Monday, January 09, 2006
Sudoku
I recently discovered the joys of Sudoku puzzles. Lani came home one day with a stack of them that she'd run off at work and I remembered Ike Graul mentioning them in his blog, so I thought I'd give them a try. I'm pretty good at the 1 & 2 star puzzles, but it gets more challenging after that. On Saturday, I successfully completed my first 4 star puzzle (and I think I picked up a bit more puzzle solving strategy along the way). But, I've been totally stumped by a 5 star puzzle. I solved 8 numbers on it, but after that I can't seem to progress anywhere. I've written in with little numbers all the possibilities for each square, yet don't see any move to make. So, you Sudoku players, do you have to take a "leap of faith" and guess at this level, or am I probably missing something??? It's just a game, I know, but I love this mental challenge and I can't figure out what to do next!
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2 comments:
You need a computer program to help further your addiction! I use Sudoku Susser, by Robert "Trebor the Mad Overlord" Woodhead. It can give you hints while solving. Nina tells me this is cheating, but I'm not too bothered by that -- I do this for my enjoyment, not for the common good.
The real gem in this program, though, is the documentation, which includes descriptions of the various solving strategies used in the program. That has helped me learn to solve much more difficult puzzles on paper.
You can enter puzzles manually (i.e. copy the ones in the paper or puzzle books into the program) or fetch them right onto the screen from various places on the internet. Enough to keep you busy (or to keep you from being busy with anything else you really ought to be doing!) for hours.
Check out the program at http://www.madoverlord.com/projects/sudoku.t
You can thank me later. Much, much later, if you're as addicted as I am!
Welcome to the world of Sudoku. They get addicting very quick. I do think that on some of the harder puzzles you have to take a leap of faith. That's the one thing I don't really like about the Sudoku. In any case, I've decided I should really be making better use of my time, so I have tried to rechannel my Sudoku time into something more productive - namely, playing flash putt putt games online.
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