The New Sudoku Players' Forum

by **999_Springs** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:40 pm

Eioru wrote:
Code: Select all
.62.78.95 8.93.56.7 57.69..8. .95784.6. 7.6..985. .8.5.67.9 .5796...8 9.8..75.6 6..85.97. ER=9.0 49 clues

It's only got 48 clues.

I had a bit of fun with it...

Code: Select all: .62.78.95 8.93.56.7 57.69..8. .95784.6. 7.6..985. .8.5.67.9 .5796...8 938..75.6 6..85.97.

ER=7.9, 49 clues (sorry tarek)

Code: Select all: .62.78.95 8.93.56.7 57.69..8. .95784.6. 7.6..985. .8.5.67.9 .5796...8 9.8..75.6 6..85397.

ER=8.4, 49 clues

I also found another non-isomorphic 67-clue puzzle rated 1.5.

by **Eioru** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:01 am

Code: Select all: 639724158 72...6439 .4..3.267 46..7.382 .932.8746 287643591 376482915 854197623 912365874 ER=6.6 69 clues

by **Eioru** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:16 pm

Code: Select all: 764.8.391 539714628 821...754 195.7.462 248956137 673.4.589 ..6.2.9.. .5.....4. ....3.... ER=5.0 51 clues

by **coloin** » Sat May 09, 2009 2:26 pm

That 5.0 was found from the patterns game results !

Code: Select all: 700080001009704600020000050100000002040906030000000000006020900050000040000030000 # 56 5.0/1.5/1.5 + gsf

So this 4.7 from the next game.....

Code: Select all: 0000010000001203400050000060100000005060000030002604100070080050400070002000000000 # 70 4.7/1.2/1.2 - m_b_metcalf

expands to

Code: Select all: +---+---+---+ |.24|.16|5.3| |6.1|253|4..| |35.|.4.|261| +---+---+---+ |14.|...|625| |.6.|125|.34| |5.2|6.4|1..| +---+---+---+ |27.|481|.56| |4.6|579|.12| |.15|362|74.| +---+---+---+ SE 4.7 55 clues

by **999_Springs** » Sat May 09, 2009 2:59 pm

Found by almost random aimless clicking with my mouse on SE:

Code: Select all: 1.8|469|.53 5.6|1.3|9.. 493|2.5|1.6 ---+---+--- 715|942|638 839|651|... 264|837|591 ---+---+--- 647|528|319 381|794|265 952|316|..7 SE 1.5, 68 clues

As a result of this "random aimless clicking", my mouse now has a red light flashing on it, indicating that it's low on battery. Maybe I shouldn't have done that.

by **999_Springs** » Mon May 18, 2009 10:26 am

Code: Select all: 6..3.2.59 52..4..1. ..35..2.. 3..1945.. .1.658.3. ..5273..1 ..4..51.. .3..2..45 75.4....8 10.4/10.4/9.4 38 clues 6..3.2.59 52..4..1. ..35..2.. 3..1945.2 .1.658.3. ..5273..1 ..4..51.. .3..2..45 75.4.1..8 9.3/9.3/9.2 40 clues 6..3.2.59 52..4..1. ..35..2.. 3..1945.2 .1.658.3. 4.5273..1 ..4..51.. .3..2..45 75.4.1..8 9.2/9.2/9.2 41 clues 4..|153|.2. ..3|.6.|45. .5.|.4.|..3 ---+---+--- 1..|6.5|.74 ..4|.3.|5.. 5..|4.7|.8. ---+---+--- 347|58.|.1. 6..|2.4|735 ..5|37.|.4. 8.1/8.1/2.6 40 clues 4..|153|82. ..3|.6.|45. .5.|.4.|..3 ---+---+--- 1..|6.5|.74 ..4|.3.|5.. 5..|4.7|.8. ---+---+--- 347|58.|.1. 6..|2.4|735 ..5|37.|.48 8.0/8.0/2.6 42 clues

(the first three are based on Mauricio's 37 clue)
(the last two are based on JPF's 8.1 from patterns game 78)

by **m_b_metcalf** » Fri May 28, 2010 2:07 pm

Was this topic still active? Is there a summary of progress thus far? Here's one I found recently.

