Sudoku

[helen]

The Star-Bulletin calls it Universal Sudoku while the Advertiser calls it su|do|ku. However you call it, you have it fill in missing numbers in a 9x9 grid. Has anyone played this yet?

[scrivener]

The Star-Bulletin calls it Universal Sudoku while the Advertiser calls it su|do|ku. However you call it, you have it fill in missing numbers in a 9x9 grid. Has anyone played this yet?
I have been doing these for years and have collected close to a hundred of them; if you're jonesing for more, I've got some cool variations of them, too, and would be happy to send you some PDFs.

[Surfingfarmboy]

The Providence Journal newspaper just starting publishing the Sudoku puzzles about a month ago here. It's going under one of those reader evaluations to get feedback on it.

The one newspaper puzzle I'm really jonesing for is the one the Advertiser prints..the word thing by Kathleen Saxe where you make as many 4+ letter words from a given word in a finite period of time. I love that one!

[Moto]

I tried a couple last weekend. I found it easier to do it utilizing an Excel Spreadsheet. I found it addicting. I've always been a sucker for logic type puzzles.

[Linkmeister]

My Mom has become addicted to it. I haven't tried it, but I'm still mad that Non Sequitur has disappeared from the comics pages, so I'm in no mood to try anything that's found on those pages. ;)

[Surfingfarmboy]

Okay..what's the basic beginning strategy for simply starting the solving process of this puzzle? I've tried a couple of ways which I thought were decent strategies, but came up with unavoidable numerical conflicts due to (now obvious) errors in my logic.

What's the best way for a newbie at this puzzle to get a grasp on its basics?

I worked 2 hours on a 2-star rated grid and haven't come close to finishing it yet..this is very humbling to someone one who generally can knock off the NYT Sunday Crossword in relative ease, or score at least a 275 in a decent Scrabble game.

I'm beginning to see that this game deals with something that I may be somewhat deficient in..elementary logic..the condition A is met by condition B, therefore the answer can only be C, and so on, kind of thing. I've never been any good with those logic games (usually imported from the UK, sold in the crossword sections of newsstands) where one is to derive a conclusion from a given set of discrete and independent facts.

Any help would be most appreciaated.

[lavagal]

Surfingfarmboy:

I have noticed through the week that they are either eaiser or harder, depending on the day. Tuesdays, I always get it. Easy. Sundays are insanely difficult and nearly impossible. You must guess at Sundays at times, and it's maddening.

The sudoku box is a grid of nine boxes, into each of which you must put the numbers 1-9. As you install the numbers 1-9, they cannot repeat in the rows in which they exist either up and down or side to side.

As a result, you have nine cubes of nine numbers, nine rows of nine numbers, and nine columns of nine numbers, where only the numbers 1-9 are placed once.

Wait, there's more! There's a top row of three cubes, a middle row of three cubes and a bottom row of three cubes. There's also a left row of three cubes, a middle row of three cubes, and a right row of three cubes. Say you put the number eight in the first cube of the first box. In the next two boxes either up and down or side to side, the eight must exist in either the second or third row, in the next two boxes up and down, and side to side.

So the trick is to not to repeat a number within the subcube, or within the same row up and down.

I give myself half hour to 45 minutes to do it. For the last two nights I did it in bed, instead of playing solitaire Scrabble on my Baby Dell (Axim), to lull myself to sleep. Tuesday's was easy. I guess that's how they suck you in.


clear as mud?

[scrivener]

Surfingfarmboy, and anyone else sorta puzzled (ha!) by the Sudoku:

I happen to be teaching one of my Algebra classes how to do these today, so just come on down at about 10:00 and join us.

Just kidding, but here's where I usually tell my students to start.

First, it's a logic puzzle, so you want to start in areas where you're given the most information. That may be a particular 3x3 square, or a single row, or a single column. The more information you have, the more possibilities you can eliminate.

