Headshrinker - Strizzacervelli -When the going gets tough

[gabriele]

I thought to make a test with hard puzzles to see if our users like it.
the test's name is HEADSHRINKER"
The contest will start on Thursday, 16th September 22:00 (GMT +1) and will end on Saturday 18th 24:00.
You have NO TIME LIMIT to complete the sudoku variants within the contest limits.
The difficulty of puzzles is QUITE HARD, but not impossible.
When the going gets tough, the toughs get going

http://www.argio-logic.net/indexuk.php?p=headshrinker

Ho pensato di fare un test con schemi abbastanza difficili per vedere se ha successo.
il nome del contest è STRIZZACERVELLI
La gara partirà giovedì 16 settembre alle 22:00 e teminerà a mezzanotte di sabato 18.
Non ci sono limiti di tempo per risolvere gli schemi, entro la durata della gara.
La difficoltà degli schemi è ABBASTANZA DIFFICILE, ma non impossibile.
Quando il gioco si fa duro, i duri cominciano a giocare

[gabriele]

The concept of difficulty is very personal.
I have selected grids solved by the best player in more than 10 minutes and I have cloned them.
The time (seconds) spent in the solution is the one indicated in the points.

http://www.argio-logic.net/indexuk.php?p=headshrinker

[gabriele]

I was thinking about it last night.
To solve all grids in a row can be very time expensive.
so we can sum the time needed fro each grids: that means that when you open a grid you must solve it: you can not browse all the variants and after decide where to start.
Or we can use the actual method : count the time from start to end.
What do you think about it?

[Fred76]

so we can sum the time needed fro each grids: that means that when you open a grid you must solve it: you can not browse all the variants and after decide where to start.

I do not think it's a good idea. If you spend 30 minutes on a tough grid without being able to solve, sometimes you like to solve another grid and return to the grid caused problems later.
In addition it would penalize people who print grids and solve on paper (including Serbs).

Fred

[gabriele]

so we can sum the time needed fro each grids: that means that when you open a grid you must solve it: you can not browse all the variants and after decide where to start.

I do not think it's a good idea. If you spend 30 minutes on a tough grid without being able to solve, sometimes you like to solve another grid and return to the grid caused problems later.
In addition it would penalize people who print grids and solve on paper (including Serbs).

Fred

i agree with you, Fred.

[rakesh_rai]

HEADSHRINKER - This sound very frightening indeed.

[Bely]

And so, finally?
Will you sum the time needed for each grid, or the total time from the opening of the first grid up to the end of the contest (or of the weekend )?

I got lost

[gabriele]

Will you sum the time needed for each grid, NO
or the total time from the opening of the first grid up to the end of the contest YES

[GaS]

I think the best solution, for future headshrinker contests, is to sum time in which at least one grid has been opened but not solved, thus excluding time in which no grids are unfinished.

I don't know if this can be a complication for Gabriele, the boss, but I think
this solution is more "in line" with this type of contest.

Just my two cents,

GaS
(sorry for my bad english)

[skywalker]

Thank you for excellent contest. Tough puzzles, but beautiful.

skywalker

[radekivv]

Hello,
it is very nice contest. I have solved all the problems but got accidently logged out. When I logged back in, I found that some of the problems were not recorded (it seems like Rossini and Touchy). Can you pls help? I will try to remember the solution and type it quickly, but if there is a previous record, it would be better. Thanks, radekivv

I solved now Rossini again and no points added for that problem.

So I try first to solve Touchy now and then Rossini and nothing has changed. It looks that I will not be able to add the points independent to what I am doing. I hope that there is somewhere a record on the server that I have finished. Losing points for two grids after all the time spent on this competition would make me sad .

In any case, the problems were very nice and it was wrth staying up till 3 AM so I could finish them all .

[gabriele]

Hello,
it is very nice contest. I have solved all the problems but got accidently logged out. When I logged back in, I found that some of the problems were not recorded (it seems like Rossini and Touchy). Can you pls help? I will try to remember the solution and type it quickly, but if there is a previous record, it would be better. Thanks, radekivv

I solved now Rossini again and no points added for that problem.

So I try first to solve Touchy now and then Rossini and nothing has changed. It looks that I will not be able to add the points independent to what I am doing. I hope that there is somewhere a record on the server that I have finished. Losing points for two grids after all the time spent on this competition would make me sad .

In any case, the problems were very nice and it was wrth staying up till 3 AM so I could finish them all .

Hi radekivv,
I checked the standings and everything seems to be ok.
you can find your situation in
http://www.argio-logic.net/headshrinker/classifica_head.php?c=1&p=utenti
your time for touchy is really high, some problem in recording perhaps, but your position seems to be not affected.

[rakesh_rai]

Nice grids. I found nonconsecutive and diagonal to be the toughest.

[radekivv]

Hi radekivv,
I checked the standings and everything seems to be ok.
you can find your situation in
http://www.argio-logic.net/headshrinker/classifica_head.php?c=1&p=utenti
your time for touchy is really high, some problem in recording perhaps, but your position seems to be not affected.

Hi gabriele,
thank you very much. I liked touchy so much, I had to play it twice - I made a mistake first time . However, the order of recorded times is strange - I solved touchy, made a mistake, did go on solving Rossini and came back to solve touchy. It is probably OK if the day/time in the table shows the time the table was open (it would be consistent).
Once again, thank you very much. I always like to come here and play - the variety of different variants and their always new combination makes it each competition unique.