Code: Select all: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 7 5 . 2 . 4 1 6 9 4 6 . . . 2 5 3 6 . . . . . . . 7 7 . 9 . 3 . 1 . 2 4 . . . . . . . 8 5 6 4 . 7 . 8 9 1 2 9 8 . . . 3 7 5 3 1 7 5 9 8 6 2 4 ED=7.2/4.2/4.2, 53 clues, 7.2 reached at 54 clues

Regards,

Mike Metcalf

by **999_Springs** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:27 pm

eight year bump and first post in non-offtopic for me since may 2014. i was checking out these forums again and noticed that dobrichev posted some non minimal hard 48 clue puzzles here where all the digits 5,6,7,8,9 are filled in, and that blows all previous competition of this topic right out of the water. his puzzles go all the way up to 10.4 and you can add extra clues to some of them to fill in the lower difficulty levels. his puzzles contribute to 2.8, 4.7, 7.4, 7.8-8.2, 8.4-9.5, and 9.7-10.4.

many of these puzzles are taken from his other post here where he gives an example of one puzzle per skfr rating. unfortunately he says he's lost all the rest of the puzzles since then so there's no better way to fill in the gaps. in particular because of skfr rating differences with se, there is nothing in his collection at 9.6.

i kept an old word doc containing all the puzzles with records with more detail than eioru's old posts, and i also found a few improvements to 3.8, 4.5, 4.6, 4.8, 5.2, 5.7, 6.5, and 6.8. some of these, like 5.7, were from me messing around with raw pencilmark grids to see if i could get a combination of pencilmarks to give the corresponding technique in se without any single eliminations. it wasn't in a very systematic way, just done by hand when bored. others were trivial improvements on existing puzzles, like my 6.8 is daj's puzzle with 2 cells removed from the pencilmark grid. i also created separate categories for 5.0 (quad) and 5.0 (UL10) as they're very different techniques.

according to my notes, the patterns game provided 4.9 (champagne) 5.0UL10 (joel64) 5.1 (champagne) 5.8 (gsf) 5.9 (gsf) and 6.0 (joel64). my 4.8 is champagne's 4.9 with cells removed. but these notes are from forever ago so i have no details of which game or where they came from or if extra cells were added or removed. also there's a new 10.5 from patrice that i have absolutely no memory at all of where it comes from. also according to my notes the 4.0 puzzle comes directly from the metro, which is a trashy tabloid newspaper found left behind everywhere on bus seats throughout england. what the hell, really?

puzzles below.

Hidden Text: Show

if anyone feels like they would like to contribute more to this topic, you're very welcome to. or not, if you feel this thread has been brought seamlessly to a natural conclusion after dobrichev's puzzles. why am i on a sudoku forum again i haven't been here in 4 years why am i doing this

by **enxio27** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:43 pm

999_Springs wrote:why am i on a sudoku forum again i haven't been here in 4 years why am i doing this

Whatever the reason, it's good to see you here again.

by **999_Springs** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 12:24 am

champagne wrote:
Code: Select all
1....73.. .2..3..4. ..56....7 ..472.... .8.5..... 9....38.. 7....2..3 .9.....5. ..2...6.. ED=5.1/1.2/1.2

reduces to this

Code: Select all: 149|257|3.. 627|83.|54. 835|6.4|2.7 ---+---+--- 564|728|.3. 283|5..|... 971|463|825 ---+---+--- 756|..2|..3 .98|..6|.52 .12|..5|6.. SE 5.1, 55 clues

edit:

papy999 wrote:::: more :::
Code: Select all
1..2....3....1.2....23...4.2.5.3...1.6.7..5.......6....7..2.6....8....7.3..6....4 ED=4.9/1.2/1.2

reduces to this

Code: Select all: 1..|2..|953 ...|51.|28. .52|3..|14. ---+---+--- 2.5|.38|761 .61|7.2|538 ...|156|492 ---+---+--- 574|823|619 628|..1|375 319|675|824 SE 4.9, 59 clues

