Saturday, November 16, 2013

Puzzle No 89 (Slitherlink/Fences)

Rules :
Draw horizontal and vertical segments of unit length that connect the dots so that a single closed loop is formed. The loop cannot intersect itself. Numbers indicate how many of the four segments surrounding that square is part of the loop.
For solved Example: Click here

Difficulty: Medium+

Puzz.link: Online Solving

Puzzle:


Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Puzzle No 88 (Skyscraper Sudoku)

Note: Uniqueness Issue resolved. Top right clue "4" and bottom left clue "3" added to resolve it. Thanks to James McGowan for Pointing it.

Rules:
Fill each and every row,column, and region with numbers 1 to 6. 
Additionally, each number in the grid represents the height of the skyscraper in each cell. The digits outside the grid indicate the number of skyscrapers seen from the corresponding direction. Taller skyscrapers hide shorter ones.

Difficulty: Medium-

Sudoku:


Solution: Click here

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Puzzle No 87 (Classic Sudoku)

This post might be after long time. But now i want to try my hands on creating sudokus as well. I will be creating 6*6 sizes first, as an attempt. 

Rules:
Fill each and every row,column, and region with numbers 1 to 6.

Sudoku:


Solution : click here

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Puzzle No 86 (Coded Nurikabe)

Standard Rules of Nurikabe Applies:

Shade some blank cells so that the grid is divided into white regions. Each white region contains exactly one numbered cell and has same area as the number. Two white regions may only touch each other diagonally. All shaded cells are connected to each other horizontally or vertically. Shaded cells do not form 2X2 squares.

Additional Rule:
Determine the number in place of '?' which will make the solution unique. Remember there is a unique number which can make the solution unique.

Difficulty: Medium-

Puzzle:


Saturday, September 28, 2013

Puzzle No 85 TAPA

With Classic Tapa Contest on the verge of ending i thought of making one Tapa myself to give it an finishing touch. I believe i performed well as compared to last year but still have to improve a lot. So will be waiting for CTC 2014 eagerly. :)

Rules:

Color some cells to create a single contiguous shape. The shape can't have any 2 by 2 colored areas. The clues in the grid tell you how many consecutive cells around it have to be colored. If there's more than one digit in a cell, the groups of cells have to be separated by at least one empty cell. Cells with clues remain empty.
Click Here for Example.

Difficulty : Easy

Puzzle:

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Puzzle No 84 (Masyu)

Well i felt i should get back to classic types for few days now.

Rules :-
Draw a single closed loop using horizontal and vertical segments. It does not cross or overlap itself, and it may not visit all cells.The loop makes 90o turn at every cell with a black circle, but does not make a turn immediately before or after. The loop goes straight at every cell with a white circle, but makes a 90o turn immediately before or after or both.

Difficulty :- Hard

Puzzle:- 

Unique Solution:- Click here (It's a sincere request only check after you have solved or else you might not be able to enjoy it :) )

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Experience of Indian Puzzle Championship 2013

Firstly Recap about the competition :

About IPC 2013

The Indian Puzzle Championship 2013 will be held online on 7th July, 2013. Participation is free of cost and everyone is invited to participate in the event irrespective of age. There are no prerequisites/requirements for participation.
Top 4 competitors will represent India at the World Puzzle Championship 2013 which will be held in China in October, 2013.

Indian Puzzle Championship - 2013

Dates : 7th July 

Details : http://logicmastersindia.com/2013/IPC/ 

INSTRUCTION BOOKLET : CLICK HERE ( Puzzle Types )
POINTS ALLOCATED TO PUZZLES : CLICK HERE
CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE : CLICK HERE
DISCUSSION THREAD  : CLICK HERE
PRACTICE PUZZLES AND TIPS : CLICK HERE
COMPETITION PUZZLE BOOKLET : CLICK HERE
PASSWORD : - bN2TyC7Eeq
RESULTS
The Indian Puzzle Championship 2013 has a new winner, Prasanna Seshadri, with an impressive total of 977.5 points. This gave Prasanna a 250 point lead over second placed Amit Sowani who secured 720 points. Rajesh Kumar, the veteran solver, returned to the team after a one year absence with an impressive 610. Rohan Rao, the three-year champion, gave a lackluster performance by his high standards, but did enough to be the 4th entrant into Team India with 584 points. 
Unfortunately again i missed it by one position. The selection was of top 4 and i came 5th for 2nd consecutive time.
Top 5:
  1. Prasanna Seshadri (976 points)
  2. Amit Sowani (720 points)
  3. Rajesh Kumar (610 points)
  4. Rohan Rao (584 points)
  5. Swaroop Guggilam (534 points)
Complete Results : Click here
My Experience :
Thanks to all authors for such wonderful puzzles, they were really more tricky rather than hard. 

