The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[JPF]

JPF:
My solver used an Empty Rectangle and a XY-Wing to solve your first puzzle. The others are singles only...

Sorry.
I should have checked before.

JPF

[henk]

Ruud:
My solver used 4 x-wings for the first and just 1 for the second...
And it needed 2 naked triples for the first and just 1 for the second..

[tarek]

Puzzle list at start of thread now updated (39 superiors)

JPF, the puzzles you post are either more difficult than required or too easy....

Great contribution from everybody....

Keep them coming.....

Tarek

[tarek]

here is another one......

Code: Select all

Puzzle #040(tarek)
 . . 2 | . . 8 | . . 4 
 . . 5 | . . . | . 1 . 
 8 7 . | . . 2 | 3 . . 
-------+-------+------
 . . . | . . 7 | 8 . . 
 7 4 3 | . . . | 1 9 6 
 . . 8 | 6 . . | . . . 
-------+-------+------
 . . 6 | 7 . . | . 2 3 
 . 5 . | . . . | 4 . . 
 1 . . | 4 . . | 6 . . 

Good variety, Not as difficult as some of the rest

Tarek

[ab]

I seem to be much better at tinkering with other people's puzzles. I typed in the wrong number when I was inputting Tarek's latest and got this:

Code: Select all

Puzzle (ab/tarek)
 . . 2 | . . 8 | . . 4 
 . . 5 | . . . | . 1 . 
 8 7 . | . . 2 | 3 . . 
-------+-------+------
 . . . | . . 7 | 8 . . 
 7 4 3 | . . . | 1 9 6 
 . . 8 | 9 . . | . . . 
-------+-------+------
 . . 6 | 7 . . | . 2 3 
 . 5 . | . . . | 4 . . 
 1 . . | 4 . . | 6 . . 

That was accidental. I also butchered another of Henk's puzzles:

Code: Select all

.........
..4.8.1..
.8.6.7.5.
95.2.8..7
2...6...3
7..4.3.29
.6.8.2.3.
..1.9.4..
.........


I'm glad Jpf#2 was deemed too hard, because it beat my solver, as did his first effort.

[tarek]

Hi ab,

The last time you modified a puzzle, you made it more difficult , however on puzzle #040, it became a easier (although valid).

& on puzzle #31, the puzzle still is around the same difficulty, it however lost the reflective symmetry (still valid though).

I'm sure the guys tried it on their puzzles & decided to post the more difficult ones....

good ones but not to be added to the updated list. The list as it stands now has 40 Superiors. All found in the 1st post in this thread.

Tarek

[ravel]

Still enjoying and also advertising this thread. Concerning the question, if handmade or programmed puzzles are better, i now can say, handmade patterns and computed puzzles are ultimate

[Ruud]

This is a fully symmetrical puzzle.

Code: Select all

. 3 .|. 6 .|. 2 .
2 . .|8 . 7|. . 5
. . 9|. . .|3 . .
-----+-----+-----
. 8 .|. . .|. 4 .
1 . .|. 2 .|. . 3
. 4 .|. . .|. 5 .
-----+-----+-----
. . 6|. . .|4 . .
4 . .|1 . 3|. . 7
. 7 .|. 9 .|. 8 .

No too tough, but superior looks!

Ruud.

[foxglove]

Code: Select all

I love the way it solves!
.....349.
3...6.8..
17...9...
2.1......
.3.....4.
......6.8
...4...51
..6.7...2
.278.....


4.7....85
3.9..5...
.......94
.4.9.8...
.........
...5.2.7.
83.......
...1..2.9
95....1.8


4..8.5..6
.1.....3.
..7.9.2..
9.......7
..5.1.6..
8.......1
..6.5.3..
.2.....6.
7..4.2..8

..3...9..
.5.....7.
7..3.9..1
..2.9.8..
...786...
..4.1.7..
9..8.2..4
.6.....3.
..8...5..



.1.....6.
64.....38
..9.4.7..
...5.2...
..7.3.4..
...4.7...
..6.1.2..
23.....76
.8.....5.


.527.....
....3...1
.....2..3
..7.4...2
.3.6.7.8.
6...2.9..
9..8.....
1...6....
.....516.



[Ocean]

Here is a candidate puzzle with four 'empty boxes':

Code: Select all

 Puzzle B-001 (Ocean)
 *-----------*
 |8.5|...|4.6|
 |.9.|...|.7.|
 |6.1|...|8.9|
 |---+---+---|
 |...|815|...|
 |...|.6.|...|
 |...|243|...|
 |---+---+---|
 |9.4|...|1.8|
 |.3.|...|.5.|
 |5.8|...|3.7|
 *-----------*

(Think there should be 2 naked triples, one hidden triple and one x-wing, plus a few naked pairs and 'locked candidates'.)

