| Fri 23 June (Friday, 23rd June 2006) |
PuzzleLover
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 1033
Best Total: 38m 17s | Posted - 2006.06.26 01:42:09
Can any wizards offer some speed/pattern/recognition tips for last Friday's puzzle? I get this far far with "patterns" - am I missing some I should know?
I tried the ?s next. I couldn't read it, but with Fix Position and more patterns I got here:
In the real solve I needed a few more Fix Positions to finish (and I missed the pattern around r6c6 that put the x's at r6.5c7 and r7c6.5 and the _ at r6c6.5). In slow post study, I also see a short read puts an x at r7c7.5 and solves the bottom.
Any tips on patterns I'm missing, or how to decide where to look to read? Thanks. |
mathmaniac
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 1293
Best Total: 20m 57s | Posted - 2006.06.26 02:30:55
Quote: Originally Posted by puzzlelover with Fix Position and more patterns I got here: |
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PuzzleLover
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 1033
Best Total: 38m 17s | Posted - 2006.06.26 02:44:35
Quote: Originally Posted by mathmaniac I'm not a wizzard but I do know that you need 2 more lines right here. This if from the middle of the right edge of what you had. |
I had these in the actual solve but don't recall them triggering other patterns. Thanks! |
tzukanion
Kwon-Tom Addict
Puzzles: 439
Best Total: 17m 39s | Posted - 2006.06.26 03:39:16
There is some counting you can do in the top left of that puzzle that makes finding other things, at least for me, take a lot less look-ahead. |
m2e
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 607
Best Total: 16m 43s | Posted - 2006.06.26 05:35:02
At the top:
(the 2 at the lef tof that puzzle has an extra line.)
I think theres only small things you can do, nothing major springs to mind to me |
m2e
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 607
Best Total: 16m 43s | Posted - 2006.06.26 05:37:05
Also theres an x in cell{7,4} |
procrastinator
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 1083
Best Total: 12m 56s | Posted - 2006.06.26 06:59:06
Pretty much everything tricky in this puzzle was about isolated sections, particularly the bottom left. (the top left you can make easier progress using counting, but it doesn't help with the right at all)
When approaching the bottom left, you have to find resources that will let you infer a loop there from just one added line or cross. Looking at the boundaries, there are two 3s (r5c3, r8c5) that influence each other along a diagonal, so you can try a Fix Position on the bottom 3 locking the area in.
Or if you want to solve it logically (i.e. in your head), look at the 1 next to the top 3 - a line on it's right would make a nice boundary curve around the 3, and you get a loop. After a similar trick with the 2 just right of the 1, the rest of the puzzle falls out easily.
Last edited by procrastinator - 2006.06.26 06:59:41 |
foilman
Kwon-Tom Admin
Puzzles: 3405
Best Total: 24m 6s | Posted - 2006.06.26 08:03:39
All I thought when I looked at your partial solution was how many crosses I would have had in the same situation!!! I've got so used to seeing the crosses everywhere that I can't recognise patterns without them... I even tend to put them in places where they really aren't needed like isolated corners. |