Second, a good start is to write in small numbers all the possible numerals that can occupy any one square. In the easier puzzles, this usually reveals enough to finish the puzzle: This square can have a 2, a 4, or a 9. This square can have a 2 or 9. Wait a minute -- no other square gives the possibility of a 4, so this first one is the four!

After you've done a few of these, it will probably become less necessary for you to jot these possibilities down, because you'll have developed other strategies. What I love about these puzzles is that there's no one strategy that works for all arrangements. In the trickier puzzles, there's only ONE strategy that will work, and the challenge is in identifying that one strategy.

In my other Algebra class, one of my students showed me a pocket-sized paperback collection of Sudoku puzzles; it looked like an American publication, too (normally, I have to send to Japan or England to get anthologies of logic puzzles like this). This is a good sign.

Later this morning, I'll upload a link to some Sudoku variants, for those of you interested in turning this into an obsession!

[Surfingfarmboy]

Thank you, LavaGal and Scrivener, for the information on the cracking the Sudoku puzzles. I'm afraid that I might become one of the many who have found themselves addicted to this puzzle. I've been thinking about the Sudoku puzzle I tried to deceipher last night for most of the working day, and I'm ready to take another stab at it, armed with the stategies listed. Really..how hard can it be? That's what I find so frustrating about it..it's so simple in concept, but make one mistake, and the whole grid is thrown out of balance. I'm going to arrive at the solution, no matter what it takes!!

[scrivener]

Okay, you puzzle freaks and freak-wannabes.
I've got a couple of variants from Oekaki King and Logic Paradise, two Japanese puzzle magazines I subscribe to. The overlapping ones work the same as normal Sudoku puzzles, but keep in mind that the overlapping parts need to satisfy both puzzles.

The puzzles with > and < signs are like normal Sukoku puzzles, but without the 3x3 squares. Instead, satisfy the "no more than one occurrence" rule in rows and columns only, but also make sure that the arrangement of the numbers satisfies the "greater than" or "less than" statements created by the puzzle's design. You'll know what I mean when you see it.

A couple of the files are just regular Sudoku puzzles, in case you need more than your daily fix.

All files are PDFs.

Download the ZIPped archive of all six puzzles here (http://www.mitchellkdwyer.net/puzzles/sudoku.zip),
or click
here (http://www.mitchellkdwyer.net/puzzles/numberplace1.pdf),
here (http://www.mitchellkdwyer.net/puzzles/numberplace2.pdf),
here (http://www.mitchellkdwyer.net/puzzles/numberplace3.pdf),
here (http://www.mitchellkdwyer.net/puzzles/numberplace4.pdf),
here (http://www.mitchellkdwyer.net/puzzles/numberplace5.pdf), and
here (http://www.mitchellkdwyer.net/puzzles/numberplace6.pdf) for the individual files. Sorry about the quality -- these are passable scans, but they could certainly have been better.

[scrivener]

Hm. Turns out there isn't just one book. Check out the search reults at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=pd_kk_sr_1/104-4541986-6786347?index=blended&field-keywords=sudoku).

[tiptoetulip]

In trying to look up some other puzzles, I came across this site which has links to other Sudoku versions (mini, classic, word, color, monster): Other Sudoku versions (http://www.knightfeatures.com/KFWeb/content/features/kffeatures/puzzlesandcrosswords/KF/Sudoko/sudoku_classic.html)

I am thinking my 4th graders would love to do these! :)

[pzarquon]

As soon as I saw questions about this game, I thought, "There must be a Wikipedia entry..." And there is (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku)! It includes a small section on solution strategies.

[Surfingfarmboy]

If any of you in this thread are interested, I did get around to solving that Sudoku puzzle (the one I mentioned in this thread). It took me much longer to solve that I anticipated, but I did it, and now I know the basic strategy for completing them.

The one thing I now is that one has to be certain that any number you fill into a square must be correct..one mistake, and given the nature of the puzzle, the game is lost..a mistake might not be evident at the beginning of the solving process, but it will arise, just when you think you might have the puzzle solved.