[ab]

Here is a candidate puzzle with four 'empty boxes':
(Think there should be 2 naked triples, one hidden triple and one x-wing, plus a few naked pairs and 'locked candidates'.)

Nice puzzle Ocean. You don't need a triple to solve it. x-wing, pairs and locked candidates is enough. Still very nice though.

[tarek]

Ruud,
Nice diamond

foxglove,
your puzzle are symmetrically beautiful, they need to be a bit harder for a superior, see if you can fit an x-wing or a triple or multiple doubles into them, the second of your puzzles is very close to the suprior level

Ocean,
Nice one

The updated list at the start of the thread now stands at 42 superiors.

Tarek

[tarek]

I was wondering......

The best thing for these probably is to appear in a sudoku special with one of the newspapers.....

I'm sure Pappocom can pull a few strings & then we may wake up to find our puzzles printed & our names cited as members of the Sudoku Players' Forums....

Just a thought...

Tarek

[tso]

The thread about one of the recent superior sudokus published in the Sunday times, got me this idea....

The programmers here can generate all type of puzzles.....Why not crate a thread where everybody can post their puzzles & then create one huge post with numerous superior puzzles. I will update this post with valid entries. The puzzles will be numbered & will containg the member's name.

Code: Select all

Rules: (They should follow the difficulty level of the Times superior):
1. Unique solution 9*9 vanilla sudoku
2. 180 rotational symmetry around centre point (at least, any Extra would be even better)
3. Maximum difficulty for subsets is Hidden triples (ex. times Superior 8), No Quads
4. Maximum fish difficulty is the X-wing (no swordfish)
5. If the puzzle is not solved after reaching the techniques mentioned in points 3 & 4 then it will not be permitted. (XY wings, colouring, ..... are not permitted)....
6. limit your enthusiasm to 15 puzzles per member

Not that it really matters, but the Times defines "Superior Sudoku" as "Very Hard". That is, all Superior Sudoku should be rated as "V.Hard" by Pappocom's program -- and vice versa. I just rated the first 12 puzzles in the first post. Only eight were rated "V.Hard". The four below are rated only "Hard".

Code: Select all



Puzzle #002 (ab)
 . . . | 5 . . | . . . 
 . . 2 | . 7 3 | . . . 
 . . 8 | . . . | 4 9 . 
-------+-------+------
 . 1 . | . . . | . . 5 
 . 3 . | . 2 . | . 6 . 
 6 . . | . . . | . 8 . 
-------+-------+------
 . 6 5 | . . . | 1 . . 
 . . . | 3 9 . | 2 . . 
 . . . | . . 4 | . . . 

Puzzle #003 (Ruud)
 . . 5 | 7 . . | . . . 
 . . . | . 9 3 | . . . 
 . . 7 | . . 1 | 6 . 4 
-------+-------+------
 2 . . | . . 8 | . 6 . 
 . . . | . 2 . | . . . 
 . 1 . | 4 . . | . . 5 
-------+-------+------
 5 . 4 | 8 . . | 3 . . 
 . . . | 6 3 . | . . . 
 . . . | . . 2 | 9 . . 

Puzzle #007 (vidar)
 . 1 5 | . . . | . 3 . 
 . . . | 6 1 5 | . . . 
 8 . . | . . 9 | . 7 . 
-------+-------+------
 . . . | . . . | 7 1 2 
 . . . | . 6 . | . . . 
 3 4 7 | . . . | . . . 
-------+-------+------
 . 7 . | 3 . . | . . 6 
 . . . | 5 2 7 | . . . 
 . 2 . | . . . | 3 4 . 

Puzzle #012 (gsf)
 . . . | . . . | . 9 . 
 . 6 7 | 2 . . | 8 . . 
 . . . | . . 1 | 3 . 4 
-------+-------+------
 . . . | . 5 . | . 8 9 
 4 . 6 | . 8 . | 2 . 3 
 7 8 . | . 6 . | . . . 
-------+-------+------
 6 . 4 | 5 . . | . . . 
 . . 2 | . . 6 | 5 3 . 
 . 3 . | . . . | . . . 


[tarek]

Thanx tso,

This gives an insight to how Pappocom rates the puzzle......

The common feature between the mentioned "Hard"s was that all of them did not need neither a triple nor an x-wing to solve........

That is slightly unfair...because Ruud's puzzle had 6 doubles in it.....

I've checked the database I have of Times superiors & indeed all required either a triple or an x-wing.........

Guys.......

Rules are going to be updated.... & unfortunately....some of the puzzles have to go now..........

Puzzles affected would be Numbers:2,3,5,7,12,14,21,23,24,25,26,27,35,41

Now Puzzle 5 although (no triples & no x-wing) apparantly still is rated as V Hard, which means that Whoever rated it must have looked to its naked triple counterpart IMO......

Is it possible to check the above puzzles rating on the software so that we could keep all those hidden doubles......

Tarek