Germany vs. Turkey. :cheers:

I wonder if you can deduce the final score from this killer. :cheesey:

BTW - how often can you find the score?
Rating by SSolver(3.2.0): 0.81 - sorry, not hard enough for a Messy One.
Have fun!

Afmob: Even if we play bad, we still win (apart from the game vs. Croatia). :cheesey:

To celebrate our victory, I'll post my shortest wt so far (again and again ...). By the way, it was ok to post a non-Assassin Killer or a variant since it's not Friday. If it had been Friday and A110 hadn't been claimed at that point, then you wouldn't have been allowed to post a variant.
BTW, I counted the score 9 times. I counted the cage sums and cells that were next to each other (also diagonally).
Rating: (Easy) 1.0.

Børge: Congratulations to all of you for Germany winning the semi-final yesterday.
Let's hope Germany will play a killer match on Sunday, so that we will not be

but have to

Andrew: It was a good final. I was supporting Germany but on the day Spain were the better team.
Now I've done 3 Nasenbaer puzzles in a row!

A fun puzzle and an easy one. I'll also rate it Easy 1.0.
I think my walkthrough is sufficiently different from Afmob's to post. It's always good to have at least two posted walkthroughs unless they would be too similar.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

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Andrew

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

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 3:23 am

Grand Master

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

SOK (Special Occasion Killer) 1 variant by Nasenbaer (June 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: While working on SOK 1 (I was trying to make it harder but IMHO this one is easier) I created this version.
I think it's easier, but DON'T try to rate it with SSolver(3.2.0)! (Possible bug, see)
I tried to score the puzzle but after 40 minutes SSolver hadn't come up with anything. So I solved it by hand to verify that it has a unique solution (which it has).
After that I walked it through SSolver step by step to find out what the problem is.
(SudokuSolver output in hidden window below; Nasenbaer's comments are included there, since they might be "spoilers")

Richard(rcbroughton): Thanks for this, I've investigated and isolated the problem and now have a working fix for it. This will be included in the next release.
Richard's full reply here

Andrew: Many thanks for the variant! It was fun and I found it a lot easier that SOK1, which was also fairly easy. I've made some comments about the SS solution at the end.
This puzzle was very unusual because one would normally expect that splitting a 2-cell cage and adding the cells to larger cages would make it harder. In this case it made it easier!
I'll rate SOK1 Variant as 0.75. Maybe it ought to be even lower but I don't know whether step 3 would normally appear in a newspaper "deadly" so I think 0.5 would be too low; anyway I'm not sure if it would be so easy without elimination solving, which is how newspaper puzzles are normally solved.

SudokuSolver output:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

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Andrew

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

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 3:48 am

Grand Master

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

Assassin 109 by Afmob (June 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Afmob: I had this Assassin ready after a couple of minutes but I decided to play around with the larger cages and I came up with those three U-cages and the middle unholy cross. :pallid:

Don't let it disctract you from solving!
SS Score (v3.2): 1.17. Estimated rating: Easy 1.25.

Mike(mhparker): Thanks for an enjoyable little puzzle! :-D

Used a trick near the start (step 4a) that may not appeal to all (sorry, folks, just couldn't resist it... :wink:

).
Estimated rating: 1.0 (with trick)

Andrew: Thanks Afmob for letting me have the time to solve this puzzle and post my WT first. I hope that you will now post your WT since it's clearly different from mine.
This was my first Assassin since returning from our holiday. Maybe that's why I found it a bit harder than the estimated rating. I'll rate it as Hard 1.25 the way I solved it.
(Comments about Mike's "trick" included in my walkthrough)

Afmob: Even though ...
Rating: 1.25. (for Afmob's posted walkthrough)

Walkthrough by Mike:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Walkthrough by Afmob:

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Andrew

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

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 4:12 am

Grand Master

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

Assassin 110X by Ed (July 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Ed:

In A106 thread, goooders wrote:

I like killersudokuonlines weekly offering because ... The cage sizes are much bigger

My original puzzle was designed around this idea. But.....couldn't solve it. So, had to keep chopping it down and kept getting lower and lower SSscores until finally found one I could solve! Sooo frustrating. Hope the result is not too easy.
I'll post an "old school" v2 of A110 (same solution: slightly different cage pattern) when I've had another crack myself first. So, a very big thankyou to Nasenbaer for volunteering for A111!!
SS(v3.2.1) score = 0.79

Afmob: Thanks Ed for an Assassin with an interesting cage structure! Especially the large 35(7) is nice. I tried the same (providing larger cages) with A109.
I think my step 3a is too advanced for a 0.75 Killer and since SS also uses this move SudokuSolver's rating is a bit off, in my opinion.
Rating: 1.0.

