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Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 3:21 am

Grand Master

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

This is Part F of the Assassin Forum Archive, continuing to include puzzles posted on this site and provide easy links to the puzzles and threads. Please read the first part of the Archive Index to get the background to this archive including Mike (mhparker)'s original post about ratings.

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

Abbreviations used in Rating Table:

+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Puzzle                    Est  |  Made By  | Afmob | Andrew|     Other Raters      | Score |
+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Assassin 151             E1.25 |    Ed     | E1.00 | H1.00 |                       |  1.35 |
| Assassin 151V2                 |   Frank   | H1.50 | H1.50 |                       |  1.75 |
| Assassin 152              1.25 |   Afmob   |   **  | H1.25 | (Ed) E1.50            |  1.25 |
| JF"F"K6                        |   manu    | H1.25 |  1.50 |                       |  2.75 |
| Assassin 153                   |   manu    | H1.00 |  1.25 |                       |  1.25 |  
| Assassin 153V2                 |   manu    |       |  1.50 |                       |  2.35 |
| Assassin 154                   | Ronnie G  | H1.00 | E1.25 |                       |  1.35 |
| Assassin 154V1.5               | Ronnie G  |  1.50 |  1.50 |                       |  1.60 |
| Assassin 155             H1.00 |   Afmob   |   **  | H1.25 |                       |  1.10 |
+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
                                         Page #1

+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Puzzle                    Est  |  Made By  | Afmob | Andrew|     Other Raters      | Score |
+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Assassin 156                   |   manu    | H1.00 |  1.00 |                       |  1.30 |
| Assassin 156V2                 |   manu    | H1.00 | E1.25 |                       |  2.35 |
| Assassin 157                   |    Ed     |  1.25 | E1.25 |                       |  1.30 |
| Assassin 158             H1.25 |   Afmob   |   **  |  1.25 |                       |  1.50 |
| Assassin 159                   |   manu    | H1.00 |  1.25 |                       |  1.35 |
| Human Solvable 4X              |  HATMAN   |       |  1.50 |                       |  2.00 |
| Assassin 160                   | Ronnie G  | H1.25 | H1.25 |                       |  1.25 |
| Assassin 161X                  |  HATMAN   | H1.00 |  1.25 | (U) 0.75              |  1.70 |
| JFFK7                     1.50 |   manu    |       |  1.50 | Solved as a "tag"     |  2.10 |
+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
                                         Page #2

+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Puzzle                    Est  |  Made By  | Afmob | Andrew|     Other Raters      | Score |
+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Assassin 162                   |    Ed     | H1.00 |  1.25 |                       |  1.30 |
| Human Solvable 5X              |  HATMAN   |       |  1.25 |                       |  DNF  |
| Assassin 163              1.00 |   Afmob   |   **  | E1.25 | (U) 1.00              |  1.10 |
| Assassin 163V2            1.75 |   Afmob   |   **  |  1.25 | (U) 1.25              |  2.00 |
| Assassin 164                   |   manu    | H1.00 | H1.00 |                       |  1.30 |
| Assassin 164V1.5               |   manu    | H1.00 | E1.25 |                       |  1.60 |
| Assassin 165                   | Ronnie G  | H1.00 |  1.25 |                       |  1.30 |
| Assassin 165V2                 | Ronnie G  | E1.25 | E1.25 |                       |  1.75 |
| Assassin 166              1.25 |   Afmob   |   **  |  1.25 |                       |  1.50 |
+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
                                         Page #3

+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Puzzle                         |  Made By  | Afmob | Andrew|     Other Raters      | Score |
+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Assassin 167                   |    Ed     |       | E1.25 |                       |  0.95 |
| JFFK8                          |   manu    |       | H1.25 |                       |  1.45 
| Assassin 168                   |   manu    |  1.25 |  1.25 |                       |  1.60 |
| Assassin 169                   | Ronnie G  | H1.25 | H1.25 |                       |  1.45 |
| Assassin 170                   |    Ed     |       | H1.00 |                       |  1.30 |
| Assassin 170V1.5               |    Ed     |  1.50 |  1.50 |                       |  1.60 |
| Assassin 171                   |   manu    | H1.00 |  1.25 |                       |  1.25 |
| Assassin 171 Alt               |   manu    |       | H1.25 |                       |  1.35 |
| Assassin 171V2.5               |   manu    | H1.00 | H1.25 |                       |  2.50 |
+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
                                         Page #4

