Sudoku

[rich p]

8½ minutes today. B)
Are we talking about the same Sudoku? I mean the one in the Guardian? I found today's quite easy, many times I've taken three or four times as long, even on the ones rated 'medium'.

There must be a knack or a gift that I haven't got. I'll race you round the block or arm wrestle or Saturday's prize cryptic crossword or.....

 

[Maz]

There must be a knack or a gift that I haven't got. I'll race you round the block or arm wrestle or Saturday's prize cryptic crossword or.....B)

Definitely a knack to it. You need to know the 'messages' in the clues.

Sailor...AB is in the answer (for Able-Bodied)
politician...MP " "
One...'I' is in the answer.
Nothing...'O' is in the answer.
We hear...the answer is a homophone
etc
etc
etc

 

[rich p]

Definitely a knack to it. You need to know the 'messages' in the clues.

Sailor...AB is in the answer (for Able-Bodied)
politician...MP " "
One...'I' is in the answer.
Nothing...'O' is in the answer.
We hear...the answer is a homophone
etc
etc
etc

Ah, that's where I've been going wrong, Maz. I've just been putting in numbers 1 to 9

 

[Sam Kennedy]

I wrote a script which solves sudoku in less than a second, but I'm really bad a sudoku. My PB for an easy is like 3:30. Normally it's around 10 minutes :

 

[HobbesChoice]

But, on the plus side, it keeps your brain engaged and active for those 10 minutes rather than just 3.5 minutes. That can only be a good thing?

 

[Over The Hill]

I don't do them - had enough of blooming numbers day in day out...

They are logic puzzles not number puzzles. 1-9 is simply used as a convenient set of different objects. It could be letters A-I or anything.

My kids got some for maths homework- No maths in it at all!

I rather like them. You know when it is right and as you progress it is still quite hard until you are down to the
last few squares.

They are much better in books as the grid is much bigger than in the paper so you have room to put in the possible options around the edge of the square.

My top tip is to write the possibles around the edge like a clock face in the same positon each time then they are easier to find later.

 

[addictfreak]

I have the sudoku game on my phone. Am quite hooked on it I have say, comes in really handy while Mrs AF is shopping. I just find a quiet seat in the shop and puzzle away.

 

[661-Pete]

There's not really any sure-fire way of completing a puzzle - or of explaining to someone else how to solve it. If there were, it would lose a lot of its fascination.

There are clear techniques to 'get you started', however. Take today's Guardian Sudoku (I'm sure they won't mind me reproducing it here):

.4.|...|..3
.7.|...|..6
..2|5..|19.
-----------
3..|.45|...
1..|...|..8
...|39.|..1
-----------
.84|..9|3..
7..|...|.1.
6..|...|.2.

(using 'chessboard' nomenclature): look at the '3's in a6, d4, g3 and i9, you can work out at once that the only place for the '3' in middle-right box, is h5: all other cells conflict in either row or column.

Then again, looking at column 'i' - the only place a '2' can go is i6.

Carry on working this way, filling in the unambiguous ones, until you run out of those. Then consider a cell that can have either of two numbers, or a number that can go in one of two places in a row, column or box. 'Guess' one of the two options, fill it in in pencil or small print, then continue working until you either complete the puzzle or reach a contradiction - in which case your guess was wrong and you backtrack.

I rarely have to make more than one 'guess', per puzzle. My thesis is, if it won't come out, you're not concentrating (or the puzzle is unsolvable - which I've never seen in the Grauniad).

HTH.

 

[ColinJ]

I don't like Sudoku puzzles where you have to guess and backtrack. I don't mind how difficult they are as long as they can be solved without guessing.

I buy books of Sudoku puzzles from the local market for about 60p a time. The puzzles range in difficulty from pretty easy through to pretty hard. Sometimes I just like to do the easy ones - it helps to relax me. If I want more of a challenge I tackle one of the more difficult puzzles.

 

[rich p]

I was under the impression that they were solvable without punting and backtracking. I just thought I'd give it a try but to be truthful I'll stick to the cryptic crosswords!

 

[Cubist]

Guessing and backtracking are a big no! I like the difficult graded ones in the Times. I love logical puzzling, and once I start I rarely give up unless I really have to. I never write in an alternative unless that number belongs in one of only two squares in the same 3x3 , or only two numbers could logically go in that square.

Most disappointing are the ones that are too easy. I bought a book where the two star puzzles took on average 3 mins to complete. The three stars are over in about 10 to 15 minutes, and the 4 star are less than half an hour. Felt cheated!

 

[hackbike 666]

I thought I would like Sudoku but no.I generally can't be bothered.

 

[snorri]

My kids got some for maths homework- No maths in it at all!

Maybe they need to try kakuro.