All the book puzzles worth points - Page 5

pnm · Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:58 am

eclipsegirl wrote: Can I (and others) assume the original publication of this book (March 2010) had only 50 puzzles?

Yes it did (!)

If I remember correctly, I sent everyone who bought the 1st edition a PDF of the new one (2nd or 3rd?)
(this info may be buried in the forum somewhere)

paulv66 · Thu Dec 07, 2017 11:15 am

I feel like a complete idiot! I just spend several hours solving the first of the 16 x 16 puzzles in the Colossal Killer Sudoku book and only then did I notice that it's not worth any points.

I've really slowed down with my rate of solving book puzzles over the past couple of weeks. Part of this is due to other commitments, but it's also partly due to the fact that I'm down to the last few puzzles in Advanced Puzzles III, all of which are extra large apart from a3v1, which I think is the most difficult book puzzle I've encountered to date. I've been trying to solve it on and off for several weeks at this stage. Patrick, does this puzzle have an unusually low number of solvers?

I've also worked my way through the two Killer Sudoku books and have attempted all of the puzzles worth points. Unfortunately, I've gone wrong on a lot of them, so have to start over, which I find more difficult than having a 'clean' puzzle to solve as it's easy to be distracted by current entires that look correct, particularly if the puzzle only ran out of steam in the final few cells.

pnm · Thu Dec 07, 2017 11:26 am

paulv66 wrote:Patrick, does this puzzle have an unusually low number of solvers?

18 to date

I've done lists of hardest puzzles for one or two books, maybe should do one over all books.

paulv66 · Fri Dec 08, 2017 10:35 am

pnm wrote:
paulv66 wrote:Patrick, does this puzzle have an unusually low number of solvers?
18 to date

I've done lists of hardest puzzles for one or two books, maybe should do one over all books.

Thanks Patrick. I'm amazed it's that many.

I remember you telling me earlier this year than only 12 people had solved a2s13 (which I also found very difficult, but have since solved) and I'm making hardly any progress with a3v1 after several weeks trying it on and off. I must re-examine my approach and see if I can find a hook somewhere that allows me to gain some traction.

bschwart · Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:26 am

I think you mean A2V1, not A3V1, because the answers for all A3 puzzles are in the back. The counts should be pretty high on all the A3 puzzles.
A2V1 was one of the hardest ones I've worked on. I had a long flight, and lots of copies of the puzzle, and just did a lot of trial and error.
I think after all was done, it turned out the 23+ on the right side of the page had the fewest moving parts, and using that as the place to start a trial was the most efficient way to get to the end.

Meanwhile, I JUST achieved completing all the book puzzles!!!

-Bev

marblevolcano · Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:34 am

bschwart wrote: I had a long flight, and lots of copies of the puzzle, and just did a lot of trial and error.
I think after all was done, it turned out the 23+ on the right side of the page had the fewest moving parts, and using that as the place to start a trial was the most efficient way to get to the end.
-Bev

Thanks for the tip! I've been having a lot of trouble with this one as well...

paulv66 · Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:43 am

I guess the fact that some books have solutions, while some books don't, tends to skew the results. From my perspective, unless I enter the results unaided, the only person I'm cheating is myself. Then again, everyone is entitled to their own perspective on this issue.

eclipsegirl · Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:42 am

Bev is the first person from the US to complete all the puzzles. She has inspired me to get working on the books.
I am now half way through the points one can earn.

paulv66 · Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:59 pm

bschwart wrote:I think you mean A2V1, not A3V1, because the answers for all A3 puzzles are in the back. The counts should be pretty high on all the A3 puzzles.
A2V1 was one of the hardest ones I've worked on. I had a long flight, and lots of copies of the puzzle, and just did a lot of trial and error.
I think after all was done, it turned out the 23+ on the right side of the page had the fewest moving parts, and using that as the place to start a trial was the most efficient way to get to the end.

Meanwhile, I JUST achieved completing all the book puzzles!!!

-Bev

Congratulations on completing all the book puzzles Bev!

I agree with you about A2V1 - I found it extremely difficult and I was surprised that more people had solved it than had solved A2S13. I finally managed to solve A3V1 today (after a lot of trial and error) and now have only four puzzles left to complete in AP III. They're all extra large (1 14x4, 2 15x15s and 1 17x17), so I doubt I'll get a chance to tackle them until after I get back next Monday from my daughter's wedding celebrations.

bschwart · Sat Dec 16, 2017 5:01 pm

Congratulations on completing all the book puzzles Bev!

Thanks!

I agree with you about A2V1 - I found it extremely difficult and I was surprised that more people had solved it than had solved A2S13. I finally managed to solve A3V1 today (after a lot of trial and error) and now have only four puzzles left to complete in AP III. They're all extra large (1 14x4, 2 15x15s and 1 17x17), so I doubt I'll get a chance to tackle them until after I get back next Monday from my daughter's wedding celebrations.

A2S13 was also quite tough.

Congratulations on your daughter’s wedding! The book puzzles can wait!

-Bev