I think I'm hooked.

BTW, does anybody know how many combinations of this puzzle could exist, say with just perhaps ten numbers revealed out of the 81 possible in the 9 x 9 grid? I've been trying to come up with the formula for this, but I'm coming up blank. It's easy enough to see that 9 unique numbers can be arranged in 9! ways, but when you factor in the interlocking nature of the grids..9 up columns, 9 columns across, with x number of numbers revealed in a grid, and the fact that the 3 x 3 boxes must meet a criteria of having 9 unique numbers distributed uniquely among (9) 3 x 3 grids..how would one even begin to calcualte this? Do the makes of Sudoku have a program that randomly spits the grids out...it boggles me that they can create them at all!

Note: After writing this I went to Wikipedia link PZ provided, and I read the article. Evidently, there are programs for the creation of grids. And somebody has calculated the number of possibilities. To the guys who created these programs and did the calculations..man...they think at a level I cannot possibly comprehend!

[tiptoetulip]

Play Sudoku Online (http://www.miniclip.com/sudoku/sudoku.htm)

I finally finished my first sudoku!!!! It was an "easy" one, took me 15:59, but yippee!!

I just could not get it last night, but today, I did it! :D

Addictive, indeed.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Scrivener, in post #10, provided interested viewers links to other Sudoku puzzles. Link #1 leads one to 2 individual puzzles..the page with art of peacock shedding fly-away hearts.

I printed it out, and completed the first one with relative ease.

My questions are:

1. Do these particular puzzles have any difficulty ranking? I'm just curious about their difficulty factor, seeing how easily I finished the first one.

2. What do the two boxes with "sub-squares" contained with them indicate? Both puzzles have this common between them.

[scrivener]

1. Do these particular puzzles have any difficulty ranking? I'm just curious about their difficulty factor, seeing how easily I finished the first one.

As a matter of fact, they do. Puzzles from Oekaki King are rated on a scale of one crown to five crowns. You can see the crowns in the circle containing the puzzle number. Puzzles from Logic Paradise are rated from one to ten stars, and the stars are also in the circle containing the puzzle number.

It should be pointed out that these publications aren't Sudoku magazines--they actually feature another brand of mathematical logic puzzles called Paint by Number, Nonograms, or Griddlers (all names referring to the same type of puzzle), so the difficulty rating is actually in comparison to other puzzles in the magazine, not other Sudoku puzzles. The puzzles in the Star-Bulletin rate the puzzles from one star to five stars, and this is probably a truer evaluation of their relative difficulty.

2. What do the two boxes with "sub-squares" contained with them indicate? Both puzzles have this common between them.
Puzzle magazines in Japan are huge business, and one way publishers attract readers is by offering prizes for correctly solving the puzzles (the prizes are quite impressive). In the case of the Nonograms, the completed puzzle forms a picture, so puzzlers in Japan are given an answer sheet with blanks, and they simply write in the blanks what each puzzle is a picture of.

With these Sudoku (referred in every Japanese magazine I've seen, by the way, as Number Place and not Sudoku), I believe the little sub-squares are target squares. Puzzlers add up the numbers in these squares and provide their sums in the answer blanks. They have nothing to do with the actual puzzles, so don't be distracted by them.

I'm glad you enjoy them! Let me know if you ever need more!

[Surfingfarmboy]

Thank you Scrivener, for the explanations!!

I love these now...I'm hooked. I'm hoping when I'm in Honolulu this December to see if I can buy some puzzle magazines imported from Japan that specializes in the Sudoku puzzles, such as Oekaki King, or whatever ones I can find. I may not be able to understand what the mags have written in them; just as long as there are the puzzles in them that are in the form that I'm learning to deceipher, I'll be okay. I remember once, in a HT trivia game, you made reference to a bookstore that specializes in printed matter from Japan. Could this establishment be potential source for these puzzles?

