Allan Barker wrote:I took a look at Cola036 and found the following 4 layer loop that eliminates 26 candidates, 29 with a few more cover sets. It is obviously related to the same kind of patterns as in other puzzles. The major difference seems to be the requirment for 3 strong cell sets in the center box. Similar to other monster loops, it has two symmetric layers, a 90 degree rotationally symmetric layer, and a slightly distorted layer.
The "3 strong cell sets in the center box" apparently also need to be in a mini-row or mini-column. This property is useful in at least six of these eighteen puzzles. For cola199 (as morphed by gsf's program), an extra cover set is required in b1. Despite this, the solution is rank 0 due to the extra base set in the center box.
- Code: Select all
cola199 (gsf morph)
000000001060009030002030700400805000000006000030900080001000004050008090700000200
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 3589 89(47) 3-45-789 | 24567 -2-456-78 247 | -45689 56(24) 1 |
| 58(1) 6 58(47) | -5(1247) 58(1247) 9 | 58(4) 3 58(2) |
| -1589 89(14) 2 | 1456 3 14 | 7 56(4) 5689 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 4 -9(127) 679 | 8 (127) 5 | 1369 -6(127) 23679 |
| 12589 -8-9(127) 5789 | 3 (1247) 6 | 1459 -5(1247) 2579 |
| 1256 3 567 | 9 (1247) 1247 | 1456 8 2567 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| -23689 89(2) 1 | 2567 -256-79 237 | 3568 56(7) 4 |
| 36(2) 5 36(4) | -6(1247) 6(1247) 8 | 36(1) 9 36(7) |
| 7 89(4) 3-4689 | 1456 -1-4569 134 | 2 56(1) 3568 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
cola 60 Nodes, Raw Rank = 0 (linksets - sets)
19 Sets = {1247R2 1247R8 1247C2 1247C8 456N5}
19 Links = {1247c5 45n2 28n4 45n8 1b19 2b37 4b137 7b19}
20 Eliminations, 0 Assignments -->
r1c357<>4, r1c35<>7, r7c15<>2, r9c35<>4, r45c2<>9, r8c4<>6, r1c5<>2,
r2c4<>5, r3c1<>1, r4c8<>6, r5c8<>5, r5c2<>8, r7c5<>7, r9c5<>1
[edit: add images]
Allan Barker wrote:Ronk wrote:Several of the solving methods for these monsters are based on symmetry, and several of us will be tempted to morph the puzzle to visualize this symmetry. Therefore, I've used gsf's solver to obtain a "best symmetry" for all 18 of coloin's puzzles that you've posted. Hopefully then, we can all be posting the same morph.
The morph that makes the logic symetrical (at least for this puzzle) is very different from the morph in the list of gsf's best symmetry morphs, above.
I was hoping the program would take personal bias out of the morphing process, but clearly a number of the morphs are unsatisfactory.
Do you think I should manually morph the worst ones? Or maybe just delete the post entirely?
IF you look, the Cola036 loop is slightly damaged on one corner but is still logically equivalent. This might be one reason it is more difficult to find.