and if you remove 2 cells from the unique loop you get

Code: Select all: 1..|2..|953 ...|51.|28. .52|3..|14. ---+---+--- 2.5|.38|761 .61|.72|538 ...|156|492 ---+---+--- 574|823|619 329|641|875 618|795|324 SE 4.8, 61 clues

by **qiuyanzhe** » Fri Nov 09, 2018 6:11 am

*EDIT:I mistakenly skipped 999_Spring's update this year. So the example puzzle is fruitless, but the solving method still works. I have set the original post hidden and let the hidden text out.
//hidden: an SE 9.1 puzzle with 48 givens,similar to 999991110 pattern but a bit different,with link of "human-logical"solving path.

Hidden Text: Show

Some of my friends and I found that, In most of the time, puzzles of such form have surprisingly high difficulty rating.
For example, I once made(or precisely, discovered) a Jigsaw Antiknight Sudoku(Antiknight means cells with distance √5 cannot contain same digits)--it may be much too off the topic..but I'd like to share:

Code: Select all: AAABBB with givens ...... AACCBB ...... ACCCCB ...... DDDDDD ...... EEEEEE ...... FFFFFF 123456

We couldn't find a logical path to directly solve the puzzle, but if we move the givens to row2, the puzzle is easy, then by making morphisms to make row6 back to 123456 we could get the solution.(related posts:http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3578304554)btw many small jigsaw grids have similar properties.
For the SE9.1 puzzle, when reached the bottleneck, ignore 289 in column 7, then add 289 in column 1, the puzzle becomes SE2.6 .

And for the first puzzle in 999_Spring's link, 1234s are in column2. By changing the places of those digits(to be in any row/column/box)difficulty varies from 7.6(R1)to 10.4(C2,as in the link. That post says difficulty=10.3, never mind:P )

by **qiuyanzhe** » Fri Nov 09, 2018 6:51 am

999_Springs wrote:5.0Quad | 51 | 764.8.391539714628821...754195.7.462248956137673.4.589..6.2.9...5.....4.....3....

This 5.0Quad can be optimized.
My SE says merging 12&25 pairs into 15pair, and merging 38&369 into 689, does not change difficulty.
New puzzle has 55 givens.

Code: Select all: 123754689548916732679283154861342597735...421294.7.368..6.2.9...5.....4.....3....

To visualize the grids:

Hidden Text: Show

Code: Select all: +----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 7 6 4 | 25 8 25 | 3 9 1 | | 5 3 9 | 7 1 4 | 6 2 8 | | 8 2 1 | 36 69 39 | 7 5 4 | +----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1 9 5 | 38 7 38 | 4 6 2 | | 2 4 8 | 9 5 6 | 1 3 7 | | 6 7 3 | 12 4 12 | 5 8 9 | +----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 34 18 6 | 1458 2 1578 | 9 17 35 | | 39 5 27 | 168 69 1789 | 28 4 36 | | 49 18 27 | 14568 3 15789 | 28 17 56 | +----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ +----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1 2 3 | 7 5 4 | 6 8 9 | | 5 4 8 | 9 1 6 | 7 3 2 | | 6 7 9 | 2 8 3 | 1 5 4 | +----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 8 6 1 | 3 4 2 | 5 9 7 | | 7 3 5 | 68 69 89 | 4 2 1 | | 2 9 4 | 15 7 15 | 3 6 8 | +----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 34 18 6 | 1458 2 1578 | 9 17 35 | | 39 5 27 | 168 69 1789 | 28 4 36 | | 49 18 27 | 14568 3 15789 | 28 17 56 | +----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

btw that UL10 bottleneck worths 8+ to me.. That puzzle was built on a 4-skyscraper, while the UL10 is definitely harder than the SE6.6 skys for us to spot!

by **999_Springs** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 5:30 pm

bump

i'm eventually hoping to do an exhaustive search of the pattern

Code: Select all: xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxx...xxx xx.....xx xx.....xx xx.....xx xxx...xxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx 60 clues

