| Wed 2 Aug (Wednesday, 2nd August 2006) |
PuzzleLover
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 1033
Best Total: 38m 17s | Posted - 2006.08.02 06:32:16
This puzzle seemed pretty hard. I had a fairly fast solve time, but that was from some lucky guesses and felt like cheating. In post study I tried to find a logical solution. Here's what I came up with. Comments/suggestions are most welcome.
Initial patterns and short reads got me here:
Am I missing any good observations? Next, endpoint counting got an x under the 2 at row 6 col 9 (otherwise the 2 at row 2 col 10 can't be done), leading to:
Then I tried a line under the blank at row 2 col 6, which leads to a loop. This seems kind of obscure and I needed Fix Position to follow it, but it's the best I found. Anything better? So the x there leads to:
Are there any cleaner or cleverer ways to crack this puzzle? Thanks.
Last edited by PuzzleLover - 2006.08.02 06:34:30 |
astrokath
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 3258
Best Total: 13m 42s | Posted - 2006.08.02 06:57:27
This is what I had before needing to think (or rather what I should have had if I hadn't overlooked the 131 pattern at the bottom left):
If you then guess the correct route around the 333 in the top right, the solution goes all the way to the end. I can't see a deeper, more logical solution right now, in my just-got-up pre-coffee state.
*Looks harder* There are some quick lines which can be ruled out around the 11122 section on the top row. A line below the third 1, or between the third 1 and the 1st 2, both lead to non-solutions very fast, and the correct alternative quickly sets you up for the rest of the puzzle. If you look hard enough at the puzzle, this might be obvious enough not to need fix position while you trace the false route.
Last edited by astrokath - 2006.08.02 07:02:29 |
procrastinator
Kwon-Tom Obsessive
Puzzles: 1083
Best Total: 12m 56s | Posted - 2006.08.02 07:17:39
Consider lines on the left and top of that lonely-looking 3. But like astrokath I just did an FP on the row of 3s. (Unlike astrokath I imagined a contradiction that wasn't there when I tried the correct path and messed the whole thing up - I swear as soon as I break one minute I'm going to slow down and learn to be as consistent as she is.) |
