The deadline for
voting in Logicsmith Exhibition 5 is past, and I have received 24 votes. Using my amazing ability to count, I have determined the winner of the contest! In this post, I will not only reveal that winner, but I will do something I have only really done once before in a Logicsmith Exhibition: I will be unafraid to give my honest opinion!
Disclaimer: In the past, I have divulged that I like Justin Bieber's "Baby" unironically. I have also watched an episode of the overtly Christian-themed "BibleMan", and somehow find myself liking its cheesiness both ironically and unironically. Clearly, my opinions on logic puzzles should be taken with more than a grain of salt – particularly seeing as the contest is more about reader opinion than my own.
WARNING: There are 40 images in this post!
Puzzle 01: mellowmelon
mathgrant's comments: Appealing aesthetic. Solve was cute, but not overly so. The implied 4-omino in the upper left was nice, and the rest of the puzzle solved smoothly.
Puzzle 02: Bram de Laat
mathgrant's comments: Difficult, but not on the terribly tedious side of difficult, despite the fact that I kept messing up during verification. Author said the arrangement of the givens was inspired by my
puzzle 10. Good use of implied polyominoes.
Puzzle 03: sc979
mathgrant's comments: This was the last entry received. Props for a 13(!)-omino, but the difficulty was far too extreme for my pedestrian tastes.
Puzzle 04: Valezius
mathgrant's comments: Holy crap, this one was rough. In fact, solving it reminded me of the Fillomino puzzles on PuzzlePicnic in terms of difficulty. I was therefore not surprised to learn that Valezius is an "experienced puzzler" on the site, a title that comes with having solved a sufficient number of puzzles. (In approximately 8 months of membership, Valezius has solved 1418 puzzles; in approximately 35 months of membership, I've solved a mere 429.)
Puzzle 05: motris
mathgrant's comments: The first entry received (motris would also be the first to vote). Had some difficult and clever parts, showing much of motris's trademark style. Counting is helpful in the end, but not dreadfully necessary. A mite too symmetrical with the 5's and 6's, and no implied polyominoes of which to speak, but nonetheless elegant enough that I'd expect this puzzle to appear if motris wrote a Polyominous book.
Puzzle 06: mathgrant
mathgrant's comments: It would not be fit for me to print my comments on this puzzle here.
Puzzle 07: Shvegait
mathgrant's comments: The author gets mad, mad technical props for working an implied 10-omino(!) into a design while fulfilling all of the contest restrictions, and kudos for the four-way rotational symmetry, but as usual for Fillomino puzzles constructed by PuzzlePicnic users, the difficulty was too far on the tedious end for my tastes.
Puzzle 08: detuned
mathgrant's comments: Yikes, what a saga. He posted his first construction on his blog in an effort to inspire other constructors to enter, but that puzzle had multiple solutions. The puzzle he actually sent me also had this error, as did his tweaked version, forcing him to begin anew. I found myself asking, "Will he manage to finish a construction eventually?" And he did! Puzzle's a little harder than I'm used to, but not overly so; compared to PuzzlePicnic, I found it smooth, elegant, and fun.
Puzzle 09: Stumbler's Rider
mathgrant's comments: TOO. MUCH. COUNTING. TOO. MUCH. TRIAL AND ERROR. TOO. MUCH. TEDIUM. TOO. MUCH. PUZZLEPICNIC. You know a puzzle has left a bad impression when I type in all caps.
Puzzle 10: Anderson Wang
mathgrant's comments: The upper-right 7 and the 8's were moderately tricky, but for the most part, a smooth solve that left me with a smile.
Puzzle 11: Paul Redman
mathgrant's comments: The puzzle came off as mostly droll to me, with the implied 6-omino being the greatest saving grace. Aside from that, the lack of use of the "no same-sized polyominoes can touch" rule was disappointing.
Puzzle 12: groza528
mathgrant's comments: The lack of implied polyominoes disappointed me, but the author gets mad technical credit for making opposite givens sum to 10.
Puzzle 13: chaotik_iak
mathgrant's comments: Approximately the first 40% was easy, but then the difficulty increased somewhat jarringly. Upper-left corner took some thought to get done correctly, and the upper-right even more so, especially the 2-, 6-, and 8-omino.
Puzzle 14: anurag.sahay
mathgrant's comments: Yuck, counting. Without it, it's near impossible to make real progress on this puzzle. With it, it's still difficult. Can you guess what puzzle website anurag.sahay frequents?
Puzzle 15: /dev/joe
mathgrant's comments: Obviously designed as a response to my clarification that symmetrically opposite givens need not be the same. Difficulty level forces me to classify it as an Evil Zinger. Probably the cutest possible puzzle that could be designed with the restrictions, and far less tedious but ultimately it feels like I'm solving only half a puzzle twice as opposed to one whole puzzle. I nonetheless enjoyed this puzzle more than some of the PuzzlePicnic creations. >.>
Puzzle 16: Rezyk
mathgrant's comments: I was dreading this puzzle; aside from R2C1-2 and R9C9-10, the givens are completely symmetrical. To my delightful surprise, though, the puzzle didn't solve symmetrically at all. Counting, as much as I try to avoid it when more than maybe 20 or so cells are involved, makes the puzzle doable more doable than some of the others that required mass counting. Fairly elegant.
