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		| tlanglet 
 
 
 Joined: 17 Oct 2007
 Posts: 2468
 Location: Northern California Foothills
 
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				|  Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 6:42 pm    Post subject: Vanhegan Fiendish 9/5 |   |  
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				| Since we did not again have a VH locally today, I tried one at Vanhegan and found it very interesting and lengthy. Initially I noticed several choices for the identical deletions, and later I still used a variety of steps to solve the puzzle. In no order, I used :x-wings, xy-wings,two swordfish, kites, skyscrapper, UR, and BUG+2. Overall it had a lot of VH moves.
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | *-----------*
 |...|.7.|21.|
 |1..|5..|8..|
 |...|.1.|..6|
 |---+---+---|
 |..3|1..|68.|
 |86.|...|.79|
 |.27|..4|5..|
 |---+---+---|
 |3..|.5.|...|
 |..6|..9|..5|
 |.14|.6.|...|
 *-----------*
 
 
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 Hope it enjoy it also.
 
 Ted
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		| storm_norm 
 
 
 Joined: 18 Oct 2007
 Posts: 1741
 
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:33 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Code: |  	  | .------------------.------------------.------------------. | 6     489   5    | 489   7     38   | 2     1     34   |
 | 1     3     29   | 5     24    6    | 8     49    7    |
 | 27    4789  289  | 2489  1     238  | 39    5     6    |
 :------------------+------------------+------------------:
 | 4     5     3    | 1     9     7    | 6     8     2    |
 | 8     6     1    | 23    23    5    | 4     7     9    |
 | 9     2     7    | 6     8     4    | 5     3     1    |
 :------------------+------------------+------------------:
 | 3     89    289  | 248   5     1    | 7     6     48   |
 | 27    78    6    | 2348  234   9    | 1     24    5    |
 | 5     1     4    | 7     6     28   | 39    29    38   |
 '------------------'------------------'------------------'
 | 
 two step solution:
 
 (8=3)r1c6-(3)r3c6=(3)r3c7-(3)r9c7=(3-8)r9c9=(8)r7c9-(8)r7c3=(8)r3c3; r3c4|r3c6 <> 8
 
 after those 8's are gone, then the subsequent pointing pair eliminates the 8 in r1c2, just so no one is confused about this next move showing only a bivalue cell in r1c2.
 
 (4=9)r1c2-(8=9)r7c2-(8=4)r7c9; r1c9 <> 4...
 this is also the fancy way of writing out the xy-wing on {4,8,9}
 
 done.
 
 Last edited by storm_norm on Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:52 pm; edited 2 times in total
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:58 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| I plodded and hacked away at this one because I am xy-wing challenged. 
 x-wing on 4
 x-wing on 3
 Tpe 4 UR on 23
 ER on 2
 Colouring on 2
 Finned x-wing on 8
 
 ...then enfin an xy-wing for 238.
 
 Good One !
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		| ravel 
 
 
 Joined: 21 Apr 2006
 Posts: 536
 
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 1:22 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Nice puzzle again. 
 As cgordon says, a swordfish is not needed, e.g. kites and finned x-wing also do it (with x-wing and xy-wings).
 
 Norms first chain can be viewed as M-wing 38 in r1c6/r9c9 (connected by the strong links for 3 in row 1 and column 9) with strong link for 8 in row 9 to r7c9, transported to r3c3 via the strong link in column 3.
 
 A one-step solution is a finned M-wing 24 in r7c4/r8c8:
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | .------------------.------------------.------------------. | 6     489   5    | 489   7     38   | 2     1     34   |
 | 1     3     29   | 5     24    6    | 8     49    7    |
 | 27    4789  289  | 2489  1     238  | 39    5     6    |
 :------------------+------------------+------------------:
 | 4     5     3    | 1     9     7    | 6     8     2    |
 | 8     6     1    | 23    23    5    | 4     7     9    |
 | 9     2     7    | 6     8     4    | 5     3     1    |
 :------------------+------------------+------------------:
 | 3     89   @289  |#24+8  5     1    | 7     6    *48   |
 |-27    78    6    | 2348  234   9    | 1    #24    5    |
 | 5     1     4    | 7     6     28   | 39    29    38   |
 '------------------'------------------'------------------'
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 The fin is the 8 in r7c4.
 Without the fin the 2 strong links for 4 in row 7/box 9 connect the pairs (both must be 2 or both 4). With the strong link for 2 in row 7 one of r7c3 and r8c8 must be 2.
 If the fin is true, r7c4=8 implies r7c9=4 and r8c8=2 also.
 So r8c1 cannot be 2.
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		| daj95376 
 