+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Puzzle                         |  Made By  | Afmob | Andrew|     Other Raters      | Score |
+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
| Assassin 172                   |   tarek   |       |  1.25 |                       |  1.45 |
| Assassin 173                   | Ronnie G  | E1.25 |  1.25 |                       |  1.45 |
| Assassin 174                   |   manu    |  1.25 |  1.25 |                       |  1.50 |
| Assassin 175                   |  udosuk   | H1.50 |  1.50 |                       |  2.80 |
| Assassin 175V0.75              |  udosuk   |       | E1.50 |                       |  3.35 |
| Assassin 175V0.25              |  udosuk   |       |  1.25 |                       |  1.35 |
| Assassin 175V0.5               |  udosuk   |       | E1.50 |                       |  2.05 |
| Assassin 175V2                 |  udosuk   | H1.50 |  1.50 |                       |  3.20 |
| Assassin 175V3                 |  udosuk   | E1.75 | E1.75 |                       |  3.45 |
+--------------------------------+-----------+-------+-------+-----------------------+-------+
Assassin 175 V2 and Assassin 175 V3 are in the same archive entry.
Other Images in the Assassin 175 thread and (often light-hearted) discussion about them are here
                                         Page #5

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.

Many thanks to Ed for providing the format for the rating tables, including links to the puzzle threads; I think it was a great idea that in the rating tables he provided separate columns for Afmob and myself, the most regular posters of walkthroughs. Thanks also to Børge for generating so many diagrams, which are also in the Images with "udosuk Style Killer Cages" thread, and for providing links from diagrams in that thread to the archive entries.

If you solve any of these puzzles and decide that there aren't enough walkthroughs for that puzzle or, better still, that you've found an interesting way to solve it which hasn't been posted, please feel free to post your walkthrough in the puzzle thread. Your comments and walkthrough will then be added to this archive.

Last edited by Andrew on Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:15 pm, edited 9 times in total.

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:02 am

Grand Master

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

Assassin 151 by Ed (April 2009) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Ed: This one seems straightforward after recent Assassins but hopefully still passes the interesting test. I'll give it an Easy 1.25 rating. This cage pattern started out as an X, but this puzzle is not. I'm not planning a V2 - though started one with a couple of cages joined together. Someone else feel free!
SS(3.3.0)score = 1.36.
An alternate score - could be a spoiler or hint With r5c5 as a single cell cage the SSscore = 0.93.

Andrew: Thanks Ed for a straightforward Assassin. It was fun. It will be a good one for newbies to do once they have solved the puzzles recommended in my Advice "sticky".
Nice cage pattern! I like the way R5C5 was left blank to maintain the central symmetry.
This was the quickest I've solved an Assassin since the first dozen of Ruud's ones. After finding fairly early breakthroughs it flowed nicely. I'm sure there must be a lot of ways to solve this one; Afmob will probably find a more direct solution.
I'll rate A151 as Hard 1.0.

Afmob: Don't put so much pressure on me, Andrew! :lol:

Thanks for this nice Killer, Ed! It was fun to solve ...
Rating: Easy 1.0.

Joe Casey: For me the biggest difficulty was remembering that it wasn't a diagonal. You get into an awful mess if you think it is.

