SudoCue Users

I know that I originally announced 19:00 GMT, but due to the upcoming Easter holiday I decided to do it earlier. Can be that I will do it even earlier on Thursday.

There will be two flavours. One rated "Extra Hard", i.e. somewhat harder than a "Ruud Very Hard" and one rated "Die Hard", i.e. yet harder, but hopefully not as hard as a Nightmare. The only difference is that the Die Hard version has two givens less than the Extra Hard version.

Thanks to Nouggie there will be .CLU files in this folder.
For SCE #2 already next Monday or Tuesday.

EDIT:
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there will be no .CLU files. There reason is that a .CLU file saved by the Clueless Helper on one PC cannot be read by a Clueless Helper running on another PC. Nouggie found this out and sent me an email. I have verified these findings.

THERE WILL BE NO PAPER COPY
But later today or tomorrow the files "Clueless.xls", "Clueless.bmp", "Clueless_A4.doc" and "Clueless_LETTER.doc" will be available here. In the thread "How To Make Clueless Explosions" I will post a guide describing how you with these files can make your own paper copy. Clueless.xls will contain a macro (Ctrl+V) that pastes the Sudoku code from the clipboard directly in to the worksheet; nothing fancy, but it will get the job done. Once in the worksheet, you just have to screen-shoot it, polish it in the paint file and put it into the MS-Word file and print it out. It’s all really simple.

@TKollen:
If you crack the .CLU format what about making a Sudoku-Code to .CLU converter. A simple DOS command line program should be sufficient, reading the Sudoku-Code file and outputting the .CLU file.

Here some hints on the "Extra Hard" version:
It has many hidden pairs and triplets, more X-Wings than the average Clueless, a couple of XY-Wings and XY-Chains, and one Colouring and/or an XYZ-Wing, dependent on how you solve it. But nothing more advanced than that. When it gets hard stay focused on the grids 1, 2 and 3. I have now solved it 2 times, the second time carefully noting the techniques I used and consulting SadMan for easier approaches.

Børge wrote:It has many hidden pairs and triplets, more X-Wings than the average Clueless, a couple of XY-Wings and XY-Chains, and one Colouring and/or an XYZ-Wing...

Sounds good!

BTW, is there any documentation available anywhere on the rating categories (old or new) and the types of techniques that can be expected for each of them?

mhparker wrote:

Børge wrote:It has many hidden pairs and triplets, more X-Wings than the average Clueless, a couple of XY-Wings and XY-Chains, and one Colouring and/or an XYZ-Wing...

Sounds good!

BTW, is there any documentation available anywhere on the rating categories (old or new) and the types of techniques that can be expected for each of them?

Oh Mike, don't be so modest. For you this is an absolute no-brainer. You'll have this Clueless Explosion solved in a couple of minutes. I’ve heard rumours saying that you every evening solve the "Daily Nightmare" as a relaxing 10 minutes wind down before going to sleep.

When it comes to documentation on the rating categories, I have never seen one. I think I once read a posting by Ruud saying that he had changed the rating, so that it is not only dependent on the techniques required but also on the number of times each technique is required, i.e. N hidden pairs is equivalent to an X-Wing. In a Ruud Clueless I have personally never needed something more advanced than X-Wing, Swordfish and Jellyfish.

I suppose being Easter we should have come up with a Outer Grids that generate the Easter Monster in the Clueless grid, that would stall the logical solvers for a while.

Glyn wrote:I suppose being Easter we should have come up with a Outer Grids that generate the Easter Monster in the Clueless grid, that would stall the logical solvers for a while.

If you send me the solved Clueless grid picturing the Easter Monster, I'll be happy to generate you such a puzzle. Since I start with the solved Clueless grid and then generate the Outer Grids, that should be a no-brainer. But I'll make the puzzle a Nightmare Monster keeping you sleepless.

Here's the Easter Monster and its solution:

Børge wrote:Oh Mike, don't be so modest. For you this is an absolute no-brainer. You'll have this Clueless Explosion solved in a couple of minutes. I’ve heard rumours saying that you every evening solve the "Daily Nightmare" as a relaxing 10 minutes wind down before going to sleep.

Unfortunately, whilst pottering around the Garden of Eden, I came into contact with a Death Blossom, and have been banished to the mortal world of Sudoku strugglers ever since.

I know the techniques you mention like the back of my hand, and can use them to good effect on a single 9x9 grid (especially if someone gives me a hint about exactly which technique to look for, and which part of the grid to look in!). However, I wouldn't be surprised if I couldn't recognize the likes of a hidden single amongst the sheer mass of Clueless Explosion cells even if it came out and hit me in the face!

The original text in this post has been edited into the first post in this thread.

Code and pictures have been moved from this post to the first post in this thread.

Børge,

Now that these puzzles are semi-official, wouldn't it be better to post them on a separate thread, additionally with an image (if possible) and some interesting one-liner as introductory text (if appropriate), as we do for the Killers on the Assassin forum?

That way, they would not only look more visually appealing and more official-looking, but also stand out from the crowd a lot better!

Just my $0.02 worth as one of the more prolific puzzle setters on the Assassin forum...

mhparker wrote:Børge,

Now that these puzzles are semi-official, wouldn't it be better to post them on a separate thread, additionally with an image (if possible) and some interesting one-liner as introductory text (if appropriate), as we do for the Killers on the Assassin forum?

That way, they would not only look more visually appealing and more official-looking, but also stand out from the crowd a lot better!

Just my $0.02 worth as one of the more prolific puzzle setters on the Assassin forum...

Mike,
I’m totally confused.
I’ve looked into the Assassin forum. From what I can tell each puzzle is posted in a separete thread, which is what I have done with ALL my clueless puzzles. I presume that you do not mean that I should post all my different Clueless Explosion and Special puzzles in one and the same thread?!?!

Please reread the first post in this thread. There you will find the intoduction, abeit not a single line.

Are the pictures I added OK, and is the size right? I can make them bigger or smaller!! I’ll add pictures to the other Clueless Explosions and Specials tomorrow.

Børge wrote:I’ve looked into the Assassin forum. From what I can tell each puzzle is posted in a separete thread, which is what I have done with ALL my clueless puzzles. I presume that you do not mean that I should post all my different Clueless Explosion and Special puzzles in one and the same thread?!?!

Sorry about the confusion, Børge. I simply meant that it would IMHO be better to start a new thread each time, so that the puzzle is the first post in the thread, rather than buried at the bottom of a thread that has already been posted to several times.

I'll send you a PM as soon as time permits to illustrate what I mean.

Keep up the good work! BTW, I hope someone can solve these beasts!!

mhparker wrote:Sorry about the confusion, Børge. I simply meant that it would IMHO be better to start a new thread each time, so that the puzzle is the first post in the thread, rather than buried at the bottom of a thread that has already been posted to several times.

Mike, I think I now understand what you mean and I agree with you. I have moved the code and the pictures to the first post in this thread. If needed, I will clean up my other threads as well.

mhparker wrote:I hope someone can solve these beasts!!

You haven't solved them all yet

Glyn wrote:I suppose being Easter we should have come up with a Outer Grids that generate the Easter Monster in the Clueless grid, that would stall the logical solvers for a while.

Glyn, are you and the Easter Monsters having a great time together?
I'm sorry I wasn't able to generate the Outer Grids such that the furthest you can solve them with logic only would yield the the Original Easter Monster in the Clueless grid

For the Extra Hard version I got this solution: 431986725967235418582417639619753842823641597745829163156372984378194256294568371
the Die Hard is still pending...