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How hard is Evil?

 
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CT Yankee



Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Posts: 11
Location: New England

PostPosted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 5:39 pm    Post subject: How hard is Evil? Reply with quote

Hi. I was wondering if anyone could point me to some other online sources that have sudoku that are about as hard as the Very Hard puzzles here, or maybe even a bit harder. It’s difficult to compare from site to site when different sites have not only different skill levels but different names for their skill levels. I mean, how hard is Evil, and is that more or less easy than Fiendish? Finding stuff at just the right difficulty level is proving to be, well, difficult.

Don't get me wrong, I love this site - it's a superb resource and there’s some great stuff in the archives, which I’ve been working through - it's just that from browsing this forum I gather that the dailysudoku.com puzzles labeled Very Hard have only recently been upgraded to the kind of high difficulty level I now find I like best (i.e. requiring x-wing and similar advanced techniques). Basically I'm asking for recommendations, either of particular very hard sudoku puzzles you think I might enjoy, or of other places where I might find such puzzles. My favorites so far from this site have been the May 29 and July 8 puzzles. June 27 was also really good.

I’m completely self-taught at this. I learned sudoku from the puzzles in the local newspaper, using just pencil and eraser. It’s been a real eye-opener discovering that all the techniques I painstakingly worked out for myself have in fact all long since been cataloged, thoroughly documented, and given fancy names - although I suppose I should have expected that, given the puzzle’s popularity. Anyway I really like this site, the detailed explanations given in some of the forum posts are absolute models of clarity for this type of thing, better and more comprehensive even than a recent Scientific American article I read on the subject. It’s just that I find myself still, well, craving more... You understand that, don’t you? Wink

Thanx,
CT Yankee

BTW, is the the word “sudoku” also plural, or do you need to say “sudokus” when referring to more than one puzzle? I think just “sudoku” sounds much better, more Japanese - but then, the puzzle didn't really originate in Japan, did it?
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keith



Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 3355
Location: near Detroit, Michigan, USA

PostPosted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 7:21 pm    Post subject: Some Sites Reply with quote

CT,

Try the following:

In the "Other Puzzles" forum on this site you will find a series of David Bodycombe's Saturday Puzzles, for example:

http://www.dailysudoku.co.uk/sudoku/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1201

I like Michael Mepham's "Diabolical" puzzles, which are published on Friday and Sunday:

http://www.sudoku.org.uk/daily.asp

I also do the Fiendish puzzles at

http://www.fiendishsudoku.com/sudoku.html

I like the patterns and symmetries of the puzzles. It seems to me they are mostly very difficult puzzles that actually could be solved with only "basic" techniques like hidden sets, block-line interactions, etc. However, I find I often use XY-wings, Unique Rectangles, etc.

Take a look at the forums on sudoku.com:

http://www.sudoku.com/

particulary General/Puzzle and Advanced Solving Techniques.

Take some time with "General/Puzzle" and look at threads like "Effortless Extremes". If you understand what each thread is about, you will find many enjoyable puzzles.

Also, if nothing is too difficult for you to consider, you will find discussions of the hardest known sudokus.

There are a couple of other sites I am not yet familiar with. In particular, BrainBashers

http://www.brainbashers.com/sudoku.asp

gives the techniques required for each of their difficulty rankings.

If you want really difficult puzzles requiring multiple chains to solve, look at Ruud's SudoCue site, or the Australian Sudoku site. (Search on Google.)

I hope this helps.

Keith
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Marty R.



Joined: 12 Feb 2006
Posts: 5770
Location: Rochester, NY, USA

PostPosted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 7:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
how hard is Evil

Not very hard, depending on who's assigning the rating. For example, on www.websudoku.com , the hardest ones are rated "Evil", but I stopped doing them because I didn't feel they were challenging enough.

Keith mentioned Brain Bashers; I've been doing some of their "Super Hard", which are interesting, but not super hard.

Keith also mentioned the Australian site, which is www.sudoku.com/au , whose "Tough" puzzles I have found to be the, well, toughest on a day-in, day-out basis.
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David Bryant



Joined: 29 Jul 2005
Posts: 559
Location: Denver, Colorado

PostPosted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:27 pm    Post subject: Try Bumgardner's site Reply with quote

Hi, Hank! Or are you some other Connecticut Yankee? Smile

If you're interested in really difficult puzzles, you might try looking at the "super tough" variety on Jim Bumgardner's web site.

Have fun! dcb
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ravel



Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 536

PostPosted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:05 pm    Post subject: Re: Try Bumgardner's site Reply with quote

David Bryant wrote:
... "super tough" variety on Jim Bumgardner's web site.

I just tried the first and the last. Seem to be nice puzzles, that dont need chains (had xy-wing, xyz-wing, UR, BUG, turbot fish).
[Edit:]
As often, the difficulty is much varying. No 1 of book 50 is very hard compared to the other 2 ones, i needed 4 error nets.


Last edited by ravel on Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:36 pm; edited 1 time in total
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CT Yankee



Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Posts: 11
Location: New England

PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the replies and for all your recommendations. I will definitely be checking out some of those sites.

Quote:
Hi, Hank! Or are you some other Connecticut Yankee?


No, I'm not Hank. You mean there's somebody else already using the name CT Yankee specifically on Sudoku forums? Guess I'll have to come up with another name, then. I've been using CT Yankee for a while, but only on boards devoted to storm chasing (my other obsession, or one of them anyway). Ah well...
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David Bryant



Joined: 29 Jul 2005
Posts: 559
Location: Denver, Colorado

PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:03 pm    Post subject: It was a little joke ... Reply with quote

CT Yankee wrote:
No, I'm not Hank. You mean there's somebody else already using the name CT Yankee specifically on Sudoku forums? ...

No, I didn't mean that at all. I was making an obscure literary joke. :)

As you might surmise from the signature appended to this message, I'm interested in the works of Mark Twain. In fact, I bought his complete literary works (on the installment plan) when I was only 14 years old -- one of the first big purchases I ever made.

Anyway, one of his most famous books is entitled A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The chief protagonist in that story is named Hank Morgan. When I saw your nom-de-internet I immediately thought of the book; hence the little joke.

Please don't change your handle. It's a good one. dcb
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thomas32



Joined: 07 Nov 2022
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2022 7:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The fact that one of the most important questions has been raised is fantastic. For the purpose of stopping evil, I suggest that from an atheistic perspective, the problem of evil can be solved based on Occam's razor: by assuming that no God exists, it is possible to reconcile evil and suffering with the assumption that an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God exists. To raise awareness among people, I created an animation video about alight motion. This video is posted on a different forum. This is also something I recommend you do.
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thomas32



Joined: 07 Nov 2022
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thomas32 wrote:
The fact that one of the most important questions has been raised is fantastic. For the purpose of stopping evil, I suggest that from an atheistic perspective, the problem of evil can be solved based on Occam's razor: by assuming that no God exists, it is possible to reconcile evil and suffering with the assumption that an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God exists. To raise awareness among people, I created an animation video about alight motion. This video is posted on a different forum. This is also something I recommend you do.
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