(Further comments by Andrew after the walkthroughs)

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Further comments by Andrew:

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:21 am

Grand Master

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

Assassin 151 V2 by Frank (April 2009) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Frank: I am not sure of the protocol for creating a version 2. So if I have committed procedural trangressions, please disregard the rest of this post

.
JSudoku, Perfect Sudoku, SudokuSolver and I have together conspired to create the following. We decided to make it diagonal and symmetric. It measures 1.74 on the Richter scale. To help you get started I will tell you 1.2345679% of the solution. The centre cell is 9. Enjoy

.
SS(3.3.0)score = 1.74.

Ed: Thanks for making a harder version, this puzzle certainly needs one. Did you solve it yourself first? I'd rather solve puzzles that I know have been hand solved first.
I wish I could say something witty to match your wonderful way with words Frank...you add some much needed humour to this forum!
Thanks

Afmob: Thanks for giving us a V2, Frank!
I usually try to avoid ...
Rating: Hard 1.5.

manu: Thanks for this V2 !
The main difficulty was ...

Andrew (in 2010): A151 V2 was then next one of my backlog of unfinished puzzles that I went back to.
In Afmob's walkthrough steps ... were neat while in manu's walkthrough the key step ... was similar to my final breakthrough; I liked the way manu expressed it ...
Even though my solving path is similar to manu's, I decided to post my walkthrough because of the interesting step ...
I'll also rate A151 V2 at Hard 1.5. I think my hardest steps were of the same difficulty level as Afmob's hardest steps.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by manu:

Walkthrough by Andrew (in 2010):

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 8:59 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 152 by Afmob (April 2009) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Afmob: This cage pattern created some very hard Killers and I had to adjust the cage sums several times to get the difficulty right, but I think it was worth it. Here you can find lots of I/O moves, so have fun spotting and using them! :dance:

SS Score: 1.26. Estimated rating: 1.25.
Edit: No further version planned.

manu: Thanks for this interesting Assassin Afmob. There is nothing too much difficult (my walkthrough uses ..., and the steps flow nicely. There are many opportunities which makes this Assassin very enjoyable ; I guess there should be others different solving paths.
Are you planning a V2 Afmob ?

Ed:

Afmob wrote:

had to adjust the cage sums several times to get the difficulty right, but I think it was worth it.

Perfect difficulty thanks Afmob. No need for a V2!

manu wrote:

There is nothing too much difficult

Was difficult for me! But I missed manu's really neat step 3d. A very elegant trick which I'd give an Easy 1.5 rating since I think it is very hard to find. Here is a more conventional (though much longer) way to solve this puzzle which....I'll rate at Easy 1.50 [but see edit following] I took sooo many tangents before getting to this optimised, simple to follow WT. Also, I like to rate puzzles that have remote cages and diagonal cages a bit higher than standard patterns. [edit: I'll up that rating to 1.50 since ...]. It's cracked by step 17.

Andrew: Thanks Afmob for a challenging puzzle!
It took me quite a long time to find the key breakthrough in step 22, which is the same as manu's step 3d. With hindsight it's the same sort of move as my step 2 but there's something I can't explain which makes it a much harder move to spot.
I'll rate my walkthrough for A152 at Hard 1.25 because although step 22 isn't technically difficult IMHO it's hard to spot.

Ed wrote:

Also, I like to rate puzzles that have remote cages and diagonal cages a bit higher than standard patterns.

I've probably also factored that into my rating.

Afmob: Good walkthroughs from all of you! I used ... to solve it.

Walkthrough by manu:

Walkthrough by Ed:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Walkthrough by Afmob:

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 9:30 pm

Grand Master

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

JF"F"K6 by manu (April 2009) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

manu: Here is something quite hard, so this one might be '' Just For a Frightful Killer!''

for some people, which explains the "F" :evil:

.
However, I have tried to keep a similar concept as Assassin 152 : a X-killer with many Innies and outies.
It is still solvable without using too heavy moves, but the cracking step I have used for this one was not easy to find for me.
On the other hand, it then could be solved quite (?) straightforwardly if you find the good trick ! See by yourself ...
SSscore : 2.75
Edit : There was a trouble (thanks Afmob) with the PS-code (there was a "broken" cage). I apologize for that problem, everything is OK now !

