Locked Blue Candidates in Clueless Explosion

This is not the right forum to discuss the Big Bang Theory,<br>but if you have any comments on last Saturday's <a href="http://www.sudocue.net/explosion.php">Clueless Explosion</a>, you can post them here.
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Ruud
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Locked Blue Candidates in Clueless Explosion

Post by Ruud »

When I tested my new Clueless Helper, I found a solving strategy that I do not use when I create the puzzles, but it makes solving these puzzles much easier than I thought. I may need to change the rating of some puzzles when I add this to the generator.

This is how it works:

When all remaining candidates for a digit in the blue cells in one of the 9 puzzles are locked into a single row or column, you can eliminate the remaining candidate for that digit from the row or column. This is similar to the Locked Candidates technique, which you use a lot in these puzzles. In SudoCue, I call this Locked Candidates 3.

Here is an example:

Image

All 'blue' candidates for digit 7 are located in column 2. One of these 2 cells must therefore contain a 7, because all blue cells together belong to a box in the central puzzle and must contain one of each digit.

The red candidates can be eliminated, leaving a single in row 3.

I guess some of you already use this technique without telling me. 8-)

Ruud
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Post by Marlie »

Can you translate this for Gemma en me? :oops:
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Post by Ruud »

Natuurlijk. 8-)

Bij het testen van mijn nieuwe Clueless Helper kwam ik een nieuwe methode tegen om de Clueless Explosion puzzels op te lossen. Omdat ik die niet in het programma heb ingebouwd waarmee ik de puzzels maak, zijn ze gemakkelijker op te lossen dan ik had voorzien. (laatste test: een Hard opgelost in 18 minuten, zonder ook maar 1 van de 9 afzonderlijke puzzels compleet in te moeten vullen)

Het werkt zo:

In elk van de 9 puzzels vormen de blauwe cellen een 3x3 veld in de centrale puzzel. Dat betekent dat alle blauwe cellen een verschillend cijfer moeten bevatten. Wanneer alle "blauwe" kandidaten voor een bepaald cijfer in 1 rij of kolom vallen, dan moet dus 1 van die blauwe cellen dat cijfer bevatten. Andere kandidaten in die rij of kolom kan je dan wegstrepen. Dit werkt op dezelfde manier als bij de interactie tussen een rij/kolom en een 3x3 blok.

In het voorbeeld zie je dat de "blauwe" kandidaten voor cijfer 7 allemaal in kolom 2 vallen. Omdat er 1 blauwe cel 7 moet zijn, vallen de niet-blauwe kandidaten in die kolom af. Die heb ik rood gekleurd. Als direct gevolg kan je in rij 3-kolom 9 het cijfer 7 plaatsen.

Andersom werkt het ook, maar dat ben ik nog niet tegengekomen. Als in een rij alle kandidaten blauw zijn, dan kan je de rest van de blauwe kandidaten wegstrepen.

Omdat het zo voor de hand ligt, had ik verwacht dat jullie dit allang gebruiken, zonder het mij te vertellen.

Ruud
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Post by Marlie »

Thanx for the translation.
I use this technique always but did not know it was a technique.
I thought it was logical thinking.
Thanx anyway for the tip :lol:
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Post by cowgirl »

Hoi,

Is this a technique :?: , i was thinking that this is a logica,
that you need to make the explosion :lol: .

I make a lot of explosions, whit this logical, eeeeeehhh, technique :D .

Thanks Ruud, voor translate
Groetjes van cowgirl Gemma
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Post by Nasenbaer »

I too use this technique. Maybe that's why I always thought that the explosions are "overrated"... :wink:

Peter
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Post by Pete »

I was wondering if the great Ruud will ever put up a score chart for the explosions..

Perhaps we could get a little competition going.
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Post by Marlie »

I hope so but not in a weekend i hope :lol:
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Post by Ruud »

I fixed this "loophole" in my software that creates the Clueless Explosions, so they may turn out a little more difficult from now on.

Other changes, which also apply to the regular Clueless:
  • Increased rating for naked quads, hidden triples and hidden quads
  • Lowered rating for X-Wings
  • Added a score for each constituent puzzle that MUST be solved to find the solution of the blue sudoku
This will make the puzzles a little more "interesting".

Ruud
Pete
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new ideas

Post by Pete »

Ruud,
I found this weeks 11-11-06 to be easier than most.

Perhaps its the peters/asterisks or center dot 28 area things,
making me look at things a bit differently.

the explosions play by the rules of the center dots.
The other 9 puzzles contribute so much more to the blue area.

each puzzle may not be solvable as a center dot making them harder than the regular center dots.

When the blue one starts removing candidates it becomes easier than a center dot.

Perhaps its time to construct a few asterick clueless explosions, just to see how they feel.
"It gets dark at night" - Olbers
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