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#1: Adam Nielson (monkeyboy) on May 13, 2009

Once I saw what this was turning into, I re-read the title and knew what it was going to me. Very tough, but logically solvable. I love these puzzles.

Found to be logically solvable by jan.

A very excellent puzzle. I gave it 5 stars, dunno what other people are thinking. Looks good, but more to the point, it great fun to solve, challenging and interesting from beginning to end. Probably took lots of work to get it to that point.

This is exactly the problem you, Jan, run into when you rate on "how much fun to solve" and most others rate on quality of image. Until you develop a new rating category, it will never change.

Outliers count.

Supposing we already had three ratings 2,3,3,4 and suppose high and low are eliminated (actually they wouldn't be in so small a sample, but never mind that). If I rate it a 1 then the eliminated ratings would be the 1 and the 4, so we'd average 2,3,3 = 2.67. If I rate it a 5, the 2 and 5 are eliminated, and we average 3,3,4 = 3.33. So either way my rating is eliminated, but that hardly means it doesn't count.

I think people who haven't tried to make them tend to under-appreciate small puzzles. One of many reasons why one shouldn't get too hung up on ratings.

Smaller puzzles on average always get rated lower than larger puzzles. This trend happens no matter whichever site one goes to. More pixels = better RATED puzzle.

This discussion seems analogous to the current gaming consoles. You have the argument on the HD console side that says better graphics = better games. On the Wii side, you have more fun to play = better games.

How many generations do you think it'll take before we wear out humanity's capacity to be wow'ed by pretty pictures?

Not sure. It seems we have to be reaching a point where the human eye will not be able to discern much more. 1080p screens with 1080p programming look amazingly. Will the 4k screens give us more discernible detail, or just the ability to have larger screens?

I don't think it will ever happen.

Are outliers the same as outlanders or are we talking about The Outlier Limits here?

I gave it a 5 star rating, as well. Here's why - it's small, but instantly recognizable. No pixel is wasted, no pixel out of place. It also provides a satisfying level of challenge, requiring a couple of different kinds of logic to solve.

And it's also a pretty picture. Well done!

Thanks for explaining your "rationale."

Very cool puzzle. Challenging without being too frustrating. Good job, Gator.

great! fun!
ditto most of the comments.

I also seen the evil face inside the hat!

fabulous

Wow, what a wonderful puzzle to solve!!!! Love it Gator :)

Thanks!

Must have started out really wrong because I wound up doing a lot of guessing.

Nice one Gator. I did a very similar picture (and title) for a WCP that is now gone.

Jan, I hope humans will always be wowed by well made images. Like words, it's one of the ways we make sense of the world. (And art is part of what makes humanity as great as it is, in my opinion, despite our many flaws.)

Gator, as someone who owns a 27" 4K screen, I will attest it definitely does allow seeing greater detail. Digital camera pixel counts are increasing just as rapidly, so also can capture far more detail. As an artist who works digitally I am personally really happy about this, especially as I can zoom in and adjust really tiny bits that do make a difference in the finished product. It is admittedly expensive to keep up with changes in technology in a competitive market, but so far I've found it worth the investment.

All of you, please know that some of us who have not made any puzzles still do appreciate how challenging it must be, and how much more so in a smaller space. Please don't anyone here be discouraged by ratings, almost everything I've seen on here so far is really well done. Any maybe not so great ones were somebody's early attempts, and I've so far only seen one of those that the person didn't show up with better very rapidly. The regular puzzle makers I see here all the time are terrific! (Of course, I'm mostly using the "random puzzle" button, so I'm sure I get more by people who have been active here longer.)

I'm sure some people just find it easy or somehow perversely satisfying to slam others in an anonymous space. Giving low ratings on a site like this is maybe one way that comes out. It might in fact have nothing to do with the puzzle, but more because they haven't had their coffee yet. This is a wonderful site, not only great fun with the puzzles but also a really sweet and lively community. I am continually as entranced by the discussions as by the solving. Please just keep it coming! (Although as a relative newcomer here, it's not like I need more, I doubt I can even live long enough to solve what's already here, haha!)

Cool hat, BTW, and satisfyingly tricky solve. Clever title too.

Somehow this was exceptionally easy at 3 a.m. Very satisfying. I could tell what it was going to be, but didn't have to guess. The expression comes through clearly. I don't think I've ever rated any puzzles until now, but I just gave this a 5, Working on a balky iPad, I always prefer good small puzzles to anything larger. 20 by 20 is perfect. Thanks for providing so many nifty little puzzles, Gator.

Thanks Jill!

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