(or something similar, like with the 3 cells in c4 moved to r8c456) to see what comes up. i think eioru tried to do something similar to this a while back in all the earlier posts as a lot of his puzzles have almost the same pattern that look like this e.g. 2.3, 6.1, 6.9. it's sort of like playing the patterns game but you want as many clues as possible and you want puzzles that are not pearls or diamonds

so far i have

Code: Select all: 123948657 485617923 9672..814 87..2..96 23...6.81 65.....42 316...275 592371468 748562139 3.0/63 123948657 467315982 895...314 984..3.76 37.4...29 25.....43 642...735 538672491 719534268 6.0/63

this puzzle has 2 bug3's in it, one in the block with a quad (6.0) and the other in the row with a pair (5.8). se finds both as you can see by pressing get next hint, but plays the quad in the box first for some reason. skfr rates it 5.8

Code: Select all: .61..452. 298...614 4.561298. .42...738 ..6...49. 98....16. 62..78351 85.1..276 .1.2..849 5.3/48

felt like showcasing my lovely patterns game surprise in here

to my knowledge the first 5.3 ever found

Code: Select all: 947521683 128763549 653984127 296...374 731642958 584397216 ..5.794.2 ..24..79. 4792..8.. 6.2/65

arkietech's daily from december 2

Code: Select all: 483126795 159..7682 267589341 5268..91. 7189.245. 394...82. 671298534 942...178 835...269 5.8/64

based on 1to9only's 5.8/2.6/2.6 from the patterns game that i dealt - it reduces to 62 clues but you can get rid of the 36 pair in block 9. an exhaustive search of the pattern at the top of the post (+1 clue) would have found this one

here are some honourable mentions from the pattern search

Hidden Text: Show

best puzzles so far (not in a spoiler this time so it doesn't get skipped over)
updated 3.0 4.8 4.9 5.0Q 5.1 5.3 5.8 6.0 6.2

