2014 WPF Puzzle Grand Prix

[Magoo]

Thanks Chris, especially for giving me the clue (non-language-neutral) about 2a, which I have figured out now. Any chance of anyone dropping a hint about 2b? There was a warning that some knowledge of English would be required on the paper, though I didn't guess it was for 2a!

I solved on the Friday before going down to the UKPA event on Saturday. But I certainly didn't tell my wife that's why I was late at work just before disappearing for almost all of the weekend...

Great performance Neil and James. What a battle it is between those two! It's like watching Godzilla vs King Kong (in a good way).

[dickoon]

Within the spoiler is a one-word nudge about 2b:

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

context

I'll give bigger hints by e-mail or PM on request.

[emma]

I started at about 9.45pm on the Friday night, with my husband trying to suggest an early night might be better preparation.

[puzzlemad]

I printed the puzzles off about an hour or so before the contest would be finishing, with no intention of trying to complete on time. I think I managed one or two puzzles before falling asleep on Monday night. Didn't have a hope of attempting to try properly this weekend. Other priorities for me I'm afraid.

[PuzzleScot]

I'd like to try out the puzzles, to see how I would have got on, but the password has been removed from the site.
Could someone email it to me if you have it please? Thanks.

[Nilz]

Congratulations James, great score (he says through gritted teeth).
To answer the question posed, I solved this Monday evening, after a hard weekend's puzzling, followed by a hard (kinda) day at work, so I was a bit mentally shattered. But I usually enjoy the Japanese puzzles, so I didn't want to miss this as I thought I'd do quite well. And I did enjoy it, and I didn't do too badly.
I'm not trying to make excuses, by the way, James did beat me fair and square- even if I hadn't been a bit puzzled out, I still wouldn't have gotten the sequences!

[dickoon]

Come to think of it: I've seen nothing to suggest it, but will the UK round of the WPF Puzzle Grand Prix double as the UK Puzzle Championship this year? I mention this reminded by mention of the UK Sudoku Championship, which was a WPF Sudoku GP round last year.

[PuzzleScot]

will the UK round of the WPF Puzzle Grand Prix double as the UK Puzzle Championship this year?

Short answer: No.
They are different durations for starters. Also, James McGowan has authored our GP round.

[dickoon]

Excellent news; double the fun! Thanks to everyone who has taken the time and effort to set the puzzles, and I look forward to reading more in the fullness of time.

[kiwijam]

I'd like to try out the puzzles, to see how I would have got on, but the password has been removed from the site.
Could someone email it to me if you have it please? Thanks.

The site now has a password-less pdf for your downloading pleasure. http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/compe ... uzzles-gp3

A nice collection of puzzles, except perhaps the Snake, which was small but needed a lot of guesses from me (but worth so much that it had to be tackled).
Nobody got all the answers right in 90 minutes, let alone the 60 minute target that WPF wanted.

I got the letters sequence immediately, and dropped a guess for the other sequence (although I used to know that sequence 15 years ago when I frequented the alt.rec.puzzles telnet...). I'm surprised more people didn't just enter a random number in the 20s for that one, spending 3 seconds for a potential 8 points can't hurt?

Mark: How about Kiwi Kong and Godnilza? (Godzussa?)

[detuned]

Neilzilla, surely

[kiwijam]

And the next Instruction Book is published.
http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/instruction-booklet-2

Round 4: Czech republic.
Puzzle authors: Jakub Hrazdira, Jiří Hrdina
Dates: April 25th - 28th

[sknight]

One note for those who (like me) have most of their Pyramid experience on Croco-Puzzle:
On this test, the shaded rows are the ones which MUST repeat and the white rows are the CAN'T repeat.
(Also, the example in the booklet has two solutions, I think...)

Definitely worth familiarizing yourself with the entry key rules on this test, also - a couple are unusual (though not especially difficult or lengthy).

Looks like an interesting set of puzzles.

[PuzzleScot]

The latest round of the puzzle GP has started.

Note the IB has been updated

[sf2l]

and so has Prasanna's puzzle contest on LMI "Parallel universe 2 - the revenge"
interesting set of classic vs. innovative variants

http://logicmastersindia.com/2014/04P2/

[dickoon]

will the UK round of the WPF Puzzle Grand Prix double as the UK Puzzle Championship this year?

Short answer: No.
They are different durations for starters. Also, James McGowan has authored our GP round.

Looking at the newsletter that has just come out, the UK Puzzle Championship appears to take place the same weekend as the UK round of the WPF Puzzle Grand Prix. I know it's a busy time right now, but am I misinterpreting the situation wildly? (Don't get me wrong, it would be great to have two UK puzzle contests on a super weekend, and thanks to all the constructors!)

[PuzzleScot]

the UK Puzzle Championship appears to take place the same weekend as the UK round of the WPF Puzzle Grand Prix.

It wasn't planned this way, but at least puzzlers will be focused on one country that weekend!

[kiwijam]

PS I can also announce that Adam Dewbery helped co-author some puzzles for the UK GP round.

[apollo1001]

It looks like the instruction booklet is now available for our round: http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/sites/default ... nd5_IB.pdf.

[PuzzleScot]

Hi folks.

On this busy puzzling weekend, don't forget about the UK round of the WPF's Puzzle GP!
http://gp.worldpuzzle.org/content/puzzle-gp

[PuzzleScot]

Urgh. Nice puzzles, but bad timing for me... I bombed badly!
#13 appears to have a 2nd valid answer, which affects the 13b key. Or is it, as usual, just me?

[kiwijam]

Urgh. Nice puzzles, but bad timing for me... I bombed badly!
#13 appears to have a 2nd valid answer, which affects the 13b key. Or is it, as usual, just me?

You are welcome to email me your alternative solution(s), and then I can tell you if it's just you or not?

[uvo]

I wasn't sure about the upper half, but for the lower half there is only one solution.

[PuzzleScot]

#13 appears to have a 2nd valid answer

Sorry - my mistake. I have a 2x2 shaded in the BR corner.

[dickoon]

The results are online! Congratulations to Neil for another world-class performance, and thanks to James and Adam for the puzzles.