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		| storm_norm 
 
 
 Joined: 18 Oct 2007
 Posts: 1741
 
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 7:13 am    Post subject: competition AUG 22 |   |  
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				|  	  | Code: |  	  | . . 9|6 . 3|. . . 2 . .|1 . 4|6 . .
 . 3 .|. 2 .|. . .
 -----+-----+-----
 . 1 2|. . .|7 . .
 6 . .|7 . 8|. . 5
 . . 8|. . .|9 6 .
 -----+-----+-----
 . . .|. 7 .|. 5 .
 . . 1|8 . 2|. . 7
 . . .|4 . 6|3 . .
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  	  | Code: |  	  | .------------------.------------------.------------------. | 147   47    9    | 6     8     3    | 5     1247  124  |
 | 2     578   57   | 1     9     4    | 6     378   38   |
 | 148   3     6    | 5     2     7    | 18    148   9    |
 :------------------+------------------+------------------:
 | 345   1     2    | 39    6     59   | 7     348   348  |
 | 6     9     34   | 7     134   8    | 12    1234  5    |
 | 3457  457   8    | 2     134   15   | 9     6     134  |
 :------------------+------------------+------------------:
 | 348   248   34   | 39    7     19   | 128   5     6    |
 | 35    6     1    | 8     35    2    | 4     9     7    |
 | 9     2578  57   | 4     15    6    | 3     128   128  |
 '------------------'------------------'------------------'
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 last week's competition puzzles were dissapointing, but this one makes up for it.  if you don't like xy-chains, this will prove worthy.
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		| daj95376 
 
 
 Joined: 23 Aug 2008
 Posts: 3854
 
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 4:20 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| I guess this is another example of a useful useless technique. 
 In rows 4,8 is a Skyscraper in <5> that does not produce eliminations. However, the end cells each see a <15> cell, and the resulting eliminations in <1> crack the puzzle.
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		| ravel 
 
 
 Joined: 21 Apr 2006
 Posts: 536
 
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:50 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Nice catch, Danny. 
 Welcome in my nursing home
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		| Asellus 
 
 
 Joined: 05 Jun 2007
 Posts: 865
 Location: Sonoma County, CA, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:54 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| It could be called a 15 W-Wing where the external strong link is provided by the Skyscraper. |  | 
	
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		| storm_norm 
 
 
 Joined: 18 Oct 2007
 Posts: 1741
 
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:36 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Ravel, 
 are you ending your posting career on this site at 999 posts??
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		| tlanglet 
 
 
 Joined: 17 Oct 2007
 Posts: 2468
 Location: Northern California Foothills
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 2:28 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| My brute force approach involved a: 
 x-wing on <9>,
 skyscraper on <3>,
 finned x-wing on<4>,
 x-wing on <8>,
 Type 4 UR on <57>,
 skyscraper on <4>, and finally
 a xy-wing on <345>!
 
 It is hard to believe that all those moves directly contributed to the solution.
 
 Ted
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		| nataraj 
 
 
 Joined: 03 Aug 2007
 Posts: 1048
 Location: near Vienna, Austria
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 3:22 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| There is a UR 57 in r29c23 with strong links. 
 The strong link on 5 in r2 removes 7 from r9c2, the strong link (7) in r9 removes 5 from r2c2.
 
 With the 5 gone from r2c2, there is now a strong link on 5 in col 2 and the w-wing (1) r6c6=r9c5.
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 9:46 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Quote: |  	  | There is a UR 57 in r29c23 with strong links. | 
 
 I found the skyscraper, an ER on <8> and the x-wing.  But for the life of me I can't see the UR on 57 because I have more than two 5's and two 7's in C2. (i.e. there ain't no strong link).
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		| tlanglet 
 
 
 Joined: 17 Oct 2007
 Posts: 2468
 Location: Northern California Foothills
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:43 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | cgordon wrote: |  	  |  	  | Quote: |  	  | There is a UR 57 in r29c23 with strong links. | 
 
 I found the skyscraper, an ER on <8> and the x-wing.  But for the life of me I can't see the UR on 57 because I have more than two 5's and two 7's in C2. (i.e. there ain't no strong link).
  | 
 
 Craig, I did not have any strong links in col2, but row2 has a strong link on <5> which allows the deletion of <7> in r9c2. Also, a strong link on <7> in row9 deletes <5> from r2c2.
 
