Dr. Sudoku Prescribes #60 – Fillomino
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a composite mode for line/edge drawing and a number entry mode.)
Theme: Squeeze Play
Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.
Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the area of the polyomino it belongs to. Start with the 7th row, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th column.
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:30, Master = 9:00, Expert = 18:00
Note: Advice on solving this puzzle has now been posted in “Ask Dr. Sudoku #10”
Solution: PDF
Note: Follow this link for other classic Fillomino and this link for more variations on Fillomino puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on.
Forgot to squeeze the bottom-right corner ,so I was slowed down. Around 6:30 minutes.
‘Very little space’ theme was nicely done.
From construction point of view,I am not a fan of forcing hidden polyominos in the very beginning of the solve.I personally think the real essence of HPs comes out when they are created towards the end.
Thanks for the fun.
As a Fillomino constructor, I feel like I’m engaging in somewhat of a trope if I force a Harry Potter. . . I mean hidden polyomino at the very beginning. I do think it sometimes takes more skill to do interesting things with hidden polyominoes later into the solve. Still, some interesting things can be done with them even early on. 🙂
I’m going to be a bit masturbatory here and remark that, out of all of the test solvers Tom had on board for basing his time standards upon, I had the fastest time, with 03:42. This actually kinda scared me at first, but I suppose it reinforces the point that one of the best ways to solve puzzles faster is to write them; with about 100 Fillomino puzzles on my blog, plus a dozen or so I’ve written for other sources, it’s clearly a genre with which I have experience.
Conversely, I’m very slow at Dr. Sudoku’s sudoku variants, because I have almost no experience with non-classic Sudoku (15:34 on a Isodoku with an expert time of 16:30? Almost lame!). Dr. Sudoku could probably solve ten non-classic Sudoku puzzles in the time it takes me to make one. 🙂
Shhhh. I’m trying to keep my test-solvers secret, and certainly whose times they whose. No need to say you were twice as fast as anyone else who tested this week.
Looking through both the reported times here and those of my testers it is clear that experience at certain types plays a key role and I was not surprised you’ve internalized some of the “squeeze” logic that works here. You similarly do very well at the Nikoli loop genres, which you also seem to construct a whole lot of.
HEY EVERYBODY
THE TEST SOLVERS ARE ROSEBUD FROM “CITIZEN KANE”, BRUCE WILLIS’S CHARACTER FROM “THE SIXTH SENSE”, AND DUMBLEDORE
Of course, Dumbledore solves puzzles using the pseudonym “Keyser Soze”.
True,experience can be a booster. I dont mind solving sudoku variants as long as they are on a regular grid,and I am slower on sudokus.I am scared of attempting sudokus with crazy geometries.
… but I thought your test-solvers were Spartacus, Spartacus, Spartacus, Spartacus and Spartacus?
I am happy that i managed to solve it just under expert time
15:46
Can the squeeze logic be used anywhere else in this puzzle other than the bottom left 6?
oh this puzzle is covered in ask dr sudoku.I l take a look there.
A very fun challenge. I resisted the temptation to count all the remaining cells at any point in the solve. (It seems like such a boring tactic—not to mention error prone—that I prefer to pretend that tactic doesn’t exist.) I also forced myself not to take advantage of an obvious uniquness-abuse situation with the hidden polyomino on the right half of the puzzle.