Ed:

Afmob wrote:

I think my step 3a is too advanced for a 0.75 Killer and since SS also uses this move SudokuSolver's rating is a bit off, in my opinion...Rating: 1.0.

Great.

It would have been too notorious to have the first 0.75 rating Assassin since...... :?:

Glad you liked that cage. I'm hoping it will yield a v2 with some nice triple cross-over moves (udosuk's name: but there is probably a more technically correct term, something something fish)

Mike(mhparker): I've just finished this one after more than 3 hours of chipping away at the candidates in 2 sessions :shock:

, wondering how the puzzle could be so easy. (See hidden window for Mike's full post)

Andrew: Thanks Ed. A110X was a fun puzzle. I enjoyed the 35(7) cage along and "hugging" the diagonal and it was also very helpful for the solution.
I reached the result of Afmob's step 3a fairly early but using a slightly different route.
I'll also rate A110X at 1.0.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Mike's full post:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

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Andrew

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

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 4:33 am

Grand Master

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

Assassin 110X V2 by Ed (July 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Ed:

mhparker wrote:

After what was probably about 30 steps

Hope you kept your notes! This "old school" V2 has the same solution as the original, but takes out the "easy" opening (Afmob's step 3a). Finally worked out how to solve this next one nicely, so technically, it could be a 1.25 rating (no chains needed), but since it took me all week to find, I'll estimate it as 1.5.
Next time, I'll give myself 2 weeks to make the Assassin.
SS(v3.2.1) score = 1.31

Mike(mhparker): Both of these puzzles (A110X and A110X V2) were good, but the "V2" would IMO have been an even better "V1" than the original. Thanks once again, Ed, for providing us with the opportunity for making some interesting moves!
I found it difficult to write a WT for the V2, because, as is common for Killer-X puzzles, there were often several ways to go, and, when the puzzle starts to crack, things happen so quickly, that one tends to fall over one's toes (so to speak) trying to keep up.
Afmob commented on my A109 WT that I did too much in the preliminaries. He has a point, because for puzzles with a "racing start", like with my A107 cage pattern, it's even possible to get placements (!) within the preliminaries if one starts considering cage-external effects such as locked candidates and conflicting combinations (not to mention the resulting clean-ups). Therefore, starting with this WT, I am only doing combinational reductions at the preliminaries stage, like most automated solvers do. Any locked candidates, conflicting combinations, naked subsets, and so on, arising from the preliminaries stage are handled as regular WT steps.
This WT does not go "by the book", so is sprinkled with moves that are too complex for a V1.25. One move (step 27b) is even bordering on T&E :shock:

, but was easy to spot after step 26 and should provide an interesting alternative to going down the "beaten track", as it were. So I decided to keep it in.
Hopefully, at least one other WT will be posted with a more conventional approach (Afmob?, Andrew?, ...), which will probably show that the SScore is spot on in this case.

Afmob: Ed was spot on with his description since the moves weren't too difficult (technical rating: 1.25, most difficult step: 4c) but it took me quite some time to find them. That's why I rate this Killer (hard) 1.25.
But I have to really wonder why it took me so long to find step 5c which was quite easy to see.

udosuk: Here is my 5-step walkthrough for V2. I haven't read the others' moves but I suspect the critical ones might be similar. :geek:

I like this puzzle because after the intense actions the mopping up is really short and sweet. :alien:

Andrew, in 2010: Continuing working through my backlog, the next variant I tried was A110X V2 which was another one which I found that I hadn't started.
Thanks Ed for another interesting and challenging variant. You have a knack for making good variants by just combining two cages, in this case the 10(3) cage at R5C1 and the 11(2) cage at R6C1.

Ed wrote:

mhparker wrote:

After what was probably about 30 steps

Hope you kept your notes! This "old school" V2 has the same solution as the original, but takes out the "easy" opening (Afmob's step 3a).

