The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[OscarSeurat]

Hi,
The original design has numbers where the four "+" signs are. The numbers were placed to make the umbrella pattern more suggestive even though after removing the "+"'s the puzzle still have a unique solution.


I am enclosing the text representation of the puzzle with no "+" signs:

Code: Select all

 *-----------*
 |..4|2.6|...|
 |.61|...|34.|
 |...|...|.1.|
 |---+---+---|
 |...|1..|...|
 |...|.4.|..5|
 |...|9.3|8.2|
 |---+---+---|
 |6.2|...|..9|
 |83.|...|.7.|
 |...|...|...|
 *-----------*


And just in case, the row-wise string representation (enlarge your browser's window to make sure that the string fits).

Code: Select all

004206000061000340000000010000100000000040005000903802602000009830000070000000000


Enjoy,

Oscar

P.S. The original (easier) puzzle is here.

[SpAce]

Hi Oscar! That's better, but still too easy. Only basic steps needed, though quite a few of them. Can you make them harder still?

In the mean time, let's make a new type of challenge out of this one:

Only singles allowed both before and after the decisive step(s)!

Seems pretty hard to bypass all the basic steps of this puzzle with just one advanced move.

[1to9only]

One way to make more difficult puzzles that will please the expert solvers visiting this thread is:

- put the oneline puzzle (pattern) into a text file (e.g. umbrella.txt for the original puzzle).

Code: Select all

..4216....61...34....7...1....1....4....4...5...9.38.26.2....8983.....7..........


- use gsf.exe to generate new puzzles from this pattern.

Code: Select all

gsf.exe -n100 -gto{-3+3}p -euniq()*(1==minimal) -f%v -opuzzles.txt < umbrella.txt


This creates 100 new puzzles in puzzles.txt.

- rate the new puzzles with SudokuExplainer.

Code: Select all

java.exe -Xrs -Xmx500m -cp SudokuExplainer.jar diuf.sudoku.test.serate --format="%g ED=%r/%p/%d" --input=puzzles.txt --output=ratedpuzzles.txt


Note: SudokuExplainer requires java to be installed.

Any puzzles in ratedpuzzles.txt with ratings 6.X-7.X will be 'tough' enough to interest the solvers here.

Links:
gsf.exe (size: 519,680 bytes): http://forum.enjoysudoku.com/gsf-s-sudoku-solver-t30415-15.html#p231359
SudokuExplainer.jar (size: 304,777 bytes): from http://gsf.cococlyde.org/download/sudoku

Here's one umbrella puzzle that is rated ED=7.1/1.2/1.2:

Code: Select all

..6729...
.34...62.
...6...8.
...1....7
....4...8
...5.34.1
9.5....74
27.....5.
.........


[enxio27]

One way to make more difficult puzzles that will please the expert solvers visiting this thread is:

[snip]

- use gsf.exe to generate new puzzles from this pattern.

Great idea!

[SpAce]

One way to make more difficult puzzles that will please the expert solvers visiting this thread is...
Here's one umbrella puzzle that is rated ED=7.1/1.2/1.2

Great idea, like enxio27 said! I guess we could start with that (pretty easy) example:

Code: Select all

.--------------------.----------------.----------------.
| 58     58     6    | 7   2     9    | 1       4    3 |
| 7      3      4    | 8   15    15   | 6       2    9 |
| 1      29     29   | 6   3     4    | 7       8    5 |
:--------------------+----------------+----------------:
| 34568  45689  89   | 1   689   268  | 25      369  7 |
| 356    1569   179  | 29  4     267  | 25      369  8 |
| 68     2689   2789 | 5   6789  3    | 4       69   1 |
:--------------------+----------------+----------------:
| 9      18     5    |b23  168   1268 |a3(8)    7    4 |
| 2      7      138  | 4   189   18   | 389     5    6 |
| 46     46     38   |c39  57    57   |d3(9)-8  1    2 |
'--------------------'----------------'----------------'

(8=3)r7c7 - r7c4 = (3-9)r9c4 = (9)r9c7 => -8 r9c7; stte

Btw, I guess that's some kind of a wing, but could someone tell me what kind exactly? I get confused with the zillion letter designations. The standard solution here would be the W-Wing right next to this, but this is obviously one of those other letters (if anything). (Also, I guess being solvable by a simple W-Wing makes this still a bit too easy as well.)