[Rohan Rao]

I finished solving in 2hrs 51mins.
Why does it show 38hrs?

[gabriele]

I finished solving in 2hrs 51mins.
Why does it show 38hrs?

the answer (about the method of measuring time) tomorrow
also will be displayed the seconds
who has been faster: you or Fred?

[Fred76]

Rohan, I saw your name yesterday and today, with no grid started. Are you sure you didn't clic on the start button yesterday?

However I hope Gabriele will correct your time and will take time when you begin 1rst grid. You have began with Nonconsecutive and finished also with nonconsecutive I think, if I look at here: http://www.argio-logic.net/headshrinker ... 1&p=utenti
So I think your time should be 2h54'46.

Let's see what decide Gabriele.

[Fred76]

I finished solving in 2hrs 51mins.
Why does it show 38hrs?

the answer (about the method of measuring time) tomorrow
also will be displayed the seconds
who has been faster: you or Fred?

Gabriele, the problem with Rohan does not concern time measure discussion we had. We both saw his name in the ranking list and also saw that he began his 1rst grid only this evening (2010-09-18 20:36:46 is his first attempt according to this page: http://www.argio-logic.net/headshrinker ... 1&p=utenti). He was not appearing on that page yesterday or this morning when we saw his name here: http://www.argio-logic.net/headshrinker ... classifica.

I don't know if there was a problem with the site or if it's an "unhappy" clic from Rohan... It seems fair to me you should correct his time if you can

[gabriele]

Rohan, I saw your name yesterday and today, with no grid started. Are you sure you didn't clic on the start button yesterday?

However I hope Gabriele will correct your time and will take time when you begin 1rst grid. You have began with Nonconsecutive and finished also with nonconsecutive I think, if I look at here: http://www.argio-logic.net/headshrinker ... 1&p=utenti
So I think your time should be 2h54'46.

Let's see what decide Gabriele.

I don't think is fair to change the rules after the users' comments

Will you sum the time needed for each grid, NO
or the total time from the opening of the first grid up to the end of the contest YES

also my statement is not correct : the timer starts when you click "start" and not when you open the first grid
tomorrow I will publish the standings followings different systems to measure the time.

I think that, perhaps, the best method for this type of contest is to sum the times of each grids.

anyway detailed instructions will be given before the next headshrinker

your comments and ideas will be higly appreciated.

[Fred76]

the timer starts when you click "start" and not when you open the first grid

Difference between these 2 times should be something like 2-3 seconds, but in the case of Rohan it's something like.... 35 hours?

The man spent 35 hours asking himself which grid he will start

[Fred76]

Thanks for this new tournament, which perhaps needs yet some improvement, but the idea is very nice.

Congrats to Sisi, who breaks a 14-month hegemony (!) of WaterlooMathie and Gotroch. These 2 guys have won all contests (including roulette) since the 3rd contest in july 2009 !!!

[Rohan Rao]

Hi Gabriele/Fred,

I have been out of town, so I definitely did not click 'start' before yesterday. And no one knows my password to have done it

As Fred mentioned, I did start with NCS and end with NCS too... and I did it in about 2hrs 51-54mins, somewhat, I dont remember the exact time, but the time showed me was DEFINITELY less than 3hrs.

Anyway, its a little disappointing since I came back from out and immediately started solving (since there were just about 4hrs left), and in Indian time I solved half-sleepily from 12.15am to 3am, and I see my time as 38hrs

Anyway, if nothing can be done, I dont know the problem is and I can't help it.

As for the puzzles, I liked Frame and Killer the best

[gabriele]

Hi Gabriele/Fred,

I have been out of town, so I definitely did not click 'start' before yesterday. And no one knows my password to have done it

I don't know how it was possible that your ID from cookies was registered in the database on 17/09/2010 8.04.52 GMT+2

I will investigate.

No grids were opened.

so your time from the opening of the first grid to the solution of the last one is

02:54:46

[gabriele]

as promised , the standings with 2 different time calculation:

in column 2 the time from the opening of the first grid to the solution of the last one

in column 4 the time is the lesser between "start to end" and the "sum of grids solution times".

For the next headshrinker, taking in consideration all the comments received, I think that the "sum of grids solution times" will be used.

That means that when you open a grid you must solve it: you can not browse all the variants and after decide where to start.

People that solve on paper should print a single grid, solve it and then open and print the next one.

[gabriele]

http://www.argio-logic.net/classificacontest/contest_summary.php?type=h1

http://www.argio-logic.net/headshrinker/classifica_head.php?c=1

[Rohan Rao]

Thanks a lot Gabriele, I appreciate it

Rohan.

[radekivv]

Gabriele,
I think the new scheme for counting the total time sounds better (sum of times needed for each grid). For many people it may be difficult to come with straight 5 hours for solving all the puzzles (I know we should get better and solve it in 3 hours instead, but it is easier to say than to do ) . I personally would rather split the competition for myself as I was getting pretty tired at about 1-2 AM (the only time I can play are evenings/nights). Therefore, if you take votes, I am voting for sum of all individual times.
Thanks again - these were very nice grids.