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April 20: Very Hard?

 
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keith



Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 3355
Location: near Detroit, Michigan, USA
PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:37 pm    Post subject: April 20: Very Hard? Reply with quote
I'd rate this one as a low medium. I've gone through it twice, and I don't think it deserves its rating.

Keith
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 11:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Agreed. It is not in the very hard class by any means.
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Marty R.



Joined: 12 Feb 2006
Posts: 5770
Location: Rochester, NY, USA
PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 3:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Keith, I haven't yet worked this puzzle. However, your observation is highly plausible. In my relatively brief Sudoku "career", I have seen inconsistency in ratings from many sources. I've solved puzzles rated very hard, evil, diabolical, fiendish, super hard with nothing more than basic techniques, while other puzzles from the same sources with the same rating have required more advanced techniques and, in some cases--too many--, have been near-impossible.

I know nothing about constructing puzzles, but I suspect it ain't that easy to construct and grade them.
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samgj
Site Admin


Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 106
Location: Cambridge
PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Marty R. wrote:
I know nothing about constructing puzzles, but I suspect it ain't that easy to construct and grade them.


I guess the grading has been discussed in several other threads here, and elsewhere. The computational grading of puzzles is by definition pretty objective. My current method defines certain types of logic as hard, and if you need 3 or more different "hard" logic types then it's very hard. This objectivity though takes no notice (indeed it isn't obvious to me how it can) of how hard each logic step is to spot for the human. The same fundamental logic step may be much more obvious in some layouts than others.

This puzzle is anyway borderline hard/very hard by this definition, but certainly doesn't fit my medium category. Of course other grading methods may be drastically and fundamentally different.

Sam
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Marty R.



Joined: 12 Feb 2006
Posts: 5770
Location: Rochester, NY, USA
PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have just done this puzzle, and with all due respect to Mr. Griffiths-Jones, I cannot see how its rating was warranted. After filling in the cells with their candidates, the puzzle almost seemed to solve itself with pairs, triples, hidden singles and locked candidates.
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
i found it pretty easy too compared to the "real" very hard ones
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