It took me two days to consume my result. But anyways i was happy thinking there would be some year made for me :). Well regarding puzzle types, 

A1 - I felt this was good for beginners. Except that odd man out created confusion to some of them.

A2- Slitherlink was fine with logic that we either need to eliminate options or solve and match it. But for sudoku i thought borders of regions must have been present because its just mechanical to redraw       it on each grid and nothing logical think about it. Though few of them can imagine the border and           eliminate the options. So at the same time giving borders would reduce mechanical work and if             required points could have been reduced and allotted to some other type.

B1, B2 - They were little tricky and easy but for beginners seeing the huge size grids must have surely   created problem. 

C1, C2 - i personally don't like battleships. c1 was nice and c2 i haven't solved yet.
D1 and D2 - Both star battles were nice and i guess practice puzzles had similar types so most of           people must have attempted this.
E1 Sudoku - i felt it was little difficult for beginners to attempt with fewer clues.

E2 Skyscraper Sudoku - The size was smaller one which made it easy to solve, but at the same time     worth 30 points.

F1 and F2 - Black White Loop and Black White Grey Loop were one of my favorite, so i solved it first and quickly to boost my confidence.

G1 and G2 - I felt it could have been little easier one. As we already had G2 to think of. But i skipped G types during test and was later regretting why i didn't attempted 

H1, H2 - I am good at searching but did a error while solving which costed me to loose points :(.

I1, I2 - It was strange i was not able to solve regular Tapa but solved the Variant easily.

J1, J2 - They were really awesome to solve and quite a new type to me but interesting.

K1, K2 - They were really my favorites. But was not able to solve during tests. They were real real         tricky in terms of logic.

L1, L2 - I was stuck in Snake Eggs, later realized i unnecessarily wasted some time there.

M1 - Well i want highlight upon this one. I was surprised looking at this kind of Slitherlink. I feel the lines could have been much darker. It was so light in my print outs that once used eraser the lines get erased and then i had to take print outs again and again. So if those lines would have been darker then it would have been helpful. But it was tricky and good one to solve.

M2 - It was real worth for its points in terms of quality and difficulty.

My favourites were - crosslink, BWG loop, tapa difference. Kakuro + pento kakuro were also awesome (solved it later

Overall i really enjoyed the puzzles and quality were good. I felt it could have been balanced such that more easy puzzles and few with much difficulty so that for beginner it could have been more enjoyable and also for top solvers to compete in their zone.

VOTE OF THANKS

At the end i would appreciate all the authors , test solvers and LMI for organizing it so efficiently. I also congratulate to all the winners and hope they would perform best at World Puzzle Championship and improve ranking of India from last time. I also thank to all other participants for giving their best and hope they will keep participating in future.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Non Puzzle Post

Well Indian Puzzle Championship 2013 is over. I will tell my experience soon. But quickly i again missed this year to make up in top 4. I came 5th in India. This is 3rd consecutive time i am missing it :(. But moving forward, may be some year is there for me in future. :)

Coming competitions are :
1) Times Sudoku Championship (TSC)

2) Indian Sudoku Championship (ISC)
It will be hosted by LOGIC MASTERS INDIA. It will be held online on 10th August,2013. The winner of this will be declared official Indian Sudoku Champion 2013. 

Do not confuse this with Times Sudoku Championship. The top 4 of Times Sudoku Championship will represent India at World Sudoku Championship to be held in China in October,2013 and the funds will be sponsored by Times.
Whereas the top 4 of Indian Sudoku Championship can also opt for representing India at World Sudoku Championship, in an individual capacity (Self Sponsored), unless they merge with winners of TSC. :)

Keep visiting for further updates. :)

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

PRACTICE PUZZLES, SOLVING TIPS AND LINKS FOR IPC 2013

Update2: Fixed the typo in Pentomino Kakuro. New PDF uploaded. No other change.

Update1: There is an erratum published on the IPC site that says the 2×2 restriction applies to Happy Dots too. Since the practice puzzle in the PDF still gives a nice practice for placing the dots and forming regions, and only uses 2×2 regions minimally, it stays the same in the PDF. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.

Right, took a while, but we’re finally there. If you’re still not aware, the Indian Puzzle Championship will be held on 7th July. Here are our (me and Prasanna) best efforts, with the main goal being to try to help the newer participants.
This PDF features -
1. Practice puzzles for B1, B2, C, D, E2, F1, F2, G2, I1, I2, J1, J2, K1, K2, L1, L2, M2.
2. Beginner-level solving tips for all the puzzles in the set.
3. Solutions to all the puzzles in the set.
4.  Links to other practice material, pattern guids, and other technical tips.
Link to PDF - Practice

Sunday, June 23, 2013

INDIAN PUZZLE CHAMPIONSHIP 2013 ON 7th JULY

About IPC 2013

The Indian Puzzle Championship 2013 will be held online on 7th July, 2013. Participation is free of cost and everyone is invited to participate in the event irrespective of age. There are no prerequisites/requirements for participation.
Top competitors will represent India at the World Puzzle Championship 2013 which will be held in China in October, 2013.

