A Puzzler Sudoku gripe
I shall quote from the preface of Vol. 1 Issue 11, courtesy Ariane Blok:
With women making up thirty percent of the contestants, the only female to make it into the top 18 managed to fend off the American favourites to claim the title. Much to the delight of many onlookers Jana Tylova, an accountant from the Czech Republic, pipped Thomas Snyder, a Harvard University chemistry postgraduate student, and Wei-Hwa Huang, a software engineer for Google.
It was a great occasion and not without its share of controversy. There was a moment of
peaceful uproar at the end (puzzlers are a rather quiet bunch) when two of the three finalists claimed that the deciding puzzle was flawed, they said it couldn't be solved without guesswork. Most observers thought they were right, but there was a logical solution. They missed the vital clue and it cost them dearly.
This is what happened. In four cells across two columns and two rows, the only options were four pairs of digits. Each of these pairs shared a common digit. The American contestants failed to spot the significance. What it meant was, that the common digit could be ruled out of any other cells in those two columns and rows. Glad we sorted that one out.
*grumble* Thereby missing the point entirely, that of course there was a logical solution, but it was too hard to see in the time limit so *everyone* had to guess, not just the "Americans".
Also, will people ever stop caring about what nationality someone is?
With women making up thirty percent of the contestants, the only female to make it into the top 18 managed to fend off the American favourites to claim the title. Much to the delight of many onlookers Jana Tylova, an accountant from the Czech Republic, pipped Thomas Snyder, a Harvard University chemistry postgraduate student, and Wei-Hwa Huang, a software engineer for Google.
It was a great occasion and not without its share of controversy. There was a moment of
peaceful uproar at the end (puzzlers are a rather quiet bunch) when two of the three finalists claimed that the deciding puzzle was flawed, they said it couldn't be solved without guesswork. Most observers thought they were right, but there was a logical solution. They missed the vital clue and it cost them dearly.
This is what happened. In four cells across two columns and two rows, the only options were four pairs of digits. Each of these pairs shared a common digit. The American contestants failed to spot the significance. What it meant was, that the common digit could be ruled out of any other cells in those two columns and rows. Glad we sorted that one out.
*grumble* Thereby missing the point entirely, that of course there was a logical solution, but it was too hard to see in the time limit so *everyone* had to guess, not just the "Americans".
Also, will people ever stop caring about what nationality someone is?