 Ted
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:20 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Ted: This is an interesting revelation for me. My understanding of Type 4 UR's had been that the strong link had to be on the multi-numbered cells which were NOT the pairs - eg in this case the 578's. Cheers,  Craig
 
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | .578 57| . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | .578 57| . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 
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		| nataraj 
 
 
 Joined: 03 Aug 2007
 Posts: 1048
 Location: near Vienna, Austria
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:42 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | cgordon wrote: |  	  | Ted: This is an interesting revelation for me. My understanding of Type 4 UR's had been that the strong link had to be on the multi-numbered cells which were NOT the pairs - eg in this case the 578's. Cheers,  Craig
 
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | .578 57| . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | .578 57| . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 
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 Craig, you are right about the type 4. This is not a type 4 and I have not yet found a suitable and universally accepted name for these babies. I ended up calling it "UR with strong link", see this thread
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		| tlanglet 
 
 
 Joined: 17 Oct 2007
 Posts: 2468
 Location: Northern California Foothills
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:48 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | cgordon wrote: |  	  | Ted: This is an interesting revelation for me. My understanding of Type 4 UR's had been that the strong link had to be on the multi-numbered cells which were NOT the pairs - eg in this case the 578's. Cheers,  Craig
 
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | .578 57| . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | .578 57| . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 
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 Craig, I believe the code above is a Type 2 UR; any other <8s> in col2 may be removed.
 
 After I sent my previous response to you, I noticed the prior comments by Nataraj; he had already noted the two possible deletions.
 
 Ted
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		| nataraj 
 
 
 Joined: 03 Aug 2007
 Posts: 1048
 Location: near Vienna, Austria
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:21 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | nataraj wrote: |  	  | you are right about the type 4. | 
 
 I should have added: insofar as there must be a strong link between the two multi-valued cells. The pattern is slightly different from yours, as Ted has pointed out:
 
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | type 4:
 +----- no other 7 in col 2 => remove 5 from both r29c2
 v
 +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | .579 57| . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | . . .  | . . . | . . . |
 | .578 57| . . . | . . . |
 +--------+-------+-------+
 
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:47 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| I'm familiar with the Type 4 as shown in Nataraj's example above - and the Type 2's as shown in Ted's example which removes any other 8's from C2 (though at my stage I had no others).  However, this is the first time I've seen the animal which has no name. Still not sure I follow it.  Is there a "rote" rule or procedure? I've mentioned before that I believe the diagonal variant of Type 4's should be a Type 6. Maybe this should be a Type 7.
 
 Cheers
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		| daj95376 
 
 
 Joined: 23 Aug 2008
 Posts: 3854
 
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 5:08 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| I assume the (57) UR discussions are based on this PM: 
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | +-----------------------------------------------------+ |  147  47   9    |  6    8    3    |  5    27   12   |
 |  2    578  57   |  1    9    4    |  6    378  38   |
 |  18   3    6    |  5    2    7    |  18   4    9    |
 |-----------------+-----------------+-----------------|
 |  45   1    2    |  39   6    59   |  7    38   348  |
 |  6    9    3    |  7    4    8    |  2    1    5    |
 |  457  457  8    |  2    13   15   |  9    6    34   |
 |-----------------+-----------------+-----------------|
 |  38   2    4    |  39   7    19   |  18   5    6    |
 |  35   6    1    |  8    35   2    |  4    9    7    |
 |  9    578  57   |  4    15   6    |  3    28   12   |
 +-----------------------------------------------------+
 
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  	  | Code: |  	  | [r9c3]=5 [r2c3]=7 [r2c2]=5 (UR) [r9c2]=8 [r9c8]=2 [r9c9]=1 [r9c5]=5  =>  [r9c3]<>5 
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 However, it still doesn't advance the puzzle like ...
 
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | [XY-Chain]: -5r4c6  9r4c6  1r7c6  8r7c7  3r7c1  5r8c1  =>  [r4c1]<>5 
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		| ravel 
 
 
 Joined: 21 Apr 2006
 Posts: 536
 
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:10 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Some more UR eliminations in this grid: 
  	  | Code: |  	  | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | #147 #47   9    |  6    8    3    |  5    27   12   |
 |  2   @578 @57   |  1    9    4    |  6   *378 *38   |
 |  18   3    6    |  5    2    7    |  18   4    9    |
 |-----------------+-----------------+-----------------|
 |  45   1    2    |  39   6    59   |  7   *38  *348  |
 |  6    9    3    |  7    4    8    |  2    1    5    |
 | #457 #457  8    |  2    13   15   |  9    6    34   |
 |-----------------+-----------------+-----------------|
 |  38   2    4    |  39   7    19   |  18   5    6    |
 |  35   6    1    |  8    35   2    |  4    9    7    |
 |  9   @578 @57   |  4    15   6    |  3    28   12   |
 +-----------------------------------------------------+
 | 
 As nataraj said, from the UR 57 you can follow r2c2<>5 and r9c2<>7.
 Both lead to a deadly pattern 5-7-5-7
 r2c2=5 => r2c3=7 => r9c3=5 => (strong link for 7) r9c2=7
 r9c2=7 => r9c3=5 => r2c3=7 => (strong link for 5) r2c2=5
 