I am only going to attempt to solve puzzles that I've legitimately obtained from now on. I've come to the conclusion that puzzles that one doesn't obtain properly, i.e., "dey wen kakaroach", are by the cosmic powers around us, deemed unsolveable by the person doing the purloining.

I "borrowed" the section from the daily newspaper here that has started recently printing the Sudoku puzzle, from the lobby of a quick-change oil garage yesterday. I mean, they had 3 copies of the paper in the lobby, and it was late in the day, so who was going to miss it, right? I took it home, spent way too much time on it last evening, and never got around to solving it...I made a mistake somewhere that, of course, made solving the puzzle, unsolveable. A case of bachi, perhaps? Karma? I learned my lesson...I will only solve puzzles I've outright bought, or ask permission if I can have the section of paper that has the puzzle in it! I'm convinced there is NO solving them if I don't!!

[Surfingfarmboy]

I have been trying to solve a 4 star rated Sudoku, and I have come to a complete halt in solving it, due to a situation that I can't find a strategy to continue with.

After filling in all of the easy and obvious numbers, I've run into a situation where the authors of this puzzle have intentionally made it difficult to go on. They have paired up two numbers that can, when all of the other obvious numbers have been placed, and when following the logic of the puzzle, both be in the same square of a grid..I can't eliminate one or the other through logic. It's one of those situations where I cannot eliminate or definitively say that a number I need to place or not place can go into/not go into a particular square, or grid, even when I bring in a third or fourth number in an attempt to find a solution, as all of the arguments I've presented to myself in trying to place these numbers are true or negative for both numbers, i.e., the same criteria for the number 2 hold valid for number 3.

What is the next advanced strategy for place numbers like this, when there are no obvious clues left? I couldn't quite follow the Wikipedia explanation beyond the scanning portion.

[scrivener]

I can't eliminate one or the other through logic. It's one of those situations where I cannot eliminate or definitively say that a number I need to place or not place can go into/not go into a particular square, or grid, even when I bring in a third or fourth number in an attempt to find a solution, as all of the arguments I've presented to myself in trying to place these numbers are true or negative for both numbers, i.e., the same criteria for the number 2 hold valid for number 3.
Hey surfingfarmboy, did you ever finish this one? If not, I'd love to take a look at it. Just write the digits in order from upper left to lower right, saying "space" for an unknown.

[scrivener]

Did anyone try the Sudoku variations I posted links to? Just curious. I'd love to know what you thought of them.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Hey surfingfarmboy, did you ever finish this one? If not, I'd love to take a look at it. Just write the digits in order from upper left to lower right, saying "space" for an unknown.

Funny you asked that! No...I lost it! I lost it on the recently completed journey to Chicago. I had every intention of completing the puzzle..or at least giving it a shot, but somewhere, between PVD and ORD, I lost it...lost the mechanical pencil I was solving it with too. Anyway..that one was rigged to be a touch walnut to crack. There were so many numbers that could logically be played in the open squares. I'm pretty sure this puzzle could only be solved with a logic I haven't yet fomulated, let alone mastered, in the Sudoku puzzledom.

I have played the easier puzzles you've linked to. I'm going to give the over-lapping "Tri-Sudoko"..the 3 sudokus super-imposed over each at some point. (I have printed it up.)

I'm kind of leery about the < > varieties. Those look like they could be really frustrating!

[Surfingfarmboy]

I guess I'm officially hooked on Sudoku. I bought my first Sudoku puzzle book yesterday, which bills itself as the "Offcial Publication of the International Sudoku Authority"..the "ISA". The small booklet, published monthly, has puzzles rated very easy to very hard, and like its Japanese counterparts, it also offers cash and prizes to entries, solved from the booklet, that are registered online. (Top prize is $1,000)

Appears there's no turning back for me now!

[manoasurfer123]

This past Sundays Starbulletin 1/15/06 had a "Universal Sudoku Monster)

Instead of the usual 9 boxes, it had 12.

Besides filling in 0-9 you also had to fill in the Letters A - F.

