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Comments on Puzzle #551: The Whopper
By Susan Spitz (punchy sue)

peek at solution       solve puzzle
  quality:   difficulty:   solvability: line & color logic only  

Puzzle Description Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

#1: Susan Spitz (punchy sue) on Oct 23, 2006 [HINT]

Comment Suppressed:Click below to view hints
#2: Jan Wolter (jan) on Oct 23, 2006
I suspect that label is a due to a bug. There's a new feature, where if you save a solution that (1) fills in all squares, (2) satisifies all clues, and (3) doesn't match the intended solution, then it marks the puzzle as having multiple solutions.

I think that while you were test solving a previous version of this, you probably saved such a solution, causing it to be so marked, and giving you a "oops - there are multiple solutions" message. (Note that just finishing the puzzle causes it to be automatically saved now.) You then edited the puzzle some more and, I suppose, fixed the problem, but the multiple solution mark was left.

I'll remove the multiple solution mark, though I haven't finished solving it myself. I'll also modify the code so that there is a fourth condition for auto-marking multiple solutions: The puzzle is published. I guess unpublished puzzles should still get the "oops" message though.
#3: Jan Wolter (jan) on Oct 23, 2006
Well, I finally solved it, but by the time I did, I found that the puzzle had been very slightly editted, so my solution no longer fit. It was easy to "adjust" my solution to fit the modified puzzle, but because of that I can't really conclusively say whether the solution is unique or not. I think it is. It's a lot of fiddly hard work to solve, and I'm not eager to do it again.

Anyway, it's an amazingly cool puzzle. Quite a lot of work to solve, with a very nice final image as a reward.

However, it points out that I have some work to do to improve the handling of the situation where a puzzle gets editted while someone is solving it.
#4: Susan Spitz (punchy sue) on Oct 23, 2006 [HINT]
Comment Suppressed:Click below to view hints
#5: Susan Spitz (punchy sue) on Oct 23, 2006 [HINT]
Comment Suppressed:Click below to view hints
#6: Susan Spitz (punchy sue) on Oct 23, 2006
Sorry for the double post. LOL!
#7: Jan Wolter (jan) on Oct 23, 2006
No problem. Edits on the puzzle after it has been posted can be kind of annoying for the early solvers, but if it makes a better puzzle for everyone that comes later, then it's worth it, I think. And this is a truely impressive puzzle.
#8: Mark Conger (aruba) on Oct 24, 2006
Holy cow - that was really hard. But what a great picture! It took me many, many hours to solve, but I did it without guessing. So unless I made a mistake somewhere, I can confirm that this has a unique solution.

I don't think I've ever given 5 stars for both difficulty and quality before. This one is truly amazing.
#9: Mark Conger (aruba) on Oct 24, 2006 [HINT]
Comment Suppressed:Click below to view hints
#10: Jan Wolter (jan) on Oct 24, 2006 [HINT]
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#11: Robert Kummerfeldt (rmkummerfeldt) on Nov 2, 2006 [SPOILER]
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#12: Gitte Olesen (granny40) on Dec 29, 2006
WOW. GREAT puzzle. Very nice. I enjoyed it MANY hours ;-)
#13: Meg Tayler (rebelcat) on May 28, 2007
Beautiful! I really enjoyed solving this one. Very satisfying! :-)
#14: Rachel R (rachel) on Jul 10, 2007
This one wasn't so much hard as time consuming for me. It required a lot of iterations, I think mostly because it idn't have long blocks of color. But I never got stuck. Very well done.
#15: Arduinna (arduinna) on Oct 10, 2007
Whew! What day is it? I was determined to solve this puzzle, and it was well worth it, but boy did it take a long time!
#16: Timothy (relic10) on Dec 2, 2007
I usually keep to the easier puzzles, but I was intrigued with this one when the quality rating remained so high after a long period of time. So I began it, but didn't get far. I then chipped at it periodically when I didn't feel like starting a new puzzle, and after a long time, I finally completed it today. Very nice picture, and very intense puzzle.
#17: Jane Butcher (jane-o) on Dec 5, 2007
I guess the change made a big difference because it seemed extremely straight forward to me. I had no idea was it was until the end, which I really like. I was pretty sure it was a flower with some blue shading on the foliage. Thanks.
#18: W Marik (wmarik) on Jan 1, 2008 [SPOILER]
Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers
#19: Deana L (ffswife) on Jun 23, 2008
This is one I've been whittling away at for months too. A piece here, a piece there. But finally! DONE! Yea! VERY nice puzzle... in the solving and the final product!
#20: Katherine Ballard (kittykat) on Jul 16, 2008
Fabulous!!
#21: Yulia (yug) on Dec 8, 2008
My head hurts.... :)
#22: Byrdie (byrdie) on Jan 19, 2010 [HINT] [SPOILER]
Comment Suppressed:Click below to view hints and spoilers
#23: Jane Doe (telly) on Feb 28, 2010
gorgeous image!
#24: Vaggelis Kamaris (evag7651) on Sep 20, 2010
it does have a unique solution and it can been solved by logic alone. It took three days of my life as I started it four times. nice puzzle
#25: Linda Martin (ilovethispuzzle123) on Oct 9, 2010
beautiful!
#26: GabrielMyCat (gabrielmycat) on Jul 16, 2011
I LOVE this puzzle. Absolutely fun; absolutely gorgeous. I cannot say it is a 5 star difficulty puzzle, just that patience, logic and time is what it takes to finish it. It is definitely 5 star quality puzzle!!! thanks for such a wonderful change to words we have been getting a lot of lately.
#27: nieboo (BionerdII) on Oct 5, 2011 [SPOILER]
Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers
#28: LoloJean (LoloJean) on May 26, 2012 [HINT] [SPOILER]
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#29: Teresa K (fasstar) on Jun 7, 2012
Gorgeous puzzle!
#30: BlackCat (blackcat) on Feb 10, 2013
That was one TOUGH puzzle. Did solve with logic and tons of patience. Thank goodness the image was a beautiful reward!
#31: C A (nakunarimasu) on Jan 24, 2014
Absolutely gorgeous picture!
#32: portafolio12000 (portafolio12000) on Jun 14, 2016
Muy buen puzzle, y difícil. Pero se puede resolver con lógica. Y la solución es única.
#33: Leah Drakeford (leah225) on Jul 29, 2016
Very enjoyable puzzle. Quite challenging, and has a nice picture at the end! This has been one of my favorite puzzles to solve on this site.
#34: Vaggelis Kamaris (evag7651) on Aug 4, 2016
solved by logic alone. Relatively easy.
#35: Laura Farnan (lfarnan) on Mar 18, 2018
Absolutely beautiful! I didn't find it that difficult...
#36: Vaggelis Kamaris (evag7651) on Mar 12, 2022
solved again.
#37: Synthia McBride (synthia) on May 7, 2022
Beautiful image.
#38: derby (Derby) on Aug 23, 2022
Solved again. I’m in search of difficult puzzles and this fills the bill well. Excellent
#39: Julie Bay (jb) on Feb 20, 2023
Beautiful!
#40: Pam Tucker (grammypam) on Jun 20, 2023 [SPOILER]
Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers
#41: Kathy Roth (clydie) on Dec 11, 2023
Beautiful! One of the best puzzles on this site! Not too hard, just took patience

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