the only way for you to solve puzzle of the day is of course - giving your free time, patience and perseverance...

Message deleted, as it contained the time taken to solve by a player.

Admin: Posting of time taken to solve by players is a strict 'No, No'. Anyone doing so runs the risk of being barred from participating in the Contest.

Let's understand that some people could use this as a way to predict the winning and losing times, and post their solutions in the 'expected to win' time range. (This may not have been the intention of this posting!)

Even though the software system is fairly smart to handle such attempts, we do not want to encourage the Contest being perceived as one that can be 'manipulated'.

Let's respect the rules laid down by the Sponsors, and play by them.

...are to either post them thru HelpDesk, or as Private Messages thru MySpace/Networking to admin. Emails often fail to reach their destinations.

In this case, we didn't receive the email that you say you've sent. Sometimes, we do receive members' emails, but they don't receive our replies.

Please do post in one of the above, and you'll normally receive replies within 1 working day.

Please post now, expressing your interest to receive the eBook, T-shirt, or subscription for Premium version of Smorgasbord (but you'll have a pleasant surprise if you buy the eBook now), or Sudoku Browser, or a combination of any of the above, paying up the difference, if any. Sudoku Stationery is just getting ready for launch too, if you wait a little.

But rest assured, we are as keen that you receive your prize, as you are.

All the best!

...than that timings are a function of the difficulty level of the puzzles. And perhaps, the more difficult puzzles may have less competition, and so your chances may have been more?

I would like to avoid giving any more info than I'm permitted to.

I finished many puzzles in 3+ minutes, but never won anything, i always won on puzzle where i took more time. sometime i use forcing and other method to determine the placing, i am not sure if the software puts me in non-genuine category based on that, and my solution is not in for winning race...

...to identify genuine solutions from non-genuine ones. Besides, the minimum timings reckoned by the software for different puzzles are different.

Your longer timings for win may have been coincidental (- I'm not saying they are; I would never know, as that's the way it has been programmed).

We've done a few tests, and are happy the way it's working.

Hi
Living in the UK i'm sure that i wouldn't exactly be in prime position if
time zones were an issue (if it helps i've won twice, once in the morning and once at night) - just go for speed!
My big question is how do the organisers decide what is too quick? I usually finish Sudoku puzzles in 2 or 3 minutes but both my wins have been over 4 minutes - should i slow down?
David

I am surprised at your reluctance to use Paypal. I've used it the past five years with no problems whatsoever..in fact, they have a very nice security set up. If you ever have any questions about your use of Paypal, you can email them and get a reply within hours. I'd not be thinking that I could change the way someone pays my prize if I wanted the prize. Just my two cents worth.

I don't have a PayPal account, and I will not open one in view of multiple irregularities and problems in the past. This includes fraudulent transactions, due to third parties intruding personal accounts.
I have asked in my emails, how to have an alternative way to cash the $25 or trade it for items of same value,(ex. a Sudoku T shirt). No answers have been received. I'd like to hear from your experiences.

You could always stop the prize for the fastest time. That way the time could be posted. The name of the person with the best time would be put on a list.

I do agreed with Shrek. Why concern about Winning Time? It is a test to yourselves in solving the puzzle. The Cash Prize is just a bonus. Just enjoy the game....

Anyway, the answer is, we can't (and we didn't) disable your PayPal account. You need to contact PayPal, thru email or phone, about it.

Please post such messages thru 'Help Desk'.

and now for some reason my account seems disabled - i know my user name is macums - and my affiliated email is xyz@xyz.com (edited by Admin)- and i'm sure of the password - yet i can't log on. and when i attempt to have the password emailed to me i never get the email. please email me at xyz@xyz.com (edited by Admin)and let me know what i need to do to get reactivated and to get my $25. thaks much - sorry for the trouble. -- mac(ums)

Consider that if you come in at the very end of the day, and solve the puzzle in just 1 second less than the person who solved it at the start of the day (00.01 am, assuming that is the lowest time thus far). Who wins? You, not the person who solved it at 00.01 am.

Time zone helps ONLY when more than one person solves the puzzle in exactly the same time.

Hope it sets all concerns at rest.

Seriously, I don't see how it matters what time of day the winner submitted his puzzle. How can anyone assume for granted that there are ever going to be two entries with the same time...
I, for one, never bother. I just believe in the Olympic spirit "Citius, Altius, Fortius."

Hi,

Our heartiest congratulations on winning the Sudoku Village Puzzle of the Day Contest for 3rd May 2006.
You are entitled to a cash prize of US$25. Already, we have sent you an email informing this and how to receive this prize amount. To enable us to send you your prize, kindly let us have the email id to which we can send the money via PayPal.

We wish you good luck in our future contests and request you to complete your profile at sudokuvillage.com, including a photograph.

