LMI November Sudoku Contest (13-14 Nov 2010)

[PuzzleScot]

http://logicmastersindia.com/M201011S/

'Renban' is the theme - connected greyed areas contain sequential numbers (though not necessarily in any order)

[debmohanty]

The test has started!

[ronaldx]

The "results" page for this competition rather kindly show me in first place, with 70 lower scoring competitors below! I know that's not true as I can see uvo recently checked the results page - although he doesn't appear on it Is there some problem here?

[Fred76]

No problem there: We can read on Indian forum:

Lets not discuss scores here till the test is ON. This time, I think we are able to see all scores lower than your score in the results page.

Rakesh, you are correct. After taking the test, you should be able to see your score along with all others who have got < than you.

So, for a moment, everybody is the winner !

Fred

[ronaldx]

Great! How strange but it's nice to be in first place for once

[Fred76]

Great! How strange but it's nice to be in first place for once

Hehe, Yes but perhaps there will be a nasty surprise when we'll see the final standings

[uvo]

The "results" page for this competition rather kindly show me in first place, with 70 lower scoring competitors below! I know that's not true as I can see uvo recently checked the results page - although he doesn't appear on it Is there some problem here?

I have a similar problem - some people checked their scores, but I can't see their results

[Fred76]

Perhaps are there spies on the Indian site !

[detuned]

gah...couldn't find the time gap today that would've allowed me to participate on this one, which is a bit gutting seeing as now I have the time the contest is about to finish. I'll give it a go now whilst everything is fresh and I can join in the discussion!

[debmohanty]

Perhaps are there spies on the Indian site !

There are no spies
As Fred mentioned, we just wanted a bit of surprise for everyone - to show them at the top.
And we are glad that some players liked the surprise.

[detuned]

A nice set of puzzles, although perhaps saved far too late (early?) in the night, I was definitely snoozing off towards the end! I'll claim an unofficial score of 410 + whatever small bonus that'd have given me.

The two that gave me the most trouble were the irregular and the shifted puzzles. The shifted is especially curious as I' only solved that this morning - presumably more awake than I was with say the irregular - and still didn't get it out in a hurry. Certainly not in the order of 2 points more than the classic!

[ronaldx]

That's fascinating. I was going to say that the irregular sudokus were rather kind, I solved them after time but quicker than any I solved in competition (on the small one I guessed between 2 options towards the end, which I realise was not necessary).

[nickdeller]

I actually got into terrible trouble on the small irregular! I don't know how, but I ended up following fallacies three or four times before I hit the right line.

Liked the Renban constraints generally, and also fairly pleased to get more than 50% of David's score.

[detuned]

Ronald - there are many different flavours to irregular sudoku, and mileages can vary incredibly. I guess I found that I adapted to the Renban constraint very quickly - in most cases it's an extra region with an extra partition type of constraint that worked beautifully with sudoku. For example, if you saw that 2 or 3 that definitely couldn't go into a region, then nor could a 1 - and it was then possible to make very good progress very quickly in a lot of the puzzles. I think the best example of this was the no touch puzzle - which I was simply solving as a Renban classic puzzle for about 2/3 of it!

However, part of the deal for me with the shifted and the irregular was that my solve used comparatively little Renban logic.

Some interesting things to note perusing the results page. Firstly a record turn out for LMI, and secondly, a few new British names there too!

[PuzzleScot]

Firstly a record turn out for LMI, and secondly, a few new British names there too!

Wow! That first comment means that our first ever contest attracted more players than any LMI contest had at that time!
I'd love to know how many of those Brits learned of the contest via these pages

[rodders]

I am one such Brit who learnt of the contest via these pages. I've been meaning to say hello for a while (I will get round to submitting a post on the welcome forum eventually!)

I became aware of the UKPA following this year's Times Sudoku Championships and have had a very enjoyable experience on this website and several others (all recommended here) ever since. I'm relatively new to most varieties of puzzles and am regularly impressed by many UK scores in the various competitions I have discovered. I particularly enjoyed the UKPA Sudoku Champs and also enjoy regular attempts on the LMI and CrocoPuzzles sites. I fully intend to fine tune my game and be challenging some of those higher scores soon!

I enjoyed the novelty of the Renban puzzles this weekend, although kicking myself for omitting one number on the Argyll 9x9 and missing out on 38 points. Still, a lesson learnt - again ....!

[Chris]

Just in answer to your musings Puzzlescot I actually learned about the indian mock tests via Rohan Rao's blogspot whilst browsing the internet some time ago looking for different sudoku variants after getting bored with classical sudoku. I am never going to be challenging for the top spots, being far too slow to complete the puzzles, but enjoy entering for my own reasons, and have set myself a personal target of one day managing to reach the half way mark!! I regularly visit this site though to check what is going on, and also to follow the progress of some of you fellow Brits who are competing at top level! I think it's great to see so many puzzle enthusiasts from many different countries coming together.

Just as a total aside, I'm not making any excuses, but don't think I have done myself justice in any of the competitions yet - I don't know how you 'regulars' get on with the time constraints, but I have found so far that once the clock is ticking I don't seem to think as clearly, then when the competition is over and I go back to finish off the remaining puzzles, the numbers seem to come to me much more easily. I guess you must get used to competing against the clock eventually. There are always puzzles I am never going to solve, but it's frustrating when the ones I am capable of don't fall into place quickly enough! Ah well, practise, and more practise!

[PuzzleScot]

rodders and chris - welcome! And thanks for the posts - most informative...

Being competitive is something a lot of us here have always had issues with. Time management, typos, silly mistakes and general kick-self after the event is all part of the 'fun'. With practice, you will improve and gain satisfaction in doing so.
The most important thing is that you enjoy what you are doing, but you know that already...

We have plenty plans for the association, and for this site, so please keep coming back, and tell your social networks about us too (if you're into that sort of thing). Can't go into the details at the moment I'm afraid - but all exciting stuff
In the meantime, you might want to subscribe (in the BL corner) to be notified of new postings in the Competitions or Announcements forums.

Alan.