Saved for a rainy day

So I decided today (and yesterday) were as good days as any to sit down and have a crack at the puzzles from this year’s world sudoku championships, held during the Easter break in Goa. I’m sure a few readers are familiar with how I was excluded from the team, so I suppose I had a point to prove. Going against me was the fact I’d not really prepared for (or ever seen) some of the variants, but going with me was some arrogance – especially given my recent victory in the nikoli puzzle championships , over a very strong field which included the two time world champion Thomas Snyder.

For the World Championships, all you need to do is complete seven gruelling rounds against the clock; five with lots of clever sudoku variants, and two with classic puzzles everyone knows and loves. All seven rounds contribute to the main contribution, and in addition the two classic rounds contribute to a classic competition.

The upshot of it all having wasted several hours of my life on a competition that’d long been and gone? I’d have been 55 points (perhaps 1 or 2 puzzles over the course of the 7 rounds) off the final playoffs in the main competition in 12th place, and 1 place off the playoffs for the classic competition (5th). Not quite as good as the undoubted star of UK puzzling, David McNeil, but I feel in sudoku at least I’m closing the gap. I suppose there’s always next year.

In a comment in one of my earlier rants, Lucy asked if I was bitter much? Being in a more diplomatic mood, I’ll refrain from commenting!