116 seconds for a logic 4x5 logic puzzle?? HOW???

[kittyboo]

I just finished a turtle puzzle real fast (76s) because, in my initial skim of the clues, I realised that Yoda had to be 54, thanks to two separate clues putting them at 36 years older and 36 years younger. With that, I could fill in anything related to Yoda, and the other parts just fell into place.

Mind you, if I'd had to check my maths, it would have taken longer. But I've done that puzzle enough to know that 18 is 1 step, 36 is 2 steps, 54 is 3.

Unlike contrary, above, I do read the clues after an initial skim; but that's probably why I'm usually around 100 seconds for a good solve, and contrary has the record on a lot of puzzles.

A good working memory is key to fast times - checking slows you down, but sometimes I will misremember a clue and then I'm out 600s for a bad submit and corrections.

But with practice, and a brain firing on all cylinders, and maybe a little luck in spotting the right clues first... some people can do these super fast. It has no moral value or bearing on the real world, it's just one of those things.

[fromalabama]

It has no moral value or bearing on the real world, it's just one of those things.

It doesn't have much bearing on the real world, and my claim here is perhaps anecdotal, but as I progressed to the point where I was able to keep mental track of several clues I noticed that I got better at what you might call situational awareness, most noticeable while driving. My previous job involved a fair amount of interstate travel, and I noticed that I got much better at keeping track of what cars around me were doing, at an almost subconscious level. If I glimpsed a car closing on me in the mirror, and it didn't enter and emerge from my blind spot at the times I was expecting, my "spider sense" started tingling. Possibly it is completely unrelated to the memory skills associated with solving these puzzles rapidly, but it almost felt like a game to me, which is what made me think there was a connection.

[ShirleyM]

Thank you for all the comments! I just read the linked post above. I've started using mainly the top row, and my times are now around the average time for a 4x5. I can't imagine getting much faster. Just reading everything and processing it all takes me time. But at least I'm solving them all.

also - start at the bottom of the clues and work up.

[tviolet]

One of the things that makes it faster is familiarity with the clues. There aren't that many different scenarios although there are a lot of clue variations so you'll see different versions of the same puzzles multiple times. The very first time you see a puzzle, you may have to spend a little time working out the math. For instance, I think it's the pirate ship one that has the years in 18-year increments. The first time I did it, I was slowed way down working out what 54 years meant, now I just recognize it's three lines difference.

Similarly, there's the one with the deep sea fishes where you need to understand the difference in depths. Or the fossil one that mixes BC dates with "younger"which is kinda confusing the first read through. Or the spelling bee one that uses the length of the words. Once you've done them a few times, you don't have to think much about them. (other than the compass directions one that always makes my head hurt)

I also keep figuring out more "tricks" the more I do them. If I know B is one greater than C and I know B can only be line 2 or line 3, then C can only be line 3 or line 4. Notice that if B = 2 and C = 3 or if B = 3 and C = 4, in both possible scenarios, line 3 is either B or C. Therefore, line 3 cannot equal A, D, or E and I can mark them out. There's lots of things like that that make the puzzles more automatic versus having to puzzle things out individually.

I hope some of this helps y'all, I think the only real secret is just to practice practice practice, the more you do, the faster you'll get!

[brilliantbelle]

Only solve the top row of the puzzle. It's basically a waste of time to fill out the rest. If a certain clue can't be depicted in the first row, skip it and come back. If a clue says x is either the one with this name or from that place you know this name and that place are not the same thing so you can usually use that in the first row to show what is not what even if you aren't going vertical. The problem with the larger puzzles is you will have information you can't do anything with until later on unless you're filling out the whole thing, and over time you get faster at knowing what to pass on for now.

Appreciate this tip!

[contrary]

It doesn't have much bearing on the real world, and my claim here is perhaps anecdotal, but as I progressed to the point where I was able to keep mental track of several clues I noticed that I got better at what you might call situational awareness, most noticeable while driving. My previous job involved a fair amount of interstate travel, and I noticed that I got much better at keeping track of what cars around me were doing, at an almost subconscious level. If I glimpsed a car closing on me in the mirror, and it didn't enter and emerge from my blind spot at the times I was expecting, my "spider sense" started tingling. Possibly it is completely unrelated to the memory skills associated with solving these puzzles rapidly, but it almost felt like a game to me, which is what made me think there was a connection.

