by enxio27 » Sun Jun 28, 2020 6:56 pm
Thanks so much for all of the input, both here and by private message. I will give all of the software suggestions a try. I have also emailed Richard Broughton with the question I posed in the top post, but I don't hold out much hope of a reply anytime soon. He, like many others before him, appears to have moved on to other interests, although he is kind enough to continue hosting the SudokuSolver forum and occasionally update the SudokuSolver program.
As most of you know, I'm a pencil-and-paper solver. I use the software to grade and validate puzzles, calculate pencil marks, print the puzzles, and occasionally give me a hint when I get stuck. Although I still have quite a few puzzles in queue (thanks to several of you and others who have moved on), I also like to have the ability to generate sudoku variant puzzles (mainly for future-proofing). I don't need a high level of difficulty--the extra constraints and multiple grids provide enough of a challenge and variety for me. I dabble in killers and other math-based puzzles once in a while, but I much prefer puzzles that require only logic. My repertoire of techniques is limited to swordfish, X-wings, N/H doubles/triples/quads/quints, and locked candidates, and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
I am convinced that my difficulty with several puzzles recently (tarek's Bank Holiday 1108 Sumo, Hajime's Xmas 2018, and others) is that due to either the unusual grid arrangement or the hybrid nature of the puzzle, I can't import the entire puzzle into SudokuSolver, JSudoku, etc. Instead, I have to import each grid as a separate puzzle and hope I get the eliminations correct in the overlapping areas. I think that mistakes in that area are what have caused me to mess up the puzzles and have to start over. That's why I was excited to see that SudokuSolver reportedly now has the ability to handle hybrid gattai, if only I could figure out how to make it work.
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