I was unable to stream due to technical problems -- should have spent more time making sure everything was ready, so I'm sorry about that. So I promised that, instead, I would write up my thoughts on all the rooms. I've attached my demo pack, with all except MM 6E solved.
Overall, this was a really fun hold -- indeed, I think it's the best of the race holds so far
×Friendly Faces
Click here to view the secret text
×1W: Pretty nasty. I knew the solution had to be a double-push of some kind, but I couldn't really see how to set it up. In the end I got it mostly by luck.
1N: Trivial if you know that an aumtlich can freeze a mimic.
1N1E: The use of the decoy to affect which side the nest spawns was a neat linchpin, although monsters' preference between a decoy and a stalwart was a bit obscure for a race room.
1N2E: Very neat trick to get the waterskippers stunned for two turns.
3E: Looked impossible at first, then a very nice "aha" moment.
1S2E: This one took me ages because I was stuck on trying to go for the arrow rotators in the wrong pairing. Then it turned out to be surprisingly simple. Nice room.
1S1E: Pretty fun trapdoor puzzle with an unusual restriction. I got it very quickly just by taking the arrows one at a time and working out a way to get around each one.
1S: Another one that took surprisingly long considering how simple it is.
Gone in 60 Turns
Click here to view the secret text
×Entrance: Took me ages to see the gap in the obstacles, under the pressure of a race
1E: Excellent. I liked the linchpin of bringing out the last golem from the lower group so that I could turn my sword to kill it without losing time.
1S: Pretty simple monster maze, just had to think about the fastest way to hit each of the pressure plates.
1S1E: Another simple room where the first route I tried wasn't quite good enough, so I looked for another route and found one that worked.
2S: Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast. Nice linchpin.
2S1E: My first couple of attempts left me with unclearable gel, so I decided "
okay, I'll just try to find a sequence of cuts that removes the blob, then worry about efficiency"
, and I happened to be efficient enough on my first try.
Mega Micropuzzle$
I'm not sure why there's a $ in the title. Also, for a long time I didn't realise that the tunnels are set up so as to allow solving the rooms in any order.
Click here to view the secret text
×1E: This was the very first room I tried, and I started to panic when I couldn't get it, even though I knew it had to be simple. Then I took a look at the other levels and solved a couple of rooms. Once the pressure was off, this was a neat starter with a nice simple linchpin.
2E: What a friendly guard! I had no problem with this one.
3E: Got the north PP easily enough, but the south one was a nasty magic move sequence, and I ended up getting it by luck.
4E: I spent a long time trying to get the aumtlich to the middle of the bottom row, before realising that was impossible and looking for alternatives.
5E: Very easy, I just started by filling in the obvious gaps, and that turned out to be the solution.
6E: This is the only room I didn't solve. I can get one skipper out, but only by a sequence of moves that leaves the other two permanently stuck.
7E: Utterly trivial.
8E: Fun room. I spent a while trying to kill the NW brain before realising I had to start over and go for that one first.
9E: Rather awkward. I could see where to put the golem and wubba, but getting them there under time pressure was another matter.
Claustrophobia
Click here to view the secret text
×1W: Excellent puzzle! It took me a long time to see the correct route to send up the mirrors... then again, I only needed three, so I'm not sure whether I got the intended solution?
2W: A little annoying, but I got there after a few tries.
3W: Fortunately, I've seen this kind of clone manipulation before, although I usually see it in rooms where you have to increase your speed, rather than where a mimic restricts your movement.
1E: After "Mini Mimicry", I'm no longer afraid of rooms like this. Neat trapdoor puzzle.
2E: The last room I solved before the end of the race, but it was a very satisfying solution.
3E: Jokered this room to get a race time, then solved it pretty soon after. Nice use of monsters' target preferences to make it possible to get golems to all the pressure plates.
Odds and Ends (post-mastery)
Click here to view the secret text
×1W: Much easier than the corresponding room (FF 1W). I suppose it was dropped because the seep interaction was considered too obscure, though honestly, it was no worse than some of the interactions that were used in the main hold.
1S1W: Not too bad once I realised I had to start from the west.
Thank you to everyone who took part in building and testing it!