ER |clues
----+-------------
1.0 | 80 |
1.2 | 77 |
1.5 | 68 | 1.8469.535.61.39..4932.51.6715942638839651...264837591647528319381794265952316..7
1.7 | 63 | 568749132791283645423165.9.6143..52.235.14..69875264131764.2.5..596.12.4.42.5..61
2.0 | 69 | 437691825268537941159842763892..5.3.615..3.8.743..8.5.326789514574316298981254376
2.3 | 64 | 327415698159862347684...25194....17571.....2353...1.69893..4716475186932261937584
2.5 | 61 | ...49.185..41..937.91.73642...7..451.1..4.273.4.231869459617328182354796376928514
2.6 | 66 | 219356784843..76596574982..19874.5.64325619787658.9.4.976.854..3219748655846...97
2.8 | 60 | 85.79263.673814925..9356.8778.5.9.6.9.56.3.78..61785495.7.81.96.9..6785.468935712
3.0 | 63 | 1239486574856179239672..81487..2..9623...6.8165.....42316...275592371468748562139
3.2 | 63 | 18.2.79.5.59..1827.72589.1.7186245932649531789357182..89.1.57.2521.76.89.47892.51
3.4 | 57 | ..2...4131...2.689...1..257.1927.36572....891....91724985742136237916548641385972
3.6 | 54 | ......387....7.659.798.3421..5.3.946.6....735.....5812257389164498516273316247598
3.8 | 59 | 415.67.8967.89.4.589.4.5.67.6974285.287.596.4.546.89727.19845.69.85.674.546.7..98
4.0 | 50 | .4.731.9.1........9.78.....4863579127529148363192685475.31824.9..1.......94673.5.
4.2 | 70 | 96173254884395672172581463919467385268752.3.4352..8.67419385276238.67..55762...83
4.4 | 66 | 3495812676283975145714629384537296817861..492912.4.753165..4..92379...46894.....5
4.5 | 67 | 13524678926...75344.735.21665..3.1277235614988.1.726535..623971372..4865916785342
4.6 | 65 | 31524678942...75636.735.24125..3.1768365714927.1.623585..623917.72.84635.637.5824
4.7 | 64 | 9768125..813594726.5.376189768923415..516789..91458.676.97.1.585.72896.118.6.597.
4.8 | 61 | 1..2..953...51.28..523..14.2.5.38761.61.72538...156492574823619329641875618795324
4.9 | 59 | 1..2..953...51.28..523..14.2.5.38761.617.2538...156492574823619628..1375319675824
5.0Quad | 55 | 123754689548916732679283154861342597735...421294.7.368..6.2.9...5.....4.....3....
5.0UL10 | 63 | .1582.73.37.41.52828.735.6.867241395193658247542973.8.75.3.281..381.7.52.21584.73
5.1 | 55 | 1492573..62783.54.8356.42.7564728.3.2835.....971463825756..2..3.98..6.52.12..56..
5.2 | 61 | .285.9437357.4.8.949.3785.2.73..4928..98..374842793651784.36.952..9857439354.7.86
5.3 | 48 | .61..452.298...6144.561298..42...738..6...49.98....16.62..7835185.1..276.1.2..849
5.4 | 49 | 632145978817.92..4.4..87.1....85....16.274......96....481529.6.753416..9296738.4.
5.6 | 70 | 12345678945678912378913256423.9.58.66.52.893.8973612453625174985.86943.29..82365.
5.7 | 65 | 16324578942...73565.736.12421..3.567736..24988.5.762133..621975671..3842952784631
5.8 | 64 | 483126795159..76822675893415268..91.7189.245.394...82.671298534942...178835...269
5.9 | 64 | 176238594845179362932...7184573...81281.5..366938...75728...643569483127314.2.859
6.0 | 63 | 123948657467315982895...314984..3.7637.4...2925.....43642...735538672491719534268
6.1 | 60 | 528...341931524786476381592.19...85..64...17..53...62.195438267382976415647...938
6.2 | 65 | 947521683128763549653984127296...374731642958584397216..5.794.2..24..79.4792..8..
6.5 | 61 | 1.87.3649634.19..7..74861.3316872495785941362.4.3657185716.89.446...7..18.31.4.76
6.6 | 69 | 63972415872...6439.4..3.26746..7.382.932.8746287643591376482915854197623912365874
6.7 | 64 | 12.689.7586.735..175.142...385274169942561738671398.5.438926517596417...217853...
6.8 | 64 | 6..1..38..3.5.8.1..183...9...1723846243816759876459123127934568369285471485671932