I can't even do the 9 box one... I just can't imagine people racking there brains on this 12 box one.

[Moto]

If you can't get enough of Sudoku's you can play them online at websudoku.com. They have puzzles ranging from easy, medium, hard and evil. Some of the evil ones are exactly that. Enjoy

[Surfingfarmboy]

I went to www.websudoku.com and it is blast! If you're another Sudoku addict looking for some more puzzles, I recommend giving this site a visit.

[scottsportshawaii]

Sudoku is almost as addicting as Jack Bauer and 24!

Mahalo,
Scott
www.sportshawaii.com
"Hawaii's Fan Based Sports Page"

Previous Sports Angel: Midori

http://www.sportshawaii.com/images/midori03.jpg

[Surfingfarmboy]

About Sudoku: How do the creators of a specific puzzle know that it can be solved logically and without guessing, through the numbers given? Is it possible to create a Sudoku puzzle that cannot be solved logically..the numbers given will not allow for any logical conclusions?

[scrivener]

I know that one Sudoku publisher, Conceptis (http://www.conceptistech.com), has a computer that runs an algorithm designed to test for difficulty level, solvability, and uniqueness of solution.

There are certain variables that give these results, such as the number of times one numeral appears in the given clues, or the number of given numerals per row, column, or box. I don't know exactly what they are, but that's why puzzle-makers aren't about to divulge their alglrithms to just anyone.

I have given my students assignments to create these puzzles, but it is more difficult than it seems, especially to create a puzzle that isn't a cake-walk and has a unique solution.

I don't know if you've noticed this, but many of the puzzles have a certain aesthetic about them: either the given numerals are arranged in a cool pattern when you begin, or there are no given 9s, or the numerals given in any particular box add up to the same sum. This comes largely from the Japanese part of Sudoku's history, where puzzle magazines are huge business. There are, in fact, puzzle-writing schools, where people learn to create aesthetically pleasing puzzles of varying difficulty.

It is definitely possible to create an unsolvable puzzle, one with more than one legal solution, but a puzzle with no legal solution seems impossible. If you have five open squares left, for example, the rules of the puzzle dictate that there can only be five exact numerals to place in these squares. These five may yield more than one legal solution, but if they yield no legal solutions, there has to be an illegally placed numeral somewhere else in the puzzle.

[Surfingfarmboy]

I have noticed the patterns evident within the Sudoku grids, similar to the way creators of crossword puzzles make mirror images of the patterns found in those puzzles in two equally spaced areas within the gaming grid.

One thing I've noticed I've done a lot in Sudoku solving is to solve for the obvious and easiest clues first for some puzzles, which often times, if done to the puzzlemakers plan, will lead to another completed pattern, such as two completed lines going horizontally and two completed lines going vertically, or numbers appearing in the same spots of 4 equidistant squares, and so forth. Then at that point, I find that I've been suckered...I've completed the easiest part of the puzzle, now the hard part in figuring it out completely, often times with no easily ascertained clues, is the next step. It's almost as if the creators are lulling a player into thinking a puzzle is going to be a cinch, then all of a sudden, it turns into, as websudoku.com calls them, an "evil" puzzle.

That web-site Conceptis you've linked to looks like it has some real logic game doozies. I don't think I'm anywhere near ready to attempt some of the games they have beyond Sudoku. I'm still working on cracking an evil Sudoku.

[pzarquon]

On page E10 of today's Star-Bulletin, sharing the page with the New York Times crossword and the Universal Sudoku Monster, is a special treat: Scrivener's Sudoku (http://starbulletin.com/2006/04/02/features/sudoku.html), by one Mitchell K. Dwyer.

The shaded squares in the puzzle are the answer to the trivia question, "The First Hawaiian Center on Bishop Street is Hawaii's tallest building. How high does thebuilding [sic] reach?"

Here's the credit: "Mitchell K. Dwyer teaches mathematics, literature, computers and yearbook at ASSETS High School. Contact him at www.scrivenersudoku.com (http://www.scrivenersudoku.com). 'Scrivener's Sudoku' is available online at www.starbulletin.com."

