Being through the second rank, I can say that these levels have not been significantly harder than those of the first rank. With two exceptions: "Crystal Cavern" was a very hard level which I probably backrouted. But the real challenge for me was "Pillar Pairs" that took a long time to solve. Again, many great levels here, my favourite was "Rescue Rodents". Let's go for the next rank now!
Spoiler
Hard But Still Fun
1 - Lemming BBQ
If that's the intended solution, this is a marvelous level. I love the way the climber is used as well as how the digger is stopped with the miner. No blocker needed here.
2 - Master Exploder
By no means an easy level. After approaching the solution, I finally was one Lemming down and had a blocker left. So I changed my strategy right beneath the entrance with blocking the crowd and later bashing this blocker free. This saved the digger who was precious later on and contributed to solve the level.
3 - Once You Pop You Can't Stop
Yeah, my favourite tune for the third time in the pack, that's double fun solving. After rock and snow, it's a bubble level this time - and it's a good one. 7 available bombers seem generous, but I needed them all. I liked the separate cells for the crowd and the pioneers.
4 - Rock-A-Bye Lemmy
For me, a hard one. It's obvious that the Lemmings from above have to be bashed out by one Lemming from the bottom. But one Lemmings must bomb a hole into the crystal -and this can't be the climber as there is only one. The alternative is hidden very well - which makes this one a very decent level.
5 - Uphill Struggle
Tricky. At first, I tried to build in a zigzag-style to reach the top-platform with the three traps, but I wasn't able to make it work. So I solved it through the right side. Not a very elegant solution, I must admit.
6 - Recession-Proof
Breather-level, at least the way I did it. I saw Kaywhyns solution - and wow, there's really a lot of preparation to make that work.
7 - Star Trek
Very hard level and certainly a roadblock for me. The main challenge was to get two Lemmings up to the platform between the big crystal and the exit, because two are necessary to mine the crowd free. So two separate packs of Lemmings have to be created to walk through the traps while they have to be in a sufficient distance from each other. This was hard to achieve as it was totally timing-based. It's by no means a bad level, but probably one which is well-suited for a rage-quit
8 - My First Crush
Far easier than the previous one. I was a bit stupid, though since I tried to rescue those from the right side with a climber from the left side. But in this case, the Lemmings at the bottom will not be together close enough. Ideally, only the two diggers that create the hole for the others should make it to the metal.
9 - Pillars of the Community
When I looked at it, I thought this could be a quick solve, but I was...wrong. The devil is in the details here - so for example the sole climber is needed at different spots at the same time.
All my solutions can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@Swerdis
1 - Lemming BBQ
If that's the intended solution, this is a marvelous level. I love the way the climber is used as well as how the digger is stopped with the miner. No blocker needed here.
2 - Master Exploder
By no means an easy level. After approaching the solution, I finally was one Lemming down and had a blocker left. So I changed my strategy right beneath the entrance with blocking the crowd and later bashing this blocker free. This saved the digger who was precious later on and contributed to solve the level.
3 - Once You Pop You Can't Stop
Yeah, my favourite tune for the third time in the pack, that's double fun solving. After rock and snow, it's a bubble level this time - and it's a good one. 7 available bombers seem generous, but I needed them all. I liked the separate cells for the crowd and the pioneers.
4 - Rock-A-Bye Lemmy
For me, a hard one. It's obvious that the Lemmings from above have to be bashed out by one Lemming from the bottom. But one Lemmings must bomb a hole into the crystal -and this can't be the climber as there is only one. The alternative is hidden very well - which makes this one a very decent level.
5 - Uphill Struggle
Tricky. At first, I tried to build in a zigzag-style to reach the top-platform with the three traps, but I wasn't able to make it work. So I solved it through the right side. Not a very elegant solution, I must admit.
6 - Recession-Proof
Breather-level, at least the way I did it. I saw Kaywhyns solution - and wow, there's really a lot of preparation to make that work.
7 - Star Trek
Very hard level and certainly a roadblock for me. The main challenge was to get two Lemmings up to the platform between the big crystal and the exit, because two are necessary to mine the crowd free. So two separate packs of Lemmings have to be created to walk through the traps while they have to be in a sufficient distance from each other. This was hard to achieve as it was totally timing-based. It's by no means a bad level, but probably one which is well-suited for a rage-quit
8 - My First Crush
Far easier than the previous one. I was a bit stupid, though since I tried to rescue those from the right side with a climber from the left side. But in this case, the Lemmings at the bottom will not be together close enough. Ideally, only the two diggers that create the hole for the others should make it to the metal.
9 - Pillars of the Community
When I looked at it, I thought this could be a quick solve, but I was...wrong. The devil is in the details here - so for example the sole climber is needed at different spots at the same time.
All my solutions can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@Swerdis