I'd really like to know how you can solve this one in just 5 minutes...
Posted 12th Jul 2022 at 19:30
kosegi Daily subscriber Has started but not yet finished this puzzle
I wouldn't necessarily trust times from "Anonymous" accounts. I could easily be someone logging in from multiple browsers/IPs, using Show Solution and then typing the solution in.
5 minutes for a Toroidal of this difficulty stretches credulity.
Posted 13th Jul 2022 at 07:43
Elisabeth Daily subscriber Rated puzzle: EasyCompletion time: 31:07
And I can't imagine being able to solve this puzzle in under 10 minutes!!!
Posted 13th Jul 2022 at 13:50
gareth Administrator Daily subscriber Has not played this puzzle yet
There's no particular reason why anonymous results are less trustworthy than any other result - it's easy to cheat if you want, by creating two accounts, and since you can choose any username you like it really doesn't matter whether it's public or not. I thought cheating was going to be a big problem, when I first wrote the puzzlemix code in 2005, but it hasn't actually been an issue at all. There is no prize, and you need to be pretty smart to solve many of the puzzles in the first place, so this may be why.
The anonymous user in this case has been using the site for years and played a vast number of puzzles, so I am sure this is a genuine result.
Posted 13th Jul 2022 at 13:55 Last edited by gareth 13th Jul 2022 at 13:55
gareth Administrator Daily subscriber Has not played this puzzle yet
And bear in mind that if enough people solve a puzzle someone is bound to solve it quickly by the luck of making a fortuitous mistake. Obviously we all make errors when solving, by not considering a particular number for a square. If there was only one candidate missed then you have a 50% chance the one you put in by accident is actually correct, and if that happens in a critical square then it could hugely speed the solve of the puzzle. Plus don't forget that some users may also deliberately guess on a tough puzzle, rather than sit and think about what to do - this can be a very effective way of solving at speed, especially since on puzzlemix it's really easy to hold down 'z' and undo back to whatever an incorrect guess was.
Of course I have no idea if the anonymous user made a mistake or guessed, but my point is that there will often be at least a couple of users with fast solves that involve at least a bit of luck. With almost 300 plays of this puzzle so far, it's not unlikely that at least one user will be in this situation.
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A yellow/light blue highlight in the time distribution charts highlights your time, where relevant.
Rating scores out of 10.0 show the average difficulty rating chosen by users, where 1.0 is "Easy" and 10.0 is "Hard".
If a puzzle is opened more than once, including by loading from a saved position, then this is potentially a significant aid so it is listed as being completed with 'multiple sessions' for the purpose of the best time/average rating displays above.
Minor aid is defined as no more than one use of 'Check solution' when incomplete and/or no more than one use of 'Check solution' when wrong; and/or using highlighting aids (show repeated digits, show broken inequalities and show valid/invalid placements [slitherlink] only). Major aid is any and all other use of the solving aids except for 'show wrong'.
5 minutes for a Toroidal of this difficulty stretches credulity.
The anonymous user in this case has been using the site for years and played a vast number of puzzles, so I am sure this is a genuine result.
Last edited by gareth 13th Jul 2022 at 13:55
Of course I have no idea if the anonymous user made a mistake or guessed, but my point is that there will often be at least a couple of users with fast solves that involve at least a bit of luck. With almost 300 plays of this puzzle so far, it's not unlikely that at least one user will be in this situation.
You can however view other players' statistics and comments in the tables above.