I find the further off the "main path" you go, the easier it is to find incorrect papers. In particular, I found a few papers which claim to provide algorithms

I find the further off the "main path" you go, the easier it is to find incorrect papers. In particular, I found a few papers which claim to provide algorithms which solve some problem. If there is no evidence the algorithm was ever implemented, there is a distribingly good chance it doesn't work -- I used to sometimes give such papers as projects for students, but now I always start on day 1 saying "Be prepared for this to be wrong".