 UR 38 in r24c89, strong links for 3 in r2 and 8 in r4 (or c9): r2c8<>8, r4c9<>3.
 r2c8=8 => r4c8=3 => (strong link for 8) r4c9=8 => r2c9=3
 r4c9=3 => r2c9=8 => (strong link for 3) r2c8=3 => r4c8=8
 
 UR 47 in r16c12, strong links for 7 in c1 and r6 and for 4 in r1 and c2: r1c2<>7, r1c1<>4, r6c12<>4
 r1c2=7 => (strong links for 4) r1c1=4 and r6c2=4 => r6c1=7
 r1c1=4 => (strong link for 7) r6c1=7 and r1c2=7 => (strong link for 4) r6c2=4
 r6c1=4 => (strong links for 7) r1c1=7 and r6c2=7 => r1c2=4
 r6c2=4 => r1c2=7 => (strong link for 4) r1c1=4 => (strong link for 7) r6c1=7
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:13 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Quote: |  	  | Both lead to a deadly pattern 5-7-5-7 r2c2=5 => r2c3=7 => r9c3=5 => (strong link for 7) r9c2=7
 r9c2=7 => r9c3=5 => r2c3=7 => (strong link for 5) r2c2=5
 
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 'ang about !!
 Notwithstanding the 2nd line is simply the reverse of the 1st.   Why can't r9c2 be an <8>. In fact it has to be an <8> since there are no others left in c2.
   
 Also solution suggest two strong links are needed fot this process (unlike Type 4s).
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		| daj95376 
 
 
 Joined: 23 Aug 2008
 Posts: 3854
 
 
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				|  Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:57 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | ravel wrote: |  	  | Some more UR eliminations in this grid: 
 As nataraj said, from the UR 57 you can follow r2c2<>5 and r9c2<>7.
 
 UR 38 in r24c89, strong links for 3 in r2 and 8 in r4 (or c9): r2c8<>8 ...
 
 UR 47 in r16c12, strong links for 7 in c1 and r6 and for 4 in r1 and c2: ...
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 I found the (57) UR and the (38_) UR, but they didn't contribute much to solving the puzzle, so I ignored them. I even found the (47) UR, but missed its eliminations
  . I'm glad to see that you haven't let your skills atrophy while in your nursing home.  |  | 
	
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		| nataraj 
 
 
 Joined: 03 Aug 2007
 Posts: 1048
 Location: near Vienna, Austria
 
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				|  Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:18 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | cgordon wrote: |  	  |  	  | Quote: |  	  | Both lead to a deadly pattern 5-7-5-7 r2c2=5 => r2c3=7 => r9c3=5 => (strong link for 7) r9c2=7
 r9c2=7 => r9c3=5 => r2c3=7 => (strong link for 5) r2c2=5
 
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 'ang about !!
 Notwithstanding the 2nd line is simply the reverse of the 1st.   Why can't r9c2 be an <8>. In fact it has to be an <8> since there are no others left in c2.
   
 Also solution suggest two strong links are needed fot this process (unlike Type 4s).
 | 
 
 I will try to explain:
 
 2nd line is not "simply" the reverse of line 1. With implications ("if a, then b") one must always be most careful about the direction: "if poisoned, people die" is not the same or the reverse of "if people die they are poisoned".
 
 Why can't r9c2 be 8? The two statements say nothing about 8, only about 5 and 7. But I can see where you got that impression, let's look more closely:
 
 There are two individual eliminations here, and they should be looked at separately.
 
 Start with the first line.
 
 It says that if r2c2=5 then a deadly pattern results, the puzzle has at least 2 solutions. Since the creator of the puzzle supposedly guarantees that his puzzles are unique, the assumption (r2c2=5) leads to a contradiction and must therefore be false.
 
 It may look like the result of line one is r9c2=7 but that is not the case. The result of line one is r2c2 <> 5 !
 
 Same with line 2: if r9c2 were 7 then a deadly pattern results, thus r9c2<>7.
 
 In both cases, the strong link in the other DP candidate was essential for the elimination.
 In line 1, the strong link (7) in r9 helped remove 5 from r2c2.
 In line 2, the strong link (5) in r2 helped remove 7 from r9c2.
 
  	  | Quote: |  	  | Is there a "rote" rule or procedure? 
 | 
 Yes.
 
 In short, the procedure is:
 When there is a type 3 UR, look for a strong link in one of the two DP candidates.
 
 Strong link parallel to the "floor cells" -> type 4
 Strong link perpendicular: that's what I call
  a "straight weasel". For a description see the link I posted above (to the solving techniques section).
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