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Deckardv 2025 Puzzle Night 5 Recap + Experience

Puzzle Night 5 was hosted on Deckardv's puzzle server! Once again, I participated and placed... 5th out of 28 participants, which was in the purple zone. (you can see my post on Puzzle Night 3 to see the zone colors and placements). My goal this time was the podium. because that's where I placed last time. My placement went down from last time, but it's okay. 

This night had more varied puzzles due to a new mod team in the server.

Puzzle 1: Crossword \ Time: 8:52 \ Placement: 12th

The first puzzle was a crossword. I was a bit concerned since I've never actually solved a crossword puzzle before, but the puzzle wasn't that bad. I got a bit stuck at the end, but still solved the puzzle quite fast.

Puzzle 2: Nurikabe \ Time: 1:35 \ Placement: 6th

The second puzzle was a GAPP-level Nurikabe. I didn't expect to solve the puzzle this quickly, but I took it anyways.

Puzzle 3: Puzzle Hunt \ Time: 13:45 \ Placement: 6th

No, this wasn't an entire puzzle hunt. It was a puzzle similar to one you might see in a puzzle hunt.

Now about the puzzle -- it was themed around a puzzle camp hosted by Deckardv called SOPO (Summer of Puzzle Olympics), involving team names and puzzle names. I used a spreadsheet as an aid for the puzzle, and it probably helped. 

Puzzle 4: Kakuro \ Time: 6:03 \ Placement: 5th

This puzzle was a variant kakuro that only used numbers from 1-7. It was a bit difficult, but after I realized I had to use both "naked" and "hidden" logic, it became easier.

Puzzle 5: Word Snakes \ Time: 16:37 \ Placement: 8th

The last puzzle of the night was a variant Word Snakes that claimed to be the hardest. This one was pretty funny --- but also quite difficult.

Practice Puzzles

I did not make a practice set this time.

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