Puzzle Ratings

How are ratings of the puzzles determined? is it based on the time taken to solve? Some higher rated puzzles seem easier than lower rated ones.

Puzzle ratings are bollocks. 1900 rated puzzles are sometimes just capturing a piece.

I have no idea. My assumption is that ratings are based on how many other people are solving them. Perhaps if half the users solve it and half the users miss it, then the rating is around 1500? If fewer people solve it, the rating is higher. If more people solve it, the rating is lower.

However, "cheating" is not monitored for puzzles, so it's possible that certain ratings are distorted because some people use engine assistance? At least, that's what I tell myself when I lose a lot of points for what seems like a very difficult puzzle. 😄

Also, I have noticed that certain motifs are prevalent at certain rating levels. Sometimes certain motifs can be more challenging for me even though they are lower rated. Other times, I miss higher rated puzzles because I was looking for something more complicated but the solution was relatively straight forward.

@clutchnutz sometimes i miss higher rated puzzles too because I am often looking for something complicated, but shouldn't that mean that the puzzle rating is higher than it should be?

@legos99 Not if other people are also looking for something complicated and miss it too. Again, I think the rating is indifferent to apparent complexity. If fewer people solve it, the rating is higher - even if it's "easier". At least that's my assumption.