I know you cant post the solving time. That makes perfect sense.now. But could you post at what time the winner solved the puzzle? I think I get up pretty early at 4 am, but the puzzle has already been open for 4-7 hours. In my mind, this is enough time for the puzzle to be solved everyday before I even get online. I don't want a time change just for me, but I would like to know if I even have a shot. If I were to make a suggestion it would be for the puzzle to open just a few hours later, to include the early risers of the east and west coast. However, I know just as many people get online at the end of the day as do the beginning.

(Date: May 3, 2006 - macums) ... but how do i go about getting my $25 prize sent to my paypal account? thanks much for a great site. -- Mac(ums)

Had this been a contest in the 'brick & mortar' space, we would have had no issues in posting the time. Now. we're in the internet space, where there's scope for some to cheat.

If just 3 or 4 people out of 100's start cheating, the contest would be reduced to a farce. Certainly, this is the last thing the Sponsors would like to happen.

We should view our position from this angle. To a certain level of accuracy, people could try to find the difficulty leve of puzzles. of Once we publish the timings, they could correlate, and back work the timings. Just as there are very few hackers, and very few who let viruses loose, but the extent of damage they do to internet is phenomenal, a few who cheat could kill the sanctity of this contest.

Definitely, we're open to suggestions on how to make the contest better. However, we do not want to keep arguing on the issue of publication of time.

All ideas and suggestions to make this contest work better are most welcome!

how come everyone is saying that you cant post the time to the puzzle done the previous day? It is not like all the puzzles take the same amount of time to do. The site said in the very beginning that it does different levels(easy, hard, evil) so posting the winning time the next day so that everyone knows how much they missed it by will not encourage cheating, seeing as how they all have a different time range to be completed in. Am i wrong?

This is, indeed, a US-based site. The puzzle of the day starts showing up at 00.00 hours EST. In the western parts of the US, it should be 9 pm to 12 pm the previous night.

If we all just know the start time, and if it convenient, I guess, we could all have a shot at it at the earliest. If all agree, we could even send an email alert every day to all those who register. Of course, one could unsubscribe from this alert service separately.

Also, if there are other suggestions about the most convenient timings, we could re-program the puzzle of the day to start showing up based on the start time of any other place in the world.

For example, if most us would like the start time to be GMT, we could do that, in which case, it would be about 4 pm to 7 pm, the previous night. We need a consensus. Suggestions are welcome!

So what time EST does the puzzle open. I do this puzzle around 4 am every day pacific time and have never won. If this is a US based site. The time should be west coast, not east coast. Otherwise no one west of the Mississippi will ever win.

The sponsors say that announcing the winning time would result in at least some people attempting to guess the time and cheat. And I tend to agree.

Perhaps we could come up with some via media suggestion that will let us all know the winning time and still not lead to time guessing? Any suggestions?

i think i am solving all the puzzles every day and never know what i am doing wrong and how much i am missing to win the one. i see the solution next day and it is exactly what i am submitting. please make your background software more intelligent and atleast display the winning time everyday so that we know what we missed and try to improve on that. in Sudoku we know that numbers are filled only with logic and not with guess.

Hi everyone,

I've been watching with keen interest, the discussions on the topic of Contest rules, timings, etc. Let me clarify the position of the Sponsors.

1. The goal of the Contest is to reward the best solver of the day, not just someone chosen at random (even if the person has solved it correctly). So, the person who solves it correctly, in the shortest time, first, is the winner. This is, of mcourse, subject to the condition below, in point 3. The winner is decided by the background software, which is why you'll see the name of the winner declared automatically at the starting second of the next day.

2. We want all the contestants to attempt to solve the puzzle 'in situ' (online), not copy/ print onto paper and solve it. And we don't want any of the contestants to use any aids (including software) in solving the puzzles. Of course, we have no way of knowing how every contestant does, but we can only say what we expect.

3. We have a software to decide the minimum likely time to solve any puzzle 'online'. The background software disqualifies all answers given within this minimum time for the specific puzzle. (This time varies from puzzle to puzzle.)

We do not want to encourage people to guess this time, which is why we do not display the time taken by the winner for any puzzle. If we do, at least a few people may try to convert this into a game of guessing the minimum time that we have set, and start submitting exactly in that time. (Not that it is easy to guess, but we want to strongly discourage any such attempt.) I hope all of you will agree, understand, and genuinely try to solve the puzzles online and preserve the sanctity of the contest.

4. We also have a fairly scientific method to detect 'cheating' (and, we have, indeed detected such attempts by a few). Also, the software is being constantly updated so that cheaters don't win. So, a person who attempts to cheat has a higher probability of 'not winning' than a genuine solver.

So, you can see that every effort is being made to insure that the contest is fair to all genuine contestants. Over time, we expect this aspect of fairness to get better and better, so that it's the best Sudoku Contest Online. (Not that we're aware of any other, right now.)