Correlative rather than causative, but on days I'm having a good day on here, I'm also having a good day programming at my job. And if I'm struggling to focus at work sometimes I can come on here, do a few games to reset my focus, and do a better job at work. It's fun to watch because I know I'm struggling and get a slowish time the first time, average the second game, pretty good the third game, and then I can think again and get back to my job. If I do three games and I'm still struggling, I get up and walk away from the computer for a while. A sort of canary in the coalmine.

Another fun fact: I can't get records when I'm listening to music. I'd estimate that listening to music is approximately a 25%-50% time penalty for me. Classical is less of a time penalty than rock.

[MoscaMye]

Correlative rather than causative, but on days I'm having a good day on here, I'm also having a good day programming at my job. And if I'm struggling to focus at work sometimes I can come on here, do a few games to reset my focus, and do a better job at work. It's fun to watch because I know I'm struggling and get a slowish time the first time, average the second game, pretty good the third game, and then I can think again and get back to my job. If I do three games and I'm still struggling, I get up and walk away from the computer for a while. A sort of canary in the coalmine.

Another fun fact: I can't get records when I'm listening to music. I'd estimate that listening to music is approximately a 25%-50% time penalty for me. Classical is less of a time penalty than rock.

For me it's my canary for stress. I always used to find myself playing more puzzles before exams or when I had essays due back when I was at university. Whenever I find myself loading them up more than once a week I usually stop and take stock and I do find that there is something stressful I'm avoiding.

[David56]

I know how they do it...
Create a grid on a piece of paper, then fill in the squares from the clues, press "Start Again" then complete the puzzle on the screen in under a minute (as long as it takes to transfer the results).
The people that do this are only cheating themselves and defeating the whole point of the scoring, so I ignore it and just play the game.
It makes no sense, is unfair on other players and the application programmers should come up with some way of stopping this...

[losmond]

But there is no "start again" button that stops the time from ticking.

[redlead]

I've solved a few of the Challenging 4x7's in the 120-130 sec range, but it's rare for me. It involves a toooonnnn of practice, deep familiarity with the puzzle structures, only working with the first row, and solving a lot of the clues in my head + keeping that in my working memory. It's a skill like anything else, and it's sort of a stupid one to master (although I wouldn't say I've mastered it). I could probably have learned to play an instrument or read several book series in the time I've spent on these puzzles! Don't look at the record times when you're thinking about where your time fits in the scale. They are extreme outliers.

Edited to add: also, I have set my mouse speed to be fast and once I fill the top row, I hover over where I know the "submit" button will appear so that I can click it as quickly as possible.

[Scarlytt]

The thing with the times for the puzzles is that they include all of the different sizes and difficulty levels in the single time range thing, so you can't really get an idea of how long for the specific size/difficulty level that you did. I find it really annoying, but just have to keep it in mind. So the insanely fast times would be for the smallest versions on easy difficulty. Also, the super long times are usually for people who get inturrupted for one reason or another, because the timer will keep going for days on end if it takes that long to finish a puzzle due to not having an oppounity after having to put it on hold for some reason.

[kittyboo]

The thing with the times for the puzzles is that they include all of the different sizes and difficulty levels

Not the case.

If it's a different size, it's a different puzzle. If it's a different difficulty, it's a different puzzle.

A 3x4 will have a shorter time, like thirty seconds. Different difficulty levels at the same size might have similar times, because there's a point of proficiency where it's the clicking that takes most of the time.

[ceciyl]

OP, hope you get the times you want to achieve, but don't stress over what others are getting. It's nice to see as a benchmark of what's possible, but hopefully won't end up causing to derail from why you're doing the puzzles in the first place, but if time was the goal, then go for it- some do because it's just good old fun, some like the mental exercise, some play as idle past time, some do for bragging rights, etc.

(I have been using as something to fall asleep to )

[JedMedGrey]

I am happy if I get below the average time, more so if my score is higher than my time. Working on using just the top layer - sometimes I can, others not. And yes, sometimes they put me to slee . z z z z

[alispa789]

I know how they do it...
Create a grid on a piece of paper, then fill in the squares from the clues, press "Start Again" then complete the puzzle on the screen in under a minute (as long as it takes to transfer the results).
The people that do this are only cheating themselves and defeating the whole point of the scoring, so I ignore it and just play the game.
It makes no sense, is unfair on other players and the application programmers should come up with some way of stopping this...

it doesn't work that way, that was my hypothesis too and i tested it. the timer does not stop running when you click start over. It's from the second the puzzle starts to when you finally hit submit, no matter what happens in between