SCS #3

[Børge]

Substitute Clueless Special #3

This time a puzzle generated by my own software, which I now have completed the first version of.
So now I can mass produce Clueless Explosion and Clueless Special puzzles with a yield that seems to be 100%, i.e. every attempt results in a suitable puzzle.

Rating based on required solving techniques: Tough
My personal rating based on actual solving: Tough



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000009705100700090900645200001000024009000070280000600006827900710000060000000000
013800000500700600070000209900000058005000000060000030057000000006003001000000000
001000000200000500060010004005000006000000040080000001073900005020705800000000000
007000600800600900000405000000000007000000001200000040050000020030921070040000000
800600150071000000062009000000000009005000067000000040000073080006500000000100000
507800600000051280040000013070000005090000002300000001004007030008000000000000000

[Oscar]

I liked this one, it is simple as far as techniques and that is what I look for when dealing with such a big number of interlinked sudokus.
I used JSudoku and I am improving in its use and ergonomics, but I still miss the SudokuHelper fast way of dealing with interferences.
Børge: You give us very good news, Clueless Specual can continue to be "produced"! very good job .

[Børge]

Oscar,
Good to know that I can count on you for comments. Thanks again. As gratitude I will try to factor in your preferences when generating further puzzles.

Børge: You give us very good news, Clueless Specual can continue to be "produced"! very good job .

I have already produced Clueless Explosion and Special puzzles for the next 10 weeks. Most of them rated Tough for solving techniques, but also one or two that are harder.
I have one program for producing Clueless Explosions and one for producing Clueless Specials. They are identical except for the routine that initializes the internal data structures, and based on them I will ASAP make a generator for producing Samurais. I already have a Samurai for next Tuesday, which I will post late next Monday evening.

[Nasenbaer]

Thanks for another good puzzle, Børge.

I voted "A good puzzle". But "A bit too difficult" would have been correct too. For me "Tough is enough" both for the clueless special and the explosion. This one took longer than most of Ruud's clueless (but that might have been influenced by the soccer game). A X-Wing is the hardest technique for me in these kind of puzzles.

Keep up your good work!

Cheers,
Nasenbaer

[jsmif]

Agree with the above -- this was quite enjoyable, and on the difficult side.

I wouldn't mind X-wings, but that's about it. I don't like seafood, sudoku-wise.

[jsmif]

<accidental double-post deleted>

[Børge]

Nasenbär and jsmif, thanks for the feedback. Great that you speak up, so I know what kind of puzzles you want, and I will try to accommodate you.

If some wants harder puzzles or puzzles requiring special solving techniques, please let me know, and I’ll se what I can do. I have generated puzzles requiring lots of Special Fish, Wings and more than 50 chains (thereof approx. 30 XY-X chains) to be solved.

EDIT: Easier puzzles (Naked and or Hidden Singles only) can also be arranged. But a puzzle with Naked Singles only is only meaningfull when solving with pen and paper!

During the generation process I can take out a puzzle requiring Tough or Moderate solving techniques only as an A version and let the process continue generating a harder puzzle as a B version.

As you hopefully have seen, I have introduced two ratings, one based on required solving techniques and one based on my personal subjective rating.
How a rating relates to the required solving techniques you can find here.

This one took longer than most of Ruud's clueless (but that might have been influenced by the soccer game).

Is probably the case here . The hardest technique this puzzle requires is NAKED Pairs (no HIDDEN).

The problem is that you IMHO cannot tell how difficult a puzzle is based on the required solving techniques only. If that was the case SCS #3 should be more difficult than SCS #2, which my personal experience and the feedback do not suggest. Here a comparison based on the required solving techniques listed by JSudoku:

          SCS #2                                             SCS #3
398 Naked Singles                             364 Naked Singles
142 Hidden Singles                            172 Hidden Singles
  66 Intersections                                 73 Intersections
    5 Naked Pairs                                     5 Naked Pairs


When generating a puzzle for the audience here one also has to make sure that the puzzle is somewhat tenacious and does not collapse into Naked Singles only as soon as all the "tricky" solving steps (Naked/Hidden Subsets & Basic Fish) have been done. As Pete correctly has pointed out most Sudokus, especially Samurais found on the internet seem to collapse into Naked Singles only as soon as their one or two "tricky" solving steps have been found. The tenaciousness of a puzzle seems to be related to the number of Hidden Singles and Intersections and that they are evenly distributed among the grids.

Perhaps as a test balloon I should generate a Clueless with Naked/Hidden Singles and Interactions only, but a lot of Hidden Singles (>250) and Interactions (>100) and see how that turns out.

[Børge]

I wouldn't mind X-wings, but that's about it. I don't like seafood, sudoku-wise.

jsmif, Seafood is supposedly very healthy

When I generate a puzzle I always get Very Easy, Easy, Moderate, Tough, Extra Hard and harder puzzles, based on required solving techniques. Getting a Hard or a Very Hard puzzle is a problem. If I catch Basic Fish I normally also catch one or two Turbot Fishes (Skyscraper/2-String Kite). Under certain conditions I can manually eliminate the Turbot Fish or convert one into an X-Wing. Sometimes I loose all the fish when attempting this. Basic Fish is a group name for X-Wing, Swordfish, Jellyfish and Squirmbag.

Thursday May 1. is an official holiday in most European countries, and hence many take the Friday off. For this “long weekend” I have handmade a Clueless Explosion rated Very Hard for required solving techniques (Intersections, Naked/Hidden Subsets & Basic Fish). It has several Basic Fish of more than one size swimming around. If I upfront receive messages that this is too difficult I could post a second puzzle!

BTW:
Submitting a vote is 100% anonymous!
I will for several upcoming puzzles add a poll, and if no one votes I'll interpret this as votes for "A good puzzle"!