I long ago came a question, what is more important for programmer: standard or nonstandard approach to the problem?

First of all, every problem is a creative, and you must reduce the problem to a simpler. You have several standard methods: to look to restrictions, and through experience you can see obvious standard solution(for example, restrictions is 100000 and you can understand that author thought about sort or segment tree). But in order to understand what condition you can imposed on the problem-you must understand, what restrictions and why you can impose to the problem, you must be creative.

There is some problems which cannot be solved if you haven't nonstandart solution. There is some problems which have more and more easy solution if you think a couple of minutes.

But sometimes your creative may prevent you from solve the problem. For example, if you have the restrictions who are not fully understood: solution with which the asymptotic is correct? And you think about n*logn when there is no correct solution n*logn, and correct solution is n*n. And creative programmers solve problems in implementation more long time.

Of cource, you can't told what is more matter for the programmer-creative or noncreative. I asked you: what tasks you solve simpler-implimentation or creative?