It might have helped if I'd looked to see how I'd solved the original but I didn't need to; I solved this as a new puzzle.
I'll rate my walkthrough for A110X V2 at Hard 1.25.

Walkthrough by Mike:

Walkthrough by Afmob:

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: Tue May 10, 2011 8:55 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 111 by Nasenbaer (July 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Nasenbaer: Hmmm. It's so weird. :scratch:

Somehow the german word "Schnapszahl" pops around in my head. I'm confused, everything seems to be so messy. :scratch:

I also can't remember which Assassin I'm supposed to post. There must be a clue somewhere, but I can't see it... :scratch:

Maybe a little color could make me see through the cages...
Have fun!
PS: This is the first Assassin I intentionally made messy. The first version was a wonderful symmetrical killer (which will be posted in a couple of weeks as another Assassin), but with such a nice number my creativity suddenly went crazy... :twisted:

Rating SSolver(3.2.1): 1.27. (My personal rating: hard 1.25, maybe easy 1.5)

Afmob: Thanks Nasenbaer for this messy Killer. Nice cage pattern that fits the current Assassin. :cheesey:

It took me some time to find the cracking move ...
Rating: 1.25.

gary w: Yes,a nice puzzle.Like Afmob I'ld rate it about 1.25.
Many thanks for a very entertaining challenge.

Mike(mhparker): Congratulations to Afmob and Gary for completing this one. :applause:

I gave up, having missed Afmob's cracking combination. Maybe I took the word "schnapszahl" a bit too literally and am feeling too groggy from the night before?

Andrew: Thanks Nasenbaer. Nice cage pattern using the "continental" 1s!
I really struggled with A111. It took me several sessions over several days ... If I hadn't made a little progress in each of those sessions I'd have given up.
It's hard for me to give a rating for A111. Objectively from the steps in my walkthrough it's a 1.25. However I found several of the steps very difficult to find ... so subjectively it's a solid to hard 1.5. That's the rating that I would have given if I'd been the first to post a walkthrough.
A111 deserves more that one walkthrough so here is my one. Unlike the way that Afmob, Mike and some others try to optimise their walkthroughs, I've kept the key breakthrough where I found it since it wasn't an obvious one that I ought to have spotted earlier.
The key breakthrough steps are the same as those used by Afmob so I think this puzzle had a very narrow solving path.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

gary w's Solving Outline:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Top

Andrew

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

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 9:24 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 112 by Afmob (July 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Afmob: I messed aound with some cage patterns and noticed that this one messed up SS rating because of its remote cage. I'll post V2 (or more fitting V1.5) on Sunday which has an SS score of 2.0+.
SS Score: 1.33. Estimated rating: (Hard) 0.75.

Frank: Very enjoyable Afmob. I think (hard) 0.75 is about right.
Clearly there was nothing on TV here in Vancouver this evening

Many thanx.

Nasenbaer: As Frank said: very enjoyable. Thanks, Afmob!
Took me long enough to be the first for a walkthrough

but here it is:
There is so much going on in so many different places that I think it's hard to keep a clean walkthrough for this one. I hope this one wasn't too messy.

gary w: Many thanks Afmob for a nice (gentle this time) puzzle.Took me about 25-30 minutes,perfect for a Friday evening.I'ld rate it about the same as The Times "deadly" killers...about 0.5+ ??

Andrew: I'm still struggling with those "continental" 1s in A111 so after doing SOK1 Variant yesterday I did A112 today.
I'll rate it at 0.75. I note Gary's slightly lower rating and agree that after the simple opening steps it's straightforward but there's still a reasonable amount of work which I feel is probably better done using elimination solving which is why I haven't rated this puzzle lower.
My solution path is fairly similar to Nasenbaer's but I'll post it anyway.

Walkthrough by Nasenbaer:

gary w's Solving Outline:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

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Andrew

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

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 9:55 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 112 V2 by Afmob (July 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Afmob: Here is V2 with a SS rating that's totally of the charts. :brickwall:

But don't worry! Take a closer look (and have a calculator nearby :cheesey:

) to spot its weakness.
SS Score: 2.49. Estimated rating: (Easy) 1.25 - 1.25.

udosuk: I don't know how easy V2 is supposed to be? But using a very ingenius algebraic trick I'm able to crack it in 4 quick steps: :ugeek:

Mike(mhparker):

udosuk wrote:

But using a very ingenius algebraic trick...

