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Friday Feb 8 nightmare

 
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nataraj



Joined: 03 Aug 2007
Posts: 1048
Location: near Vienna, Austria

PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:58 am    Post subject: Friday Feb 8 nightmare Reply with quote

Today's nightmare http://www.sudocue.net/daily.php really deserves that name. After coloring (4,8 and some more 8s) gives a few eliminations, this is the end of the line for me:
Code:

+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| 3679    179     5        | 12369   8       123679   | 4       239     2379     |
| 3679    79      68       | 2369    5       4        | 237     1       23789    |
| 34789   1479    2        | 139     17      1379     | 378     6       5        |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| 1       247     47       | 23      6       8        | 5       2349    2349     |
| 46      3       68       | 125     9       125      | 12      7       48       |
| 28      5       9        | 4       127     1237     | 1238    238     6        |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| 5       6       47       | 8       12      12       | 9       34      37       |
| 249     8       1        | 7       3       569      | 26      245     24       |
| 279     279     3        | 569     4       569      | 2678    258     1        |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+


No useful DPs (at least I could not find any), so I resorted to Medusa one more time. I liked the strong links in 8, and also some in 4, so I chose {4,8} in r5c9 as starting point.

In this picture you can see the full Medusa, plus the three steps that got me going again:




First step: r3c1. If red, then it is 8, if green, then r5c1=4, either way, r3c1<>4.

This means that r3c2 solves to 4 and 4 in r8c1 becomes red (only 2 4s in col 1)

Second step (red branch): if red, then
- r5c9 = 4 then r8c9=2 and r8c8<>2 AND
- r8c1 = 4 then r8c8<>4 THEN

r8c8=5

Third step (green branch): if green, then
- r5c9=8 then r6c8<>8 then r9c8=8 THEN

r8c8=5

sooo

=> either way (red or green), r8c8=5 and r9c8=8 (if green, see green branch above, if red then not 2 because of r9c2)

Far from over, there are some wings on the way and again, a tight spot:

Code:
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| 3679    1       5        | 2369    8       23679    | 4       239     2379     |
| 3679    79      68       | 2369    5       4        | 237     1       23789    |
| 3789    4       2        | 139     17      1379     | 378     6       5        |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| 1       27      47       | 23      6       8        | 5       2349    39       |
| 46      3       68       | 125     9       125      | 12      7       48       |
| 28      5       9        | 4       127     1237     | 1238    23      6        |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| 5       6       47       | 8       12      12       | 9       34      37       |
| 249     8       1        | 7       3       69       | 26      5       24       |
| 279     279     3        | 569     4       569      | 267     8       1        |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+


I did find some xy-chains, but ...


That was one loooooooooong nightmare!
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Asellus



Joined: 05 Jun 2007
Posts: 865
Location: Sonoma County, CA, USA

PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

nataraj,

Basic Medusa alone solves the puzzle from your "end of the road" point, and without using any "extended" techniques as you did to fix the <8>. (And this is me, the troublemaker who stirred up this whole "extended Medusa" thing saying this!)

Starting from the grid after eliminating the <4> in r3c1 and marking Medusa completely:
Code:

+-----------------+----------------+----------------------+
| 3679  1    5    | 2369 8   23679 | 4      239   2379    |
| 3679  79   6r8g | 2369 5   4     | 237    1    #23-78r9 |
| 378r9 4    2    | 139  17  1379  |#3-78g  6     5       |
+-----------------+----------------+----------------------+
| 1     2g7r 4r7g | 23   6   8     | 5      2349  2349    |
| 4g6r  3    6g8r | 125  9   125   | 12     7     4r8g    |
| 2r8g  5    9    | 4    127 1237  | 1238   238   6       |
+-----------------+----------------+----------------------+
| 5     6    4g7r | 8    12  12    | 9      3g4r  3r7g    |
| 24r9  8    1    | 7    3   569   | 26     245   24      |
| 279   2r79 3    | 569  4   569   |#267r-8 258   1       |
+-----------------+----------------+----------------------+

There are 3 eliminations in the right tower, marked #. This leads to:
Code:

+------------------+----------------+----------------------+
| 3679   1    5    | 2369 8   23679 | 4     #2-39   237r9  |
| 3679  #-79  6r8g | 2369 5   4     |#2-37g  1      238r9  |
| 378r9  4    2    | 139  17  1379  | 3r8g   6      5      |
+------------------+----------------+----------------------+
| 1      2g7r 4r7g | 23   6   8     | 5      234g9 #-23-49 |
| 4g6r   3    6g8r | 125  9   125   | 12     7      4r8g   |
| 2r8g   5    9    | 4    127 1237  | 1238r  23     6      |
+------------------+----------------+----------------------+
| 5      6    4g7r | 8    12  12    | 9      3g4r   3r7g   |
| 24r9   8    1    | 7    3   69    | 26     5      2r4g   |
| 279    2r79 3    | 569  4   569   | 267r   8      1      |
+------------------+----------------+----------------------+

5 more eliminations, in 4 cells, again marked #. This solves the puzzle and was nothing but basic Medusa.
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