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has anyone managed to solve today's Killer, no. 210, in The Times, tried to solve it on paper and hit an inconsistency and thought i made an error but can't see it, have just plugged it in to JC's program and it can't solve the puzzle.

puzzle found at following link:-
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,18209-2195406,00.html

Crazy Girl wrote:has anyone managed to solve today's Killer, no. 210, in The Times

Here is the puzzle in PS format:

3x3::k:5888:3073:3073:3073:4613:4613:2575:2575:2575:5888:5888:4619:4619:4613:2071:2575:7697:7697:2834:1820:4619:4619:4613:2071:3096:7697:7697:2834:1820:5156:2590:5663:5663:3096:1827:1827:5156:5156:5156:2590:2590:5663:6955:6955:2860:2879:3119:3119:4919:6193:6193:6955:4916:2860:2879:4919:4919:4919:6193:6193:6955:4916:2860:2879:5440:3147:4677:4677:4677:4677:4916:4916:5440:5440:3147:3147:3918:3918:3918:2128:2128:

I have no problem solving it with SumoCue.

Ruud.

Cathy,

Perfect Sudoku v0.5 (unreleased) rated this IQ, while v0.4 rated it INSANE.

Good to hear they started posting some more difficult puzzles.

Cheers,

DJ.
www.djape.net

djape wrote:Perfect Sudoku v0.5 (unreleased) rated this IQ, while v0.4 rated it INSANE.

What causes this high rating? I see nothing extremely difficult in this solving path:

45-test N3 -> R4C7=7 -> R3C7=5
45-test N124 -> R6C1=6 -> R2C2=6 -> R12C1={89}
cage 11[2] in N14 = {47} -> R3C1=7,R4C1=4 -> R9C1=5
cage 11[3] in C1 = {623} -> R5C1=1
45-test N12 -> R4C2=3 -> R3C2=4
cage 21[3] in N7 = {579}
Cage 12[2] in N4 = {57} -> R6C2=5, R6C3=7
Digit 7 locked in R2N3
Digit 6 locked in R3N3
cage 8[2] in N2 = {35} R2C6=5, R3C6=3
R1C3=5,R2C3=3
cage 12[3] in N12 = {156} -> R1C2=1, R1C4=6 -> R3C3=2
cage 18[4] in N12 = {2349} -> R2C4=4, R3C4=9 -> R3C5=1
R2C7=1 -> R2C5=2
cage 18[4] in N2 = {1278} -> R1C1=9, R2C1=8
R5C2=2,R7C2=8,R8C4=8,R9C7=8
45-test R9 -> R8C23 = 11 = {74} -> R8C2=7, R8C3=4, R9C2=9
45-test C123 -> R9C4 = (R7C3 + 1) - > R9C4={27}
R9C5=3 -> R9C6=4
45-test N69 -> R8C7=3 -> R8C1=2 -> R7C1=3
cage 18[4] in R8={1368} -> R8C5=6, R8C6=1
naked pair {59} in N9
R1C7=2
45-test C89 -> R5C8=8 -> R3C8=6, R3C9=8
R5C3=9, R4C3=8
cage 22[3] in N5 = {679} -> R4C5=9,R4C6=6,R5C6=7
the rest is singles only

Ruud

Ruud, the reason is your second step - "complex innies/outies". For unexperienced solvers this is not so easy to spot, plus, once you do spot it, you have to add 10 cage sums and subtract 3*45 from it. So there's lots of (simple) arithmetic and it's not an "automatic" operation.

Actually, if I plug-in number 6 in R6C1, PS v0.5 rates this puzzle only THINKER. Perhaps 2 increases in the level of difficulty for one "complex innies/outies" may be too much. So I'd say that BRAIN is about the right estimate of difficulty.

Like I said many times - difficulty levels are there just as a rough description of the puzzle. Realistically it's a very personal thing - Crazy Girl is an experienced solver, yet she had problems with this puzzle.

I find it funny when authors place "solving time" next to a puzzle. If it's there for marketing purposes - Ok, but otherwise it's as good as a random number.

I find it funny when authors place "solving time" next to a puzzle. If it's there for marketing purposes - Ok, but otherwise it's as good as a random number.

Killer 211 in today's The Times repeats last Saturday's one, but it has got 5 minutes harder since then!

No problem on Killer 210, made a mistake inputting the grid, and got the innes/outties the wrong way round, need to go and screw on a new head