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#1: Brian Bellis (mootpoint) on Jun 3, 2019

So I have a question for solvers, especially experienced solvers. Do you ever "cheat" the solve? You know that a single pixel out on its own is going to be a dot. Do you just dot it now or wait for confirmation near the end of the solve? Or you figure out the image early and use picture logic to fill in a bunch of stuff that you know will eventually get filled? This police cruiser was probably obvious from the light bars at the beginning of the solve. Did you make any assumed moves before they were logically confirmed?

I personally like to solve logically, it's part of the pleasure, so no cheating here!

I sometimes have what I call serendipitous mistakes. If I make an error filling in a square and the "red light" comes on I admit to taking advantage of it if it's a hard puzzle.

I've been known to use "picture logic" (the elbow should continue in this square, etc.), then Check to see whether I erred. Also, if I run out of L and E logic, and I can't see another step forward (especially if the puzzle requires guessing) I'll test a square and check it, then dot it white if I was wrong. I try not to do this very often.

I may have placed a pixel and checked it once on this one, just to spare myself a lot of counting. ^_^

I like to solve the puzzles logically, but some of them can't be solved that way. If logic doesn't work, I guess and check.

I generally do the puzzles logically, even if I know where they're headed.
I will use picture logic over looking ahead more than a few steps if there's no LL or EL.

I do not "cheat".
The pleasure is solving the puzzle not the final image.

Any puzzle that I cannot solve with pure logic remains unsolved. I go back and chew on these randomly. So, no cheating here ever. I seldom look at the picture while in the heat of the solve.

I have a deep appreciation of these puzzles and for all you talented creators.

Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

No cheating for me. I am all about the logic. This is probably not a surprise. A note about "picture logic": I do sometimes use the picture to figure out *where to look for* logic, but never as a *replacement* for logic.

I did this KRGB, and it looked like a mess until the red and blue were put in. Then it was obvious.

I hate to have a puzzle list full of ? puzzles. I'll take a stab at them and solve-and-save my way through, just to get them off my list.

I think I'm closest to Teresa and BT in my solving. On rare occasions, I will get impatient during the tedium, and then will cheat to get the puzzle out of the way. Usually, though, I save and come back to it later.

No guessing! Unfortunately, that means I have a long list of unsolved saved puzzles that I can't solve logically.

I usually stick to logic but some puzzles are too tedious and obvious, so I cheat on those.
Life is too short to obey the rules just for the sake of obedience.

I like the perspective here.

I try to solve things honestly, though I admit to taking a peek at the solution for puzzles above a certain size. And sometimes I just get impatient.

And I definitely can't be the only person who uses the H and V shortcuts on the edges to start, to see if any rows are filled. I just don't want to do that arithmetic.

Logic only for me. If I can't logic it out, I will put in a guess and solve forward to see if there is a contradiction that tells me that my guess was wrong. If there is no contradiction, that would be guessing, so I back it out and try a different guess until I *do* get a contradiction.

If I get bored, I'll use the helper to see what the image is, or I'll use the "peek at solution" menu option. But then I don't save it, so that I don't get credit for a puzzle that I didn't solve myself.

I don't think it's cheating to use the H and V keys to fill in the entirely-filled rows. That's just basic set-up.

I usually only remember to look at the image after the puzzle is solved. This one, for example, really "popped" after I had solved the whole thing.

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