Puzzle 17: Robert Vollmert
mathgrant's comments: Proving that great minds do indeed think alike, Robert Vollmert submitted this puzzle with the givens arranged in the same pattern as in motris's puzzle! The break-in (R6-7C3-5) was a little bit tricky to see, but otherwise fairly plain (in a good way, mostly).
Puzzle 18: ours-brun
mathgrant's comments: The sudden shift in difficulty between the first half and the second half of the solve was a little jarring; somehow, though, I can't bring myself to loathe it. I do admit that I'm a bit impressed by the use of the empty space in the middle; maybe that's why.
Puzzle 19: Paul Krueger
mathgrant's comments: The left half was mostly simple, but the right half required counting. To be fair, though, it wasn't as nightmarish as some of the PuzzlePicnic crap, nor was it as nightmarish as a certain other being surnamed Krueger.
Puzzle 20: Tristan Miller
mathgrant's comments: Very pretty, but the ending required too much trial and error for my tastes.
Before I reveal the winner, how about a selection of comments from the voters?
MellowMelon:
I'm guessing there a lot of PuzzlePicnic people submitting for this one? Most of the solves felt rather unclean in a way that reminded me of that site. Also, I swear I will never again make a puzzle where an early step is to count up all the clues, unless the presentation makes it pretty motivated and easy to add up (e.g. the Zoo's NC Fillomino Adult, or my recent 36 puzzle). I am sick of it after doing all of these.
Guess that was awfully negative; seems all the gushing in the comments raised my expectations. Most all were much better than average for sure. Personally I hope people notice the symmetry in 16 and that it wins, although I wouldn't be bothered if I miraculously overtake it. It appears some people spent more time making these than my ~15 minutes...
Really? Very articulate, MellowMelon. I like how articulate you are. I like knowing I'm not alone in my weird opinions, especially when the other person who shares my opinion is articulate. I'm honored to have you as a colleague in the puzzle community.
If I had to guess 10 is yours. Whoops, never mind. Thanks for being confident enough in your ability to win that you sent me your mailing address with the puzzle; it'll make
hiring a hitman sending you a completely harmless cake of friendship easier.
Paul Krueger:
Just in case it provides you a gigantic ego boost, I'll mention that my clear favorite was 06 - after that, I had a 6-way tie for second (which I broke based on aesthetics). Knowing that my puzzles was somebody's favorite makes me want to cry. . . and then, when I'm done crying, sell my mucus-stained tissues in an online auction where people will pay a thousand dollars for it because I'm so famous and likable that anyone would do anything to have something that I've touched. Thank you, Paul Krueger! :)
sc979:
a little something interesting about my solving experience. I mainly did them in random order and it just so happened that the last puzzle I finished was the only other puzzle that had a double-digit polyomino. Until that point, I was thinking to myself “Am I really the only one to do this? If my puzzle is unique in that aspect, I’ll surely attract lots of votes!” Well, you both got more votes than I did, if that means anything! :)
David Scherzinger:
I loved all but 2 of them, but my starting lineup of choice ended up being:
Charmeleon
Wartortle
Pidgeotto
Raticate
This comment makes me wish I'd gotten at least 38 entries; it would have been beautiful to get a vote for "Ninetales". . . .
And the results?
Anderson Wang : -- 02 03 -- 05 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- 20
anurag.sahay : -- -- 03 04 -- -- -- -- 09 -- -- 12 -- 14 -- -- -- -- -- --
Bram de Laat : -- 02 -- -- -- -- 07 -- -- -- -- 12 -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- 20
David Scherzinger: -- -- -- -- 05 -- -- 08 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- 20
detuned : 01 -- 03 -- -- 06 -- 08 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- --
/dev/joe : -- 02 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 12 -- -- 15 16 -- -- -- 20
groza528 : -- -- -- 04 05 -- -- 08 -- -- -- 12 -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- --
Jack Bross : -- -- 03 -- -- -- 07 08 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- --
Matt Lahut : -- 02 -- -- -- -- -- -- 09 -- -- -- -- 14 -- -- -- -- -- 20
Matthew Zinno : -- -- 03 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
MellowMelon : 01 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10 -- -- -- -- -- 16 17 -- -- 20
motris : 01 02 -- -- 05 -- 07 -- 09 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ours-brun : -- -- -- -- -- -- 07 -- 09 -- -- 12 -- 14 -- -- 17 -- -- --
Paul Krueger : 01 -- -- -- 05 06 -- -- -- -- -- -- 13 -- -- -- -- 18 -- --
Paul Redman : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10 11 -- 13 -- -- -- 17 18 -- --
Rezyk : -- 02 -- -- -- -- 07 -- 09 -- -- -- -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- 20
Robert Vollmert : 01 02 03 04 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- --
Sam Ettinger : 01 -- -- -- 05 -- -- 08 -- -- 11 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
sc979 : -- 02 03 04 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- 20
Shvegait : 01 02 03 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- 20
Stumbler's Rider : -- -- 03 -- -- -- -- -- 09 10 -- -- -- -- -- 16 17 -- -- --
Troy Schnabel : -- -- 03 -- -- -- -- -- -- 10 -- 12 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Tristan Miller : -- -- -- -- 05 -- -- -- 09 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 18 -- 20
Valezius : -- 02 -- 04 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 18 -- 20
TOTAL : 7 10 10 5 7 2 5 5 7 4 2 6 2 3 1 7 12 4 0 11
The clear winner is Robert Vollmert! Congratulations and stuff!
