Puzzle Description:

Ace of spade

#1: Robert Kummerfeldt (rmkummerfeldt) on Feb 9, 2007

Well done - very challenging, especially at the start. Had to use some unique logic to make progress, but was able to solve everything logically.

One thing that makes some of these puzzles very easy is symmetry: if the numbers in either the columns or the rows are symmetric then the puzzle will likely (though not always) be symmetric in that direction. This puzzle is a perfect example as not only is the object in the center symmetric, but also the items in the 4 corners are also symmetric (not to mention exact copies). I was easily able to finish the puzzle in very little time, and didn't even have to look at the numbers after I had finished the center and 1 1/2 corners

If the clues are symmetric, and the puzzle has a unique solution, then you can be assured that the solution will always be symmetric. Knowing this can be a huge help in solving puzzles.

However, there are many puzzles on this site that do NOT have unique solutions. In such cases it is possible that none of the solutions will be symmetric (though the reflection of any solution will also be a solution).

In most cases, if a puzzle has multiple solutions, it will be flagged that way on this site. I mostly end up solving puzzles while they are quite new, however, and haven't been rated, so I generally can't use the symmetry trick. Deciding if the puzzle has a unique solution is one of my goals when I solve it, so I can't start by assuming it does.

Whether or not you want to use symmetry when you solve puzzles is a matter of taste.

Thanks Artur! Nice image and fun puzzle.

I resisted the urge to guess and solved only with logic, which was quite challenging.

Nicely done! That was a lot of fun.

Symetry helped me solve, but it was a guess at where it started once line solving ran out none the less.

Quite a bit of edge logic will get this one solved.

I was able to do this puzzle just by line and edge logic as I prefer not to use sym, but it would be much faster and simpler to use sym.

This was too predictable to be fun. Good proportions.

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