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		| keith 
 
 
 Joined: 19 Sep 2005
 Posts: 3355
 Location: near Detroit, Michigan, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 6:43 pm    Post subject: Incredible |   |  
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				| Today's Brain Basher Super Hard is incredible. It can be done by this site's "Very Hard" methods.  I doubt that anything more sophisticated is going to be of much help. 	  | Code: |  	  | Puzzle: BB112308sh +-------+-------+-------+
 | . 4 . | 1 . 3 | . 9 . |
 | 1 . . | . . . | . . 6 |
 | . . 5 | . 4 . | 7 . . |
 +-------+-------+-------+
 | 3 . . | 4 . 6 | . . 9 |
 | . . 6 | . . . | 5 . . |
 | 2 . . | 5 . 7 | . . 1 |
 +-------+-------+-------+
 | . . 9 | . 7 . | 6 . . |
 | 5 . . | . . . | . . 7 |
 | . 2 . | 3 . 9 | . 4 . |
 +-------+-------+-------+
 | 
 
 Keith
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 8:03 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| I knocked that off very quickly with just a couple of x-wings. |  | 
	
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		| keith 
 
 
 Joined: 19 Sep 2005
 Posts: 3355
 Location: near Detroit, Michigan, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 9:49 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Really? 	  | cgordon wrote: |  	  | I knocked that off very quickly with just a couple of x-wings. | 
   
 I did it first purely with pencil & paper.  The X-wings started to show before I was done with the basics.
 
 It took me at least six X-wings, plus an XY-wing with coloring.
 
 I have since looked at it some more:  I can solve this with five X-wings and one XY-wing.  Can anyone do better?
 
 By the way, I do not recall ever seeing a puzzle with this many X-wings.  When I looked at the pattern of initial values, I thought "X-wing".  But, I did not expect this many!
 
 Keith
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		| Marty R. 
 
 
 Joined: 12 Feb 2006
 Posts: 5770
 Location: Rochester, NY, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:14 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Using my typical scattershot approach, I made 8 moves, only one of which was an X-Wing, which is logical since I don't look for them until other methods have been exhausted. 
 One X-Wing
 Two W-Wings
 One M-Wing
 One XYZ-Wing
 One kite
 Two XY-Wings, both with pincer transport
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:33 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| You seem to be implying I got lucky when I did my quick knock off.  I'll give it another go. |  | 
	
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		| daj95376 
 
 
 Joined: 23 Aug 2008
 Posts: 3854
 
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:40 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				| After basics, this puzzle has seven X-Wings present. However, six of them are really three pair of complementary X-Wings. If you find the lone X-Wing first, then you can proceed without ever encountering the other six. However, you will probably encounter another X-Wing later. 
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | r58     X-Wing                          <> 2    [r37c4] 
 c68   X-Wing                          <> 5    [r2c5],[r7c9]
 r19     X-Wing                          <> 5    [r2c5],[r7c9]
 
 c24   X-Wing                          <> 6    [r3c1]
 r19     X-Wing                          <> 6    [r3c1]
 
 c14   X-Wing                          <> 9    [r3c2]
 r26     X-Wing                          <> 9    [r3c2]
 
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 Beyond basics, I think 3x X-Wings -- (2), (5), and (6) above -- and an XY-Wing will solve the puzzle.
 
 [Edit: Darn, I wish that I could learn to count!]
 
 Last edited by daj95376 on Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:32 am; edited 1 time in total
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		| keith 
 
 
 Joined: 19 Sep 2005
 Posts: 3355
 Location: near Detroit, Michigan, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 5:03 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				| After basics: (I had already used X-wings to simplify <1> and <7>.) 	  | Code: |  	  | +----------------+----------------+----------------+ | 678  4    278  | 1    2568 3    | 28   9    258  |
 | 1    389  238  | 7    2589 258  | 4    35   6    |
 | 689  3689 5    | 2689 4    28   | 7    1    238  |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+
 | 3    5    1    | 4    28   6    | 28   7    9    |
 | 89   7    6    | 289  3    1    | 5    28   4    |
 | 2    89   4    | 5    89   7    | 3    6    1    |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+
 | 4    1    9    | 28   7    258  | 6    35   2358 |
 | 5    368  38   | 268  1    4    | 9    28   7    |
 | 678  2    78   | 3    568  9    | 1    4    58   |
 +----------------+----------------+----------------+
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 There are X-wings on:
 
 <2> in R58; revealing
 
 <2> in R37;
 
 <5> in R19;
 
 <6> in R19;
 
 <9> in r26.
 
