Skewed graph?

[Robin]

Are my "very fast" times really very fast? What if everyone on the right of average had to answer the doorbell or had their cat claw its way up their leg? Maybe my very fast times are just average!

Unfortunately, all the solutions to this problem that I can think of are prone to abuse. Any ideas?

[lazygirl]

I agree the bell curve is hard to trust. I know I've been interrupted and come back to my puzzle a day later. On the fast side though it is also equally suspect. Some of the solve times seem to defy the amount of time I require just to fill in the squares. Even so I do get a good feeling if I land a fastest time (though I admit to generally doing the large moderate puzzles).
My bigger beef is the variability in the difficulty of "moderate puzzles". Some of these are far too easy, and others offer no hooks to get started easily. Surely they can't both be moderate?

[Robin]

Yeah, interesting.

Rating must be automated as there are far too many puzzles for even a large team to manually rank. I suspect that difficulty rating is based on the number of black squares in the puzzle. Also, fiendish never has more than 6 in a group.

I too am amazed at some of the fast times. Shows you what a difference the "big pond" of the Internet creates. I did a little dance the first time I beat 100 seconds seconds last week, but I've seen times of less than a minute. That's just over half a second per block!

[lazygirl]

To cheat the fast time all someone has to do is click save progress immediately the puzzle appears and then work out the solution with it frozen on the screen.
Since I play for my own amusement, I don't really care too much about the time. In fact, I would be ashamed to admit how many hours I have spent here instead of getting on with more productive activities!

[Robin]

Hah, I know how you feel! This game is totally addictive and should come with a health warning. Interacting on the forum makes me feel slightly better about the time sucked out of my life by the evil numbergrid.

I'm waiting for the day I get 5 puzzles in a row that I've already completed and I can move on to Dropquotes or wander down to the beach or something.