6.9 | 65 | ..2.4.658....6.42346.25.971.4.532769926487135...619284685124397319876542274395816
7.0 | 63 | .134.7825..48.263128.1.3947....243183429187568.1.36294429671583.382451.91..3894.2
7.1 | 65 | 642319578187...439359...261914283657276...8935389..142721495386493...715865.3.924
7.2 | 65 | .6..92.84..4.16.35....54.96126935478759428361843167952...243617632571849417689523
7.3 | 61 | 371542986682...345459...217914376528768...13.523...76.135984672247...893896...451
7.4 | 50 | 9785..6..5..6.7.98.6..98.5789..567...567...89..7.8956.7..8.59466.597.821.8926.375
7.5 | 53 | .5....217....5.8348..3..659..8...57127....946......382582941763746523198931786425
7.6 | 57 | .45.67.896.78.94.589.45.67.4..57.896.69..8547578946123.5479..6878.6.495.9.6.857.4
7.7 | 57 | 4.5.67.8967..894.589.4.567.568.94..77.45..8969..67854.15794..682498.675.38675.9.4
7.8 | 56 | 59.86.7..86...7.95.475.968271892.5.6934156278256.789..62.78..59.85.9..67.796.582.
7.9 | 55 | 95.76.8..86...9.75..78.596268..9.5.7.2567..89.795.862.7164532985.8927..629.18675.
8.0 | 53 | 95.76.8..86...9.75..78.596.68..9.5.7.2567..89.795.862.7164532985.8927..6.9.18675.
8.1 | 50 | 6857.29..71.95..86.49.86.5789.6.5.7..56..78.9.3789.56.96.5..7.852..7869..78.69..5
8.2 | 51 | 57196.8..86.3.7.953.98.567.78.59..6.9.54.67.8..678..596..2589.7.976..58..58179..6
8.3 | 58 | ....472969...8.45747.5.9831..4...789.9...8164....94523549876312638412975721935648
8.4 | 54 | 59.86.7..86...7.95.475.968.7189..5.6934156278256.789..62.78..59.85.9..67.796.582.
8.5 | 54 | 59.86.7..86...7.95.475.968.7189..5.6934156278256.7891.62.78..59.85.9..67.796.58..
8.6 | 48 | 9758..6..6..97.8.5.8..56.7989.5..467.567.891...7.6958.76..9..585.86.729...9.857.6
8.7 | 48 | 98.75.6..6729.45.8..5.68.9789.5.67...56..7.89..7891.5656...987.7.9.85.6...867.9.5
8.8 | 54 | 59.86.7..86...7.95.475.968.7189..5.6934156278256.789..62.78..59.8529..67.796.58..
8.9 | 53 | 57.96.8..86...7.953.98.567.78.59..6.9.5..67.81.678..596132589472976..58.458.79..6
9.0 | 53 | 7956..8..813.95.76246.87.9567.8.9.5.92.56.78.358.7.6.95627..9.8.379.856..89.56..7
9.1 | 51 | 57.96.8..86...7.953.98.567.78.59..6.9.5..67.81.678..596..2589472976..58.458.79..6
9.2 | 52 | 95.76.8..86...9.75..78.596.68..9.5.7..567..89.795.862.7164532985.8927..6.9.18675.
9.3 | 48 | 8756..9..61..98.75.49.75.8678...956.9..5.67.8.5678...959..638.7..785.69..689.7.5.
9.4 | 48 | 97.68.53.68.5...97..5.796.889..56.7..56..78.94.789..5656.71.98.7.9.68..5..89.576.
9.5 | 50 | 7956..8..81..95.76.46.87.9567.8.9.5.92.56.78..58.7.6.956.73.9.8.379.856..89.56..7
9.6
9.7 | 48 | 9875..6..5..76..98.62.89.578.9.567.3.56..7.89.7.89.56.7.5.489.66.89.5.7..9.67.8.5
9.8 | 48 | 9685.27.45..9768..7...8.59668..9..57..56.7.89.79.586..8.67.59...5..69.78.978.3.65
9.9 | 49 | 8759..6..6..87..59..9.65.7878...95.6932456781.5678..9.5.8..796..6.59.8.7.976.8..5
10.0| 49 | 8756..9..61..98.75.49.75.8678...956.92.5.67.8.5678...959..6.8.7.3785.69..689.7.5.
10.1| 51 | 95.76.8..86...9.75..78.596.68..9.5.7..567..89.795.86..7164532985.8927..6.9.18675.
10.2| 49 | 6857..9..71395..86249.86.5789.6.5.7..56..78.9..789.56.96.5..7.85...7869..78.69..5
10.3| 49 | 57.96.8..86...7.953.98.567.78.59..6.9.5..67.81.678..596..258947.976..58..58.79..6
10.4| 49 | 7956..8..81..95.76.46.87.9567.8.9.5.92.56.78..58.7.6.956.7..9.8.379.856..89.56..7
10.5| 34 | ..3..2.46...3..82.2...6.3.7.2...843...7..3..23..92.....925..6.353.2.6...7.6.3.2..
11.2| 37 | 6....2.5952..4..1...35..2..3..1945...1.658.3...5273..1..4..51...3..2..4575.4....8

