Crispo - Excel Challenge 41 2025

excel-challenges
weekly-exercises
Easy Sunday Excel Challenge
Published

October 12, 2025

Illustration for Crispo - Excel Challenge 41 2025

Challenge Description

Easy Sunday Excel Challenge

⭐ Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 and filter outs sub items ⭐For example Group 1 = 100+25+20

Solutions

library(tidyverse)
library(readxl)

path = "files/2025-10-12/Challenge 70.xlsx"
input = read_excel(path, range = "B2:C12")
test  = read_excel(path, range = "E2:F6")

result = input %>%
  mutate(Item = paste0("Group ",cumsum(str_detect(Item, "Group")))) %>%
  summarise(Prices = sum(Prices,na.rm = TRUE), .by = Item)

all.equal(result, test)
# [1] TRUE

  • Logic:

    • Reads the workbook range needed for the challenge

    • Aggregates or ranks values at the correct grouping level

    • Builds the intermediate helper columns that drive the final answer

    • Uses direct text-pattern extraction instead of manual cleanup

  • Strengths:

    • The R solution stays compact and mirrors the workbook logic closely.

  • Areas for Improvement:

    • The code assumes the workbook layout and named ranges remain stable.

  • Gem:

    • The best part of the solution is choosing a tidy intermediate shape before producing the final answer.
import pandas as pd

path = "files/2025-10-12/Challenge 70.xlsx"
input = pd.read_excel(path, usecols="B:C", skiprows=1, nrows=11)
test = pd.read_excel(path, usecols="E:F", skiprows=1, nrows=4).rename(columns=lambda col: col.replace('.1', ''))

input['Item'] = "Group " + input['Item'].str.contains("Group").cumsum().astype(str)
result = input.groupby('Item', as_index=False)['Prices'].sum()

print(result.equals(test))

  • Logic:

    • Reads the workbook range needed for the challenge

    • Aggregates or ranks values at the correct grouping level

  • Strengths:

    • The Python version keeps the same rule in a direct pandas-oriented workflow.

  • Areas for Improvement:

    • As with the R version, any workbook layout change would require small adjustments.

  • Gem:

    • The implementation stays close to the stated challenge instead of adding unnecessary complexity.

Difficulty Level

This task is moderate:

  • It combines familiar Excel-style logic with at least one non-trivial reshape, grouping, or parsing step.

  • The answer depends on getting the output layout exactly right.