Afmob: I tried to tackle this Killer a week ago but I didn't come far, so I stopped and deleted my partial wt since I thought vast T & E was needed because of SudokuSolver's score. Today I tried it again and it fell quite fast.

My rating is not "just" 1.25 because ... Rating: Hard 1.25.

manu: Thanks Afmob for having taken time with this puzzle.
This is not so much difficult (by the way, all the puzzles I post on this forum are solvable using logic, without vast T_E steps whereas I am not completely against some short contradiction move : trust me,I solve each of them several times).
PS : A strange fact : without the diagonal condition, the puzzle is still solvable and SSscore is 2.23 < 2.75 ! However, I have kept this condition since it seems to me more interesting to solve.

Andrew (in 2010): Another from my backlog of unfinished puzzles.

Afmob wrote:

I tried to tackle this Killer a week ago but I didn't come far, so I stopped ... Today I tried it again and it fell quite fast.

I also came back to it but, in my case, just over a year and a half later.

Thanks manu for an interesting Killer. Nice solving paths by both Afmob and manu! I also used ... thanks manu for deciding to post this puzzle as a Killer-X.

As can be seen from my walkthrough, when I came back to this puzzle I found that I had been very close to solving it at the time; my key breakthrough was only two steps later ...
I'll rate my walkthrough for JF"F"K at 1.5.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by manu:

Walkthrough by Andrew (in 2010):

Top

Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 10:03 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 153 by manu (April 2009) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

manu: Don't be afraid of these hexagonal cages because they could be very useful !
I have made different versions with the same cage pattern and hope that this one
has the right difficulty. It is the kind of killer I like : no early cage combination fixed, and the whole cage pattern must be used. I have an other version that could offer a nice V2 : it will be sent later
according to the activity on this V1 and JFFK6 as soon as A154 is claimed.

Afmob: I really liked the cage pattern of this Killer, thanks manu!
There were lots of moves I omitted to shorten my wt which would have probably led to a different solution path, so I guess there should be different ways to tackle it.
Rating: Hard 1.0.

Andrew: Thanks manu for a great puzzle with an interesting cage pattern!
As will be seen from my comment before steps 11, 12 and 13, I took some time to get going on this Assassin. I also ought to have spotted step 19 earlier. I had seen my other key move, step 24, much earlier but it wasn't useful until ...
I'll rate my walkthrough for A153 at least 1.25.

Ronnie G: manu,
I think this is your best puzzle yet! I loved all the interesting interactions you created: the hexagonal cages combined with the X(2) 's made so many CPE's.
It was a really fun puzzle. Thanks

manu: Thanks for all these kind words about this puzzle. I recall I have a V2 ready (with a similar cage pattern) for you but I wait for A154 to be claimed, so ... :scratch:

Ed: Here's a completely different way to get into this puzzle. No combo work just "45"s! More suitable for manu's V2 really, if he ever gets to post it.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Partial Walkthrough by Ed:

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 10:21 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 153 V2 by manu (May 2009) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

manu: Of course, the ideas you have used for the previous V1 will be useful, but you will certainly need other ones for cracking this one...
SSscore : 2.37

Ed: Got this V2 out way quicker than Ronnie's A154! So thank you manu! It just takes ... and no, it's nothing to do with IO anything

. I felt reluctant to use it because of how many elements are in it but couldn't find a simpler way.

Andrew:

Ed wrote:

Got this V2 out way quicker than Ronnie's A154!

In my case I was stuck on Afmob's A155, a fairly low rated puzzle that is clearly a lot harder than it rating, so I had a go at A153 V2.

manu wrote:

Of course, the ideas you have used for the previous V1 will be useful, but you will certainly need other ones for cracking this one...

Thanks manu for another excellent puzzle!
As you said the ideas used for the V1 were useful ...
My key breakthrough was step 15a, which is fairly similar to Ed's step 7a; I think spotting that step is almost certainly essential for a reasonable length solution. The SSscore is much higher than my rating so it's possible that it didn't find this step and used something more difficult.
I'll rank A153 V2 at 1.5 because of step 15a.

manu: I post the way I have solved that V2, especially for step 2 that offers another way for cracking this puzzle.