 
 Joined: 23 Aug 2008
 Posts: 3854
 
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:40 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| 2x Locked Candidate 1, Locked Candidate 2, X-Wing (4), Swordfish (2), XY-Wing |  | 
	
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		| arkietech 
 
 
 Joined: 31 Jul 2008
 Posts: 1834
 Location: Northwest Arkansas USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:56 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | ravel wrote: |  	  | A one-step solution is a finned M-wing 24 in r7c4/r8c8: 
  	  | Code: |  	  | .------------------.------------------.------------------. | 6     489   5    | 489   7     38   | 2     1     34   |
 | 1     3     29   | 5     24    6    | 8     49    7    |
 | 27    4789  289  | 2489  1     238  | 39    5     6    |
 :------------------+------------------+------------------:
 | 4     5     3    | 1     9     7    | 6     8     2    |
 | 8     6     1    | 23    23    5    | 4     7     9    |
 | 9     2     7    | 6     8     4    | 5     3     1    |
 :------------------+------------------+------------------:
 | 3     89   @289  |#24+8  5     1    | 7     6    *48   |
 |-27    78    6    | 2348  234   9    | 1    #24    5    |
 | 5     1     4    | 7     6     28   | 39    29    38   |
 '------------------'------------------'------------------'
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 The fin is the 8 in r7c4.
 
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 Bird or shark? a finned extended wing. What fun!
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		| tlanglet 
 
 
 Joined: 17 Oct 2007
 Posts: 2468
 Location: Northern California Foothills
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:20 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| As I indicated in my original post, I enjoyed this puzzle because of the number and variety of VH techniques possible/necessary for me to complete it. 
 I can now say that I am also envious of the elegance of some of the further advanced techniques presented that solve the puzzle in fewer moves. I also greatly appreciate the detailed explanations of these more complex solutions as an aid for learning them myself. Thanks to all .......
 
 Ted
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		| Johan 
 
 
 Joined: 25 Jun 2007
 Posts: 206
 Location: Bornem  Belgium
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:26 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Another one step  is the 23 UR* in R58C45, for avoiding the 23 DP either/or both R8C45=4, R8C4=8, which eliminates both <2>'s in R8C45 and <2> in R9C8. 
 R8C45=4 => R8C8=2(a)
 
 R8C4=8  => R9C6=2(b)
 
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | +------------------------+------------------------+------------------------+ | 6        489      5    | 489       7       38   | 2         1        34  |
 | 1        3        29   | 5         24      6    | 8         49       7   |
 | 27       4789     289  | 2489      1       238  | 39        5        6   |
 +------------------------+------------------------+------------------------+
 | 4        5        3    | 1         9       7    | 6         8        2   |
 | 8        6        1    |*23       *23      5    | 4         7        9   |
 | 9        2        7    | 6         8       4    | 5         3        1   |
 +------------------------+------------------------+------------------------+
 | 3        89       289  | 248       5       1    | 7         6        48  |
 | 27       78       6    |*23+48    *23+4    9    | 1      a =24       5   |
 | 5        1        4    | 7         6    b =28   | 39        29       38  |
 +------------------------+------------------------+------------------------+
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 12:28 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Quote: |  	  | Another one step is the 23 UR* in R58C45, | 
 
 I mentioned that above damnit
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		| Asellus 
 