And here's the answer to the 'why' of this thread (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=8135): The "Difficulty Rating" for this puzzle is "Kapiolani Blvd." (versus Kunia Road, Wilhemena Rise, and Hana Highway).

[scrivener]

It's about time someone said something. I've been anxiously hitting "latest posts" since before sunrise! For the record, "thebuilding" is not my fault. Nor is the "three-by- three" (extraneous space) in the online view. However, that extra-heavy line in the lower-left corner IS my fault. I fixed that a million times and it's still printing like that for some reason. Grrr...

Anyway, it was all ZZtype's doing, so huge thanks to him. Also to Surfingfarmboy who tested the first puzzle to help me understand whether or not I could actually create these things.

It's running Sundays for now. If you enjoy the puzzle, send some feedback to webmasters@starbulletin.com !

[zztype]

Ho, man! About time!!! I was sooooo tempted to post something but we were wondering how long it would take for anyone to notice. Apparently, a while. :)

Congratulations, Scrivener!

(The mistakes in the column, printed and online, are artifacts from copying the text from the PDF original. I have corrected online. We'll work on fixing the print typos next week.)

Blaine

[manoasurfer123]

Haven't seen it yet...

Everyone in my office does the weekend ones on Mondays...

However, congrats just for being able to create one...and less yet having it published.

I only do them on occassion...I think I start losing brain cells if I try them longer than 5 minutes.

I'll be sure to give you your credit when my co-workers are working on it.

[lavagal]

Well, I plan to print this out, Scrivener and once the rug rats are in bed (horrors that they aren't already!), and the final housework details attended to, I will attach it to my clipboard and see how long it takes me to complete it.

I'm so proud of you! Wasn't I explaining to you how these things worked just a few months ago? Wasn't that you? Or was it surfingfarmboy? I think it was you, Mitchell!

Kudos to the Bulletin and Blaine for getting you and your project online!

@:)

[lavagal]

And for you puzzle fanatics, this story in today's NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/03/arts/03conn.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[scrivener]

Thanks for the encouragement, and thanks for the GREAT link, lavagal! I've already sent it around to a bunch of my friends, and it's got me thinking about new ways to teach a few of my classes (not just the math classes!).

I get asked quite frequently how I can teach mathematics and literature, and my answer is always that they are the same subject. I really take to heart what John Keats wrote: Beauty is truth; truth beauty. I think mathematics is exploring truth in order to find beauty; I think literature (and art in general) is exploring beauty in order to find truth. I love what the writer of this piece says -- I think he confirms a lot of what I've been saying for years. That mathematics of origami (http://www.langorigami.com) link in the article is further confirmation.

That piece really has me amped. Don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight.

[Surfingfarmboy]

...congrats just for being able to create one...and less yet having it published.

"Hear, hear" as the British say. Or is it "Here, here"?

Regardless of the spelling, I second manoasurfer123 in extending congratulations as well. I can't imagine the logistical nightmare a sudoku puzzle creator faces. It's one thing to solve them, but creating them so that they have a obtainable solution is an entirely different matter. And then to have them published in a big-city newspaper? That is indeed an accomplishment!

Best of luck to you, Mitchell, in this latest of your many thoughtful and intellectual endevours.

[lavagal]

Well Scrivener,
As part of my routine each night, I climbed into bed with your Sudoku. I usually do one on my Dell Axiom before I fall asleep, which has a program that does simple-easy-medium-hard-very hard-master sudoku puzzles. I've yet to finish a master!
It took me 15 minutes to do yours. I liked that there was no 5!!! Very good, I had to pause for a bit to assess what was going on.

Glad you liked the article and sorry if you didn't get any sleep as a result! I happen to think I don't get enough sleep and last night was no exception!

[Moto]

Congrats Scrivener. I too did your puzzle and completed it. Keep up the fantastic work. As always, you