Indian Puzzle Championship - 2013

Dates : 7th July 

Details : http://logicmastersindia.com/2013/IPC/ 

Puzzle types will be released 5 days before the championship. If you are planning to participate for the first time, you can check previous years' puzzles as practice material 2009201020112012 
CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE : CLICK HERE
DISCUSSION THREAD  : CLICK HERE
P.S:-
I am looking forward to it. Hope to give my best performance this time. Queries like how to participate, how the competition will be conducted are all answered in discussion thread and on championship page.

Monday, May 13, 2013

LMI : PUZZLE CONTEST DECEPTION (18 - 20th MAY)


Author

About Deception

This test has 3 sections, `Falsehood`, `Ambiguity` and `Annexation`, with 3 puzzle types in each section.
INSTRUCTION BOOKLET : DOWNLOAD HERE
CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE : CLICK HERE
DISCUSSION THREAD ( FORUM) : CLICK HERE
Another new kind of test. Looking forward to it. Hope to have Great Fun. :) Few practice puzzles and links given in the Instruction Booklet itself.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

LMI : CLASSIC MASYU CONTEST (26th April - 2nd May)



An LMI Beginners' Puzzle contest

This contest will have only classic Masyus, of varying difficulties.

Author

Ravi Kumar Macherla
DISCUSSION THREAD : CLICK HERE
CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE : CLICK HERE
INSTRUCTION BOOKLET : CLICK HERE
RESULTS PAGE : CLICK HERE (Will not be available until you appear for test or the contest is over whichever is earlier)
PUZZLE BOOKLET : CLICK HERE (Password Protected - Password will be available when you login and start the test)
PRACTICE PUZZLES ON MY BLOG: CLICK HERE
This is a good opportunity for beginner's to prove their skills and compete among themselves as well as at the same time can track their performance in comparison to top class solvers. :)
Wish Best of Luck to all !! :)

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Puzzle No 83 (Kropki)

This one is just the way i thought to be. Creating it was a real fun. You will really enjoy it. :)

Rules :-
Place numbers of the given range in the grid such that each number appears in every row and column exactly once. If the absolute difference between two digits in neighboring cells equals 1, then they're separated by a white dot. If the digit in a cell is half of the digit in a neighboring cell, then they they're separated by a black dot. The dot staying between numbers '1' and '2' can be a black or white dot as it satisfy both rules.

Rated : Hard+

Puzzle :                               Range ( 1~9)


Monday, April 15, 2013

Puzzle No 82 (NoriNori)

Again a new type of puzzle. I am attempting this for the first time and quite happy with kind of puzzle i ended with. It is also called as Dominnocuous by Mathgrant and was invented by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli.
Njoy !! :)

Rules :  

Shade in some cell such that every region contains exactly two shaded cells, and every shaded cell shares an edge with exactly one other shaded cell.


Difficulty : Medium


Puzzle :


LMI : WPF SUDOKU GRAND PRIX (20-22 APRIL 2013)

This competition will be used as Serbian round of WPF Sudoku Grand Prix. If you want your results to be considered for Sudoku GP, you must have yourself registered at the same page, if you have not done so earlier.

Instruction Booklet      : Click here to download

Championship Page  : Click here

Discussion Page        : Click here

Best of luck !! :)

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Puzzle No 81 (Symbolic Slitherlink)

Little inspiration from Cipher puzzles, I made this Symbolic Slitherlink.
This i named it earlier as slitherlink cellular on my blog. But it seems symbolic is much better replica of its rules than cellular.
It follows all normal Slitherlink rules. Click on the name for rules. 

Additional Rule :

The cells with the same symbols behave exactly the same way, and the cells with different symbols behave in different ways. For e.g:- if a cell contains symbol and the top border has the loop segment on it then all other cells where that symbol is present will also have loop segment on the top border of that cells.
Click here for additional explanation ! :)
I would try making with more symbols introduced and much harder one ! :)

Difficulty : Easy :)

Puzzle :

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Puzzle No 80 (Minesweeper)

It is Minesweeper Puzzle. Click on the name for the rules.

Thanks to Prasanna for test solving it :).
Difficulty :- Medium
Puzzle :-

Njoy !! :)

LMI: April Contest (5-13th april)

Hey guys it has been long time, sorry for delay.
Logic Masters India announces April Contest from 5 - 13th April 2013.Note:- "No Password to the Puzzle Booklet. And the contest is already started "


Puzzle Booklet : Click here to Download.

Discussion Page : Click here

Contest Page : Click here

Results Page : Click here


This is part of the semi-annual contest held by Riad Khanmagomedov at Russian Puzzle Club 'Diogen'.Read more about Riad here.
Best of luck to all ! :)