Walkthrough by Ed:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Walkthrough by manu:

Top

Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:56 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 154 by Ronnie G (May 2009) here

Puzzle Diagram: unfortunately, the original has been lost:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Ronnie G: I had hoped to post this on Friday, but it took me forever to solve this puzzle. Since there's been no A154 posted, I'll make this the official one!
I recently asked Afmob how he made the "criss-cross" cage pattern he used in A148. (I think other puzzle makers have used similar patterns.) I've always used Sumocue to draw out potential puzzle diagrams, and it's very cumbersome to include such a pattern. Afmob told me to try using JSudoku. Eureka!!!
You may be sorry he shared this with me, once you take a good look at this cage pattern. I went a little nuts with the criss-crosses. :shock:

I've used Richard's nifty "colouring" tool in the hopes it will provide some visual clarity. [Moderator edit: unfortunately, that image has been lost]
Enjoy!
SS score: 1.37.
udosuk: Been away for a long while. Thanks for a nicely easy puzzle as a welcome-back. :alien:

Afmob: I pretty much solved this Assassin the same way as udosuk, so no walkthrough from me.
I would rate this path of solving 1.0 - Hard 1.0
(Full post below, in the walkthroughs)

Andrew: Thanks Ronnie for a challenging Assassin.
Many of my steps were the same as those used in udosuk's walkthrough but I took longer to find the early key moves and didn't spot the important part of his final breakthrough...
I'll rate my walkthrough at least Easy 1.25 ...

Ed:

Ronnie G wrote:

it took me forever to solve this puzzle

Me too! I missed Andrew's step 12 (udosuk's line 11) :oops:

. Always struggle to find innies. Have to go out and look for them.

Ronnie G wrote:

"criss-cross" cage pattern ...Sumocue's very cumbersome to include such a pattern.

Do you use Shift with click to make the cages? Perhaps JSudoku is even easier. Never tried.
Thanks Ronnie.

Walkthrough by udosuk:

Afmob's full post:

Walkthrough by Andrew:

Top

Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:00 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 154 V1.5 by Ronnie G (May 2009) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Ronnie G: Everything seems quiet around here, so I thought I'd try to liven it up a bit! Keep everyone occupied until manu's 156 and of course Ed's Anniversary 157. :thumbs:

Here's a slightly harder version of A154, let's call it V1.5 It has a slightly altered cage pattern and different solution from the V1.
SS score: 1.59.
Enjoy!

Afmob: Thanks for providing us with a V2, Ronnie! I used lots of combo clashes to solve this Killer, so maybe someone can find a neater way to crack it.
Rating: 1.5.

manu: Thanks Ronnie, for this puzzle that was resisting a lot !
It has got me thinking a lot because there are a lot of moves you need before cracking it.
I did not find an easier way than Afmob 's solution, but it is a different approach, so I post my wt

Andrew (in 2010): Having caught up with my backlog of unfinished V1s (A161 and A165) last month, I had a look to see if there were any other of Ronnie's puzzles that I hadn't yet done. I found that I'd got stuck on A154 V1.5 and hadn't yet started A150 V2 so I had a go at both of them in the last few days.
I'd got as far as step 21 and had a note of the innies in step 23 (I'd also used 45 rule on N58 for A154) but until this week I hadn't worked out how I could use them. Then after steps 24, 25 and 28 the puzzle was cracked.

Afmob wrote:

I used lots of combo clashes to solve this Killer, so maybe someone can find a neater way to crack it.

Maybe manu's step 2d is that way? It's a neat way, combining a "clone" and a short forcing chain. Many of my steps are similar to those used by Afmob but my breakthrough is different.
I'll also rate A154 V1.5 at 1.5.