5. When we have a global level Contest every day, there are quite a few issues. The start time may be different at different places. What if we were to make it variable start times on different days? Then, the convenience for people to log in at a set time everyday day to have a shot at the Contest puzzle of the day, at the earliest, would be lost. And it's also quite a hassle to communicate to members as to who won the Prize for which day as per which timings.

A long story short: We have decided on EST. Incidentally, we also find that the % of people who may be inconvenienced is almost minimum when we use EST.

May the best players win! And may the winners' tribe increase!!

i am not asking to let a person win if he does in less than minimum time specified by sponser. but publish the winning time and parameters(how you choosed the winner ??). so that i know why i am not winning ????

What's the idea of the puzzle? Is it to find out who does it quickest? That's not possible with all the 'cheating' that can happen. Why doesn't the quizzer pick a random time each day say 17min 23 seconds. And the correct entry closest to that time is the winner for the day. It doesn't take the enjoyment out of doing the puzzle. And 'cheaters' have no more chance of winning than anybody else. Why should someone who can do it in record time always win? Give us plodders a chance too.

Each day's results could show the fastest (not necessarily winning) times, the day's 'random time' and the winner. And maybe the experts estimated reasonable time for solving.

Bern (a 'cheater')

The time of day that the puzzle is done should not come into it. I'm in australia (yes we have the Internet!) and just by chance I got to the puzzle one morning just after it appeared. That shouldn't give me a better chance of winning.

My suggestion about the printing out and solving then submitting in record time. Use a cookie or something to record when the puzzle is first logged into. Then the time between then and when it's submitted is the time it takes to solve the puzzle. Put that into the rules of the game. Then to work it out quick you'll have to use an online solver. :) But that takes the fun out of it.

Bern

In order to make sure people are not printing them out, working the puzzle and then submitting them in record time, like I was, the printer button would have to be disabled on the window. I knwo it can be done, just not sure of what's needed for it. I know I've seen that on other sites. As for the hidden time issue, it is definitely better that the sponser keeps this not known, because as stated below, it would encourage people to print it out, work it and then submit it around the min. time estimated by the sponser.
For the tie breaker issue, I think that the earlier in the day someone submits the puzzle, even if an exact same time as a later submission, the eralier one should get it.
As for me, I'm switching how I'm doing these. I'll try and do them on my lunch hour and if I can't I'll either keep the window open and get back to it when I can or print it out for fun and not submit a time that day. That's more fair for the rest of the people.

Hope you are right 'cos I submit mine pretty early, though I never win!

From what i uderstand, everybody submits the puzzle at different times of the day. I submit mine at 5am with my first cup of java, and joe shomo submits his at 9:30 before he leaves for the train, and jane doe sumbits her durring her lunch break at 1pm. If all 3 of us complete the puzzle and all 3 have the correct solution, and all 3 submitted it (in lets say in 3 minutes,) then to break the tie, they make the winner, the one who sent it in first. At least this is my understanding. Please tell me if I am wrong or right?
tweety

so lets vote republican then?

Am not sayin' the present system is great - but revealin the ideal time wont improve things either - would still be a typing contest - a real
s-l-o-w typing contest...

So what dyu suggest? Continue with the present 'blind' system?

if 100 people did it in 5 minutes flat how would they select the winner? Maybe a draw of lots? Sounds like a lottery not a contest of skills...

They'll prob'ly get a hundred guys doing it in exactly 5 minutes, haha...

I got wonderin' - suppose the sponsors did reveal the acceptable time, say bout 5 minutes, what effect could it have on contestants?

the sponsor is selecting the winner using methods not visible or disclosed to the contestants. the sponsor must be a republican.

this is a typing contest, not a puzzle contest--nobody does it while connected.

I guess I'll have to try and do it online from now on. It's kinda hard to do since my only access is at work. Oh well. Lunch hour here I come.

no comment

I guess it will no longer qualify as a contest if everyone solved it first and then fed it into the computer in say 30 seconds!

What's wrong with printing out the puzzle, figuring it out and then punching in the numbers in order? I don't have any software or anything to figure these things out, just my brain and patience.

Rule 7 of the competition says:

Solving of a puzzle in too short a time is an indication for that the member has used automated aids to complete the puzzle. Therefore, puzzles completed in less than a minimum time set by the Sponsor will be disqualified. The Sponsor shall determine the minimum time before the Contest for that day begins, and its determination of this minimum time will be final and binding. The Sponsor will not be required to publish this minimum time as this would encourage cheating.

winning time should be posted somewhere !! and also when we are solving puzzle it should be listed what is the best time so far...

Sudoku Village is beyond the realms of time and space. There's only one element that prevails. Sudoku, Sudoku, more Sudoku.

Not posted anywhere as far as I know...

Does anyone know where the winning time is posted?

i go down, then accross, then the boxes, and repeat. if i get stuck, i do each individual box to see if only one number can go into it.

All of us struggling to win here will appreciate any useful hints and tips.
Even tips from losers on what doesn't seem to work will help I suppose.