Alice and the Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum

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When we sat down for the August Cook-Off 2016, the Rio 2016 Olympics were in their final days, and the Olympics of programming i.e. the ACM ICPC were fast approaching. Everyone was geared up to put their best foot forward, be it the sportsmen competing in Rio, or the young programmers around the world sprinting towards the ACM ICPC 2016 – 2017 regionals. We too were getting into the Olympic spirit and getting right behind our favorite sportsmen and you all, our favorite programmers. While the constant support messages and the eventual cheer went out on the social streams, we had our August Cook-Off 2016 well and ready for you all to come and showcase your brilliance. And it gives us immense pleasure to say that, we weren’t disappointed.

The problems of Alei Reyes presented the participants with a great challenge, which they all embraced. However, the start of the contest was not as expected for many of the early birds. Unlike some of the previous Cook-Offs where it was a green tick galore in the early stages, we saw only 7 of those green ticks in the first 50 submissions into the contest. We got 5 more in the next 50, but by now, the dreaded red cross of WA had taken over the submission table. It made us think if everything was alright with the problems, and it was. Our tester Hasan Jaddouh had done a great job testing the problems leaving nothing to be questioned about. And we could have been happier.

The first problems to have received submissions in the early stages of the contest were ALICE and TWEED. And while TWEED, turned out to be an easy nut to crack, ALICE stood exactly at the opposite end of the difficulty spectrum. How difficult it was? Well, out of the 200 submissions that it got, there only were 3 ACs. While, that might sound a tad too difficult, the other problems were not all that easy as well. We had 35 AC out of 300 submissions for MADHAT, 15 out of 150 for MCKTUR, and 9 out of 100 for QUEHEA.  And with the busy competitive programming season ahead, we think it would have given a good practice ground to everyone who participated in the contest. But we still would like to hear from you, what you thought of the problem set, were they a tad too hard for your taste, or they were just as you like the problems to be.

Now, let us take a stroll through the rank tables to meet our winners:

We start with the ROW top 10:

Now, the Indian top 10:

A big round of applauds to all our winners and to you all for competing in the August Cook-Off 2016.

Now, it’s editorial time. Penned by our omnipresent admin Praveen Dhinwa, the editorials will help you understand your mistakes during the contest if there were any. If there were not, you still might want to have a look at them to better prepare for the upcoming ACM ICPC season.

And that will be all from us here at CodeChef. We hope we were able to cover the contest along with all its highlights. However, if we have missed out on any, feel free to let us know. You can write to us, call us, or send us a message on social streams. We love hearing you guys.

We will come soon with the final tale from the August contest, i.e. the August LunchTime 2016, but till then, keep coding.

See you at the contests.

– Rudreshwar
Team CodeChef

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