UK Puzzle Association

Yes, a big thank you to Liane for all the work behind the scenes to make this happen, and hearty congratulations to Freddie for a mighty victory.

Yes, it has a unique solution.
We can share it with you after the contest ends.
It was my favourite puzzle of the set.

Magic Pyramid: Is 23451 also a valid answer?

IB looks great.
I think the Rail Silai example has a second solution when the top right area is mirrored. Might need an extra wall in there.

You're amazing Liane, thanks so much for making this happen quickly!

No, I'm not aware of any shortcuts. There are multiple online solvers being used, and multiple types of blogs/tweets to find them. Plus it's courteous to visit the author on the way, and often they share their thoughts on the puzzle. There used to be a lot of Japanese tweeters, and it took a little ...

Thanks Liane for organizing this again, a nice mix of top quality puzzles from the authors. I did many many Japanese Sums in preparation.
Can't believe how close round 1 was, with the top 4 within 18 points of each other and 4 more within range - quite a shuffle once round 2 finished.

Sharing the news posted on the WPF Discord server (https://discord.gg/QPMknsQ8) and website (https://www.worldpuzzle.org/) that the official website for this year's WSC and WPC is now live. It will be in Toronto, Canada, on October 15-22:

https://www.wspc2023.com/

Nice idea Sam, thank you. Spotting that R5 and C5 must have the same length gap - I'll keep my eye open for things like this in the future. I also found a shortcut by using this in your first image: If R5 and C5 are both small gaps then you would have a 3 in R3C5 and also a 3 in R4C2, which breaks c...

Thanks for fixing that Adam.

In terms of learning, I'm curious about your solving thoughts for the second example.
After a quick start, I can find one digit and four blocks. Which way do you go next?

Can you please double-check your second example (33353,-00-3), I get a contradiction when I solve it.

A close battle for the fourth Puzzle GP qualification spot, well done Adam, Matthew, and Tom. Trying to wrap this up soon, so similarly for the WPC team: can we please get initial indications from Maurice Blount, Michael Collins, Adam Bissett, and Matthew White. Would you accept a place on the UK WP...

Looking at the upcoming GP this weekend, for the highest value (the Knight Hidato) I found four puzzles under a different name at http://forum.enjoysudoku.com/fairy-ches ... 43-45.html.

Congratulations Freddie, great result from you.
And Neil, Sam and myself all in the 22 out of 23 area.
Big thanks to Liane for organising this contest.
(PS And I confirm acceptance of my spot in the Krakow A-team.)

This is an online event organized to fill in the gap after the postponed WSC & WPC. The event starts on the 12th of November and ends on the 21st of November and will consist of a competitive part similar to the WSC & WPC, and various side events like panel discussions, lectures, trivia quiz...

Thanks Tom, yet another close finish in a strong field. Even I felt disheartened at the end, I didn't look at 30% of the puzzles this time, which didn't seem good when I was hoping to finish, but not really a problem if there's too many to choose from. And the puzzles were very enjoyable, so my than...

I was looking for old Taca puzzles and found the TVC 20 contest from 2016.. https://logicmastersindia.com/lmitests/?test=TVC20 The rules look normal, but both of the puzzles break when I try to solve them. TVC20 Taca 1.png For example, in the top-right corner of this puzzle: - 12 can't go in a corne...

The example for 29 Jumping Crossword has an extra word: "HAZIR" which can't be seen in the solution.
Will the contest puzzle have extra words, or is this an error?

I've seen a few versions, under different names. There've been a few optimisers (how many of these words can you fit inside this grid), and it was in the WPC maybe 6 years ago.

Yes. To elaborate: e.g. Look at the 32, 38, and 39 regions. They sum to 109, the whole puzzle sums to 136, so the left most pair of regions sum to 27. Now look at the 47. The left 2 are 27, so the right 2 are 20. This can continue along the lower edge. You'll find that the 50 and 37 sum to 30, so mu...

I also 'did a Yanzhe', so hoping to rise 5 places more.
Great start to 2021 Freddie!

Wow, that was close (and fortunate). I predict many victories for you in coming years Freddie, with Neil and I not far behind. 8-) Which is great news for the strength of the UK team! Thank you to Ashish Kumar, Bram de Laat, Hatice Esra Aydemir, David McNeill, Nikola Zivanovic, and Prasanna Seshadri...

Well done Freddie! When I last looked it said you spent 16 attempts and 50 minutes struggling with one puzzle. Was it a bad answer key in the end?

Well done Freddie!
I thought it said 11:59pm finish, not 11:59am, so I started at 11:53am and found out two hours later that it didn't care about my answer keys

Don't get their hopes up Tawan, my Google-fu is just too strong. But they are welcome to compete for second place!