 
 Joined: 05 Jun 2007
 Posts: 865
 Location: Sonoma County, CA, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:31 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Hmmm... just looking over this thread and have some comments: 
 ravel's "finned" M-Wing is really just an "M-Wing".  The non-pincer bivalue cell of an M-Wing (as discussed a few times before) does not actually need to be a bivalue cell because it serves a weak link function.  Even if that 248 cell were 124689 (not likely, of course), the M-Wing elimination of the <2> would work the same and there is no need to think of it as having a 1689 fin!  In Eureka:
 (2=4)r8c8 - (4)r7c9=(4-2)r7c4=(2)r7c3
 The bit in red shows that the 24 link in r7c4 is weak and so any other digits may share the cell.  Of course, this is harder to spot because you don't see the matching pair of bivalue cells.  (Someone ... nataraj? ... came up with another name for these things that I've forgotten since one name is all I prefer to remember.)  Maybe if one looks for "fin" digits in the otherwise bivalue cell that is not the pincer while remembering that it's not really a fin, that can help spot the things.
 
 (Okay... that last sentence definitely sounds funny!  But, it's a serious idea.)
 
 Johan did a nice job of exploiting the grouped strong link
 (4)r8c45=(8)r8c4
 induced by the 23 UR.  In this case, as in a couple of others recently, this strong link functions as a 48 bivalue "pseudo-cell" to complete the 248 XY-Wing for the <2> elimination.  It's a good demonstration of the power of thinking about those induced strong links rather than just following the "Type #" approach.
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		| ravel 
 
 
 Joined: 21 Apr 2006
 Posts: 536
 
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:49 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				| You are very right, its not the same as for almost w-wings, where i had to look at the fins also. 	  | Asellus wrote: |  	  | ravel's "finned" M-Wing is really just an "M-Wing". | 
 
 So this time i also missed Johan's nice DP solution, because i thought, i could not do more than the type 4 eliminations.
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		| daj95376 
 
 
 Joined: 23 Aug 2008
 Posts: 3854
 
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 8:44 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Asellus wrote: |  	  | Johan did a nice job of exploiting the grouped strong link (4)r8c45=(8)r8c4
 induced by the 23 UR.  In this case, as in a couple of others recently, this strong link functions as a 48 bivalue "pseudo-cell" to complete the 248 XY-Wing for the <2> elimination.  It's a good demonstration of the power of thinking about those induced strong links rather than just following the "Type #" approach.
 | 
 I think it's time to give this puppy a name instead of describing it repeatedly. How about UR-Wing? Not only for the XY-Wing variant, but in case a more complex variant occurs sometime.
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		| Asellus 
 
 
 Joined: 05 Jun 2007
 Posts: 865
 Location: Sonoma County, CA, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 9:33 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | daj95376 wrote: |  	  | I think it's time to give this puppy a name instead of describing it repeatedly. How about UR-Wing? Not only for the XY-Wing variant, but in case a more complex variant occurs sometime. | 
 Actually, I'm sort of surprised that 3 or 4 of these "UR XY-Wings" have come up in quick succession lately since I hadn't thought them very common.  Perhaps if we name them, we'll stop finding them!
 
 Regardless of a name, the essential idea is of a UR-induced strong inference between two different digits (grouped or not) that substitutes for a bivalue cell in some sort of wing.  However there's a caveat:  this is a strong only link and so cannot replace a bivalue cell that is serving a weak inference role.  The only such case I can think of in commonly named wings discussed on this board is the one mentioned above: the non-pincer bivalue cell of an M-Wing.  A UR induced link cannot be used in place of that particular bivalue cell.
 
 In my experience, UR-induced strong links usually require AIC chains that are not so directly analogous to standard wings.  So, I'm not sure how generally useful such a name would be.  However, the concept is quite useful for those comfortable with AICs more generally.
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		| keith 
 
 
 Joined: 19 Sep 2005
 Posts: 3355
 Location: near Detroit, Michigan, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:04 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| My own opinion, for what it's worth, is that the extra digits on the UR are a "pseudo-cell" that can often replace a regular cell in the logic of a number of named patterns. 
 Consider the following chain: <12>-<23>-<34>-<14>.  Any cell that sees both ends cannot be <1>.  We can, for example, regard the center cells as a pseudo-cell <24>, and we have, in my bad terminology, an "extended" XY-wing, <12>-<24>-<14>.
 
 I have found this idea quite useful in looking for short chains.  Pseudo-cells are everywhere, not just on a side of a UR.
 
 Keith
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