Indeed it is! Nice way of looking at this move (your step 3), which an automated solver would probably pick up by analyzing all possible permutations.
Last but not least, thanks for the puzzle, Afmob! Hopefully, Richard is listening and will be able to fix the problem with SS not finding ...

(Further comments included in Mike's walkthrough)

Afmob: Congratulations for finding the weakness of V2! Mike is right, this move helps to crack my killer. My initial estimated rating might be a bit low since I also used the same Killer triple as udosuk. The important move (in my case step 2c) can be applied in an easier way which justifies a 1.25 rating, I think:
(see Afmob's snippet below for further comments on the rating)

udosuk: Yep, the way Afmob put the cracking move is much more straight forward than mine.
Thanks for the nice puzzle! :alien:

Andrew, in 2010: Continuing working through my backlog, the next variant I tried was A112 V2 where I'd originally got stuck at step 13; when I resumed I edited that step before continuing from that position.
My solving path was very different from the three already posted.
I'll rate my walkthrough for A112 V2 at Easy 1.5 to 1.5; I'm inclined to go for the latter because I found some steps hard to find.
(further comments in walkthrough)
(there's also further discussion in a hidden window after Andrew's walkthrough)

Walkthrough by udosuk:

Mike's walkthrough:

Afmob's snippet:

Walkthrough by Andrew, in 2010:

Further Discussion:

Top

Andrew

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

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 1:29 am

Grand Master

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

Assassin 113 by Para (July 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Para: Here's my assassin. One of those puzzles i like. A lot of playing with 45-tests. There's 2 more version available. An easier and a harder. Your choice if i post a second one and also which one that is then.
SS-Score: 1.56. Rating: 1.25 (hard).

Afmob: This was certainly a difficult Killer, so thanks Para!
My breakthrough step 5a is not the nicest move, so I hope someone comes up with something more elegant. Note that my walkthrough is fairly long since I couldn't find a way to shorten the end game. I would like a V2 but an easier version might be better since V1 is already quite tough.
Rating: 1.5.

Ed:

Afmob wrote:

an easier version might better since V1 is already quite tough.

I'll second that. Thought I was finally getting somewhere and oops - contradiction. No more time for now.
Love having a typical Para toughie. Can't seem to find any decent "45"s. Congratulations to Afmob for getting it so quickly ;clapclap;

!
Wish me luck!

Mike(mhparker: And I'll third it!
Nevertheless, thanks for the challenge so far, Para! Also, thanks for posting the "Lite" version instead of (perish the thought!) an even harder "V2"! :sun:

(Full comments by Mike, and others, in a hidden window below)

Para: :whistle:

I clearly said playing with 45-tests. I never said they seemed useful. You've all read some of my walk-throughs. :whistle:

You know how 1 candidate can make or break a puzzle. I can make one with 81 1 cell cages too. :lol:

(Or maybe 80 to make it that more challenging.)

goooders: As a proponent of time based difficulty I'd agree the original was about 1.5 as it took me north of 3 hours to finish sitting on a sunny Greek island ... Top class puzzle.

Andrew: I've at last tried and solved A113.

My solving path had a lot in common with Afmob's walkthrough. There is clearly a narrow solving path for the key breakthrough ...
I thought about rating A113 as Hard 1.25 but on consideration I'll make it 1.5. It's hard to know how to rate ...

Para: That was how i did it too/intended it. So you could just join me in my hard 1.25 rating

.

Ed: WARNING: 3-monthly grumpy post.
I disagree with Afmob and Andrew rating their walk-throughs for A113 as 1.5 ...
(Ed's full post and replies to it are in a hidden window below)

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Full comments by Mike and others:

Mike's analysis of Afmob's breakthrough step, with Afmob's reply and Ed's comments:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Ed's post on the ratings for A113 and various replies:

Assassin 113-Lite by Para (July 2008) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Para: Here's the Lite version of assassin 113.
SS-Score: 1.03. Rating: 1.0.

Mike(mhparker): Since no-one's posted one yet, here's my walkthrough for the Lite version. Despite its name, it still proved to be non-trivial, and proved to be good fun to do. So, thanks very much, Para!

Andrew: A113-Lite was a nice, straightforward puzzle once I'd got over my early mistake.
I'll rate A113-Lite at 1.0.

Walkthrough by Mike:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

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