Walkthrough by Afmob:

Walkthrough by manu:

Walkthrough by Andrew (in 2010):

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Andrew

Post subject: Archive Part F. Assassins 151-175, variants, other puzzles

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:47 pm

Grand Master

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

Assassin 155 by Afmob (May 2009) here

Puzzle Diagram:

Images with "udosuk style Killer Cages" by Børge:

Code: Select, Copy & Paste into solver:

Solution:

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

Quote:

Afmob: I decided to make a messy Assassin since it's been a long time since Messy One #6. I hope you can see which cell belongs to which cage. :twisted:

SS Score: 1.08. Estimated rating: Hard 1.0.

Ronnie G: Thanks Afmob for another fun puzzle! :applause:

Didn't get to look at it until today, and it took me a good 2 hours, maybe a little longer, to solve. I'm getting slow in my old age!
It seems I made tons of eliminations before finding the first placement, and even when I thought I had it cracked, many more moves were needed to finally get to "singles only".
I kept some rough & sloppy notes & will try to sort them out into a coherent WT, but I must take a break for now.
Thanks again! :thumbs:

manu: My first solving path was using some contradictions between combos which was not satisfying, until I found step 2a of my WT ( two cloned cages).
This is a hard to solve puzzle that resists a lot, until the end ! Thanks Afmob.

Ronnie G: Well I FINALLY finished my walk-through. :bouncy:

Maybe it took so long because I have so little experience in writing them for an audience other than myself.
I don't rate puzzles, but don't think I used anything harder than a hidden killer pair. However it took me MANY small steps to complete this puzzle. This could be the longest WT in history for a relatively easy puzzle! Haven't yet looked at manu's version, maybe he came up with something clever to shorten the path.

Andrew:

Afmob wrote:

I decided to make a messy Assassin since it's been a long time since Messy One #6.

The cage pattern was certainly a good Messy One but this Assassin was waaaay harder than any in the Messy One series, even though the SS score is fairly low.

Ronnie G wrote:

... and it took me a good 2 hours, maybe a little longer, to solve. I'm getting slow in my old age!

IMHO that's quick for solving an Assassin. This one took me a lot longer; I got stuck and came back to it later. I did manage to solve A156, including writing my walkthrough as I went along, in that sort of time but the only other Assassins that I can remember solving in that time were Ruud's very early ones when I was writing walkthroughs but not posting them.
I get the impression that Afmob is a much quicker solver than I am. I don't know how long others take.

manu wrote:

My first solving path was using some contradictions between combos which was not satisfying, until I found step 2a of my WT ( two cloned cages).

So did I; see step 14 of my first walkthrough.

manu wrote:

This is a hard to solve puzzle that resists a lot, until the end !

It certainly does!
manu's step 2a is really neat! The immediate result in step 2b was obtained more directly by Ronnie's step 7 and my step 11. However its importance became obvious with manu's steps 2d and 2e. These led more quickly to the first placement and to a shorter WT.
Congratulations Ronnie on your first posted WT! An excellent effort! :applause:

After mentioning to Ed that I'd used difficult combination analysis (step 14) and an ALS block (step 16) he told me that I must have missed something easy. I therefore went back and eventually found what I'd missed. As a result I've decided to post both my walkthroughs for A155. For clarity I've posted them as separate messages and given them separate ratings.
I'll rate my first walkthrough at Hard 1.25

Andrew's Second Walkthrough: As I said above, I went back to find what I'd missed first time through.

Ronnie G wrote:

This could be the longest WT in history for a relatively easy puzzle!

And this one is even longer!

The solving path this time is fairly similar to the way Ronnie solved it but I've decided to post this anyway.
I'll rate my second walkthrough at (Very) Hard 1.0; that's also my rating for A155.
Here is my second walkthrough. The first 11 steps are the same as before; I've repeated them for clarity and in case anyone goes directly to my easier solving path.

Walkthrough by manu:

Walkthrough by Ronnie G:

First Walkthrough by Andrew:

Second Walkthrough by Andrew:

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