qiuyanzhe: thanks for the contribution with the 5.0quad. yeah the method of taking a puzzle with 5 clues nearly filled seems to have blown the entire thread out of the water and was the main reason for the bump. yeah i agree the 5.0ul10 is way harder to spot than the turbot but everyone knows SE's solving hierarchy is inherently flawed at the lower levels (why is a unique rectangle with a hidden quad rated less than a hidden quad? and a lot more of these) and the only reason why anyone still uses it is that it's very good at the top end, and is convenient for patterns game people. also you have to agree that the ul10 looks nice

dobrichev's thread had skfr ratings not se ratings. skfr is champagne's emulator of se that runs much faster, but misses a few 0.1's here and there at the top levels. edit: my skfr rates it 10.2 for some reason...

edit: fixed typo in the 6.0

by **999_Springs** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 3:06 pm

qiuyanzhe wrote:And for the first puzzle in 999_Spring's link, 1234s are in column2. By changing the places of those digits(to be in any row/column/box)difficulty varies from 7.6(R1)to 10.4(C2,as in the link. That post says difficulty=10.3, never mind:P )

wow that's such a great idea, to move the 1234 clues in dobrichev's puzzles around - can't believe i didn't think of that

i took his 10+'s and moved the 1234's to fill different rows/columns/blocks and got these small improvements including filling the gap at 9.6

Code: Select all: 95.76.8..86.1.9.75..78.596.68.29.5.7..567..89.795.86..74635..985.89.7..6.9.48675. 9.8/50 57.96.8..86...7.95..98.567.78.59..6.9.5..67.8..678..59612.589.73976..58.458.79..6 9.7/49 675982.1.8..7.6529..9.5.78678...569.95..6783...689..575.8.7.96..675.9.48.9.6.8.75 9.6/50 6857..9..7..95.186..9.8625789.6.537..56..78.9..789.56.96.5..7.85...7869..78.694.5 9.4/49 7956..8..812395476..6.87.9567.8.9.5.9..56.78..58.7.6.956.7..9.8..79.856..89.56..7 9.3/49 59176.8..8625..9.7..7.98.56673.89..5..56.7.89.89.5.67.7.68.5.9.9.8.7.56..549.67.8 8.7/50 6759823148..75.926.29..685778.5.9.6.95..67.38..68..5795.7.9.68..68.75.9..9.6.8745 8.2/53 76.85.9..59...6.78..87.961568..9..57.1567.89..795.81.685.917.6.9472635811.64857.9 8.0/55

i also tried to systematically remove clues from his puzzles to get higher ratings and found a lot more 10.4's - here they are after all singles have been solved

puzzle; se; skfr; clue count

Code: Select all: 7596..8..6.398..57.8..75..98...57.9.9.51.6.78.6789.5..5..7.89...76..9.85.9856.74. 10.4 ; 10.3 ; 45 7.96..8..6.398..57.8..7...98...57.9.9..1.6.78.6789.5..5..7.89...76..9.85.9856.74. 10.4 ; 10.3 ; 42 ..96..8..6.398..57.8..7...98...57.9.9..1.6.78.6789.5..5..7.89....6..9.85.9856.74. 10.6 ; 10.4 ; 40 .7.96.8..86...7.953.98.567.78.59..6......67.81.678..596..25.947..76..5...5..79..6 10.4 ; 10.4 ; 42 57.96.8...6...7.953.98.567.78.59..6.9.5..67.81.678..596..2.8.47..76...8.....79..6 10.4 ; 10.3 ; 42 .7.96.8..86...7.953..8.567.78.59..6......67.81.678..596..25.947..76..5...5..79..6 10.4 ; 10.2 ; 41

(no idea why removing the clue in the last one makes it easier according to skfr :/ )

... and found this beauty

Code: Select all: ..96..8.. 6.398..57 .8..7...9 8...57.9. 9..1.6.78 .6789.5.. 5..7.89.. ..6..9.85 .9856.74. 10.6/40 (skfr 10.4)

SE 10.6
highest rated puzzle i've found

still looking for a 10.5 though, for some reason all the skfr 10.4's seem to be rated 10.4 or 10.6 and all the skfr 10.3's seem to be rated 10.3-10.4. i wonder if 10.4 just happens to be an overly common se rating compared to 10.5? maybe some patterns game people can chime in on this one

still investigating this further

by **qiuyanzhe** » Sat Dec 15, 2018 3:32 pm

Hi 999_Springs,
This is my second try of modifying your 10.6, surprisingly it is SE10.5.
10.5 | 42 | 7.96..8..6.398..57.8..7...98.2.57.9.9....6.78.6789.5..5.17.89...76..9.85.9856.7..
Adding the 6's makes it 10.2, and the maximum difficulty is 9.9 if we add any other digit.

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