 None of these are complementary.  If you make all these eliminations, after further basics, you get here:
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | +-------------+-------------+-------------+ | 67  4   27  | 1   56  3   | 28  9   58  |
 | 1   389 238 | 7   29  58  | 4   35  6   |
 | 89  368 5   | 69  4   28  | 7   1   23  |
 +-------------+-------------+-------------+
 | 3   5   1   | 4   28  6   | 28  7   9   |
 | 89  7   6   | 29  3   1   | 5   28  4   |
 | 2   89  4   | 5   89  7   | 3   6   1   |
 +-------------+-------------+-------------+
 | 4   1   9   | 8   7   25  | 6   35  23  |
 | 5   368 38  | 26  1   4   | 9   28  7   |
 | 67  2   78  | 3   56  9   | 1   4   58  |
 +-------------+-------------+-------------+
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 An XY-wing <289> solves it.
 
 If you follow Nataraj' suggestion, to diagram first the numbers with the most solved, you will leave <2> and <8> for last.
 
 If you can solve this with two X-wings and an XY-wing, meet me here, at King's Brewery.  The lager's on me!
 
 Keith
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		| daj95376 
 
 
 Joined: 23 Aug 2008
 Posts: 3854
 
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:34 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				| I corrected my post. |  | 
	
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 12:47 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Quote: |  	  | If you can solve this with two X-wings and an XY-wing, meet me here, at King's Brewery. The lager's on me! | 
 If you are into Pubs and Pub Crawls, I sincerely hope you have gone to England. If not, I recommend a month or two in London - then try the villages (my favourite is Histon, nr. Cambridge where my father lived). Just don't bother coming up here - north of the border.
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		| tlanglet 
 
 
 Joined: 17 Oct 2007
 Posts: 2468
 Location: Northern California Foothills
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:32 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| I originally solved the puzzle yesterday before it was posted and had a total of seven steps, including five x-wings. Today, after finding this tread, the best I could achieve was the five x-wings plus a xy-wing289. 
 Ted
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		| storm_norm 
 
 
 Joined: 18 Oct 2007
 Posts: 1741
 
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:18 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Code: |  	  | .------------------.------------------.------------------. | 678   4     278  | 1     2568  3    | 28    9     258  |
 | 1     389   238  | 7     2589  258  | 4     35    6    |
 | 689   3689  5    | 2689  4     28   | 7     1     238  |
 :------------------+------------------+------------------:
 | 3     5     1    | 4     28    6    | 28    7     9    |
 | 89    7     6    | 289   3     1    | 5     28    4    |
 | 2     89    4    | 5     89    7    | 3     6     1    |
 :------------------+------------------+------------------:
 | 4     1     9    | 28    7     258  | 6     35    2358 |
 | 5     368   38   | 268   1     4    | 9     28    7    |
 | 678   2     78   | 3     568   9    | 1     4     58   |
 '------------------'------------------'------------------'
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 two chains attack r8c2 solving the puzzle.
 small chain
 xy-chain: (8=9)r6c2 - (9=8)r5c1 - (8=2)r5c8 - (2=8)r8c8; r8c2 <> 8
 
 big chain
 (3)r8c3 = (3)r2c3 - (3)r2c8 = (3-5)r7c8 = (5)r79c9 - (5)r1c9 = (5-6)r1c5 = (6)r9c5 - (6)r9c1 = (6)r8c3; r8c3 <> 3
 both are present after basics.
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