UK Puzzle Association

Daft question but are Minesweeper puzzles like the old Microsoft ones? I had a look in the Puzzle Rules board and couldn’t find any examples in there. I could easily have overlooked them though! :) I have seen two common versions of minesweeper puzzles. The more common (I think) is where you won't ...

EctoPlasma wrote: ↑

Sun 03 Jan, 2021 11:10 am

I tried to see the file "UKPA Mixed Bag Round -PB 2013.pdf" but downloaded PDf file seemed to be broken. It gave an error message: "Failed to load PDF document." Can someone look into this?

Here it is again. Hopefully, this should be okay.

Was puzzle 7 super difficult or was that just me? I wasted time on this by not thinking about it properly. As the diagonals couldn't have repeated numbers in them it was worth considering the actual size of the grid as that gave how many different numbers would be in the diagonals. With that bit of...

Thanks - I'm sorry I didn't manage to submit this time. Incidentally, I find it interesting and mentally challenging that blocking out stuff is actually a positive rather than negative aspect to this puzzle. Perhaps I need to think of it and/or mark it in a different way, as I naturally think of th...

Thanks Sam. The first two lots were fine - just the 3rd set.

I have seen an odd one in competitions that haven't had all cells visited - if it isn't explicitly stated, then there's a simple way of verifying this, though may be a little tedious on a larger puzzle (and a test of your arithmetic) - sum the total of the clues and the number of clue cells and comp...

Thanks for these Sam. I'm very slowly working my way through them. As an aside, for us that are not great at solving Sudoku it would help if the grids were larger to give us more space for having to put candidates in etc. I've finished up copying them to enlarge them out, but a faff. Thanks.

With our beginners league 'Division D', there is some discussion before each type on methods, examples etc. that is worth looking at. As long as a question doesn't relate to a puzzle in a 'live' competition you can also ask for advice on the forum and people will generally try to help.

Also, for puzzles that have arrows and circles inside the cell, how do you create that on Microsoft word? I’m trying (but failing) to design anything with more than just numbers and lines. It may be better for you to use excel rather than word. Others may have better methods but I finish up creatin...

Normally, when questions are asked about whether it is necessary to for example "draw all the borders" etc. the normal answer from organisers is that as long that the notation is clear and consistent so that it can be confirmed that the puzzle has been completely solved, then it is acceptable. For T...

- despite suffering incessant bullying and coercion from Liane as a result :-) - I am delighted to have dipped a toe into the waters of the puzzling part of our community. I really look forward to trying out the other puzzle variants over the coming months. Best wishes and congratulations to the ot...

It’s the last round of Puzzle GP this weekend, in case anyone’s missed it. Also, I was trying to work through Round 7 after my abysmal mess and can’t get started on the larger Heyawake. Can anyone give me a start on it? I think I've done it, but not convinced I've not missed a step. Anyway, start: ...

Hausigel wrote: ↑

Sun 23 Aug, 2020 3:52 pm

I received a message that the GP website uses a certificate which has expired on August 22, but told the browser (Firefox) to continue and accept the risk, which worked for me.

Thank you. I have managed to get in now.

Anyone else getting problems getting onto the GP pages? I'm getting error messages saying that the connection isn't private and someone might be trying to steal information. I did manage to get on yesterday.

We're so glad you enjoyed it. We'd love to see you at next year's Open Tournament too and are sure that you would enjoy it.

Yes printer's can be a real pain - ink, paper problems, speed of printing etc. At the Open you simply get the puzzle booklets as in exams

Thanks to everyone who helped write, test and organise the competition. As someone who's nowhere near to a proper puzzler, I really appreciate that it's a totally open competition where you can just rock up and play. I think it's my fourth time and I really look forward to my annual dose of puzzlin...

I must also give special thanks to David McNeill for helping out, both by supplying some great puzzles and for helping with proof reading etc. thus forfeiting his place in the championship. One of his puzzles was created on the way home from the WSC/WPC in Germany last year due to what became a catc...

The results of the 2020 UK Puzzle Championship have now been published. After a close fought battle, first place is awarded to James McGowan, completing all puzzles successfully in just under 2 hours 12 mins, second place is awarded to Neil Zussman completing just under three minutes behind. Third p...

Amended instruction booklet (including points distribution) is now available.

The points per puzzle are as shown here. The instruction booklet will be updated later today.

eratosthenes wrote: ↑

Mon 22 Jun, 2020 5:59 pm

The example on Half Dominoes does have the diagonals marked though.

Yes, the example does have diagonals marked, however, the competition puzzle will not have the diagonals.

Another error on Half Dominoes - the clues will show the sum of the dots in the horizontal and vertical directions only NOT DIAGONAL.

Thanks for spotting the error with the Yin Yang instruction, I will ensure that is corrected when the points are added. Anglers - I don't think I've eveer seen one without all cells being used - yes they are all used. Emma is right - if the clue cell is adjacent to the edge of the puzzle you'll only...

The instruction booklet for the championship is now uploaded, however, the points for the puzzles haven't been finalised. This will be done as soon as possible.

This is the discussion thread for the 2020 UK Puzzle Championship. It was expected that this event would be selecting the final two places for the UK team to participate at the World Puzzle Championships that were scheduled to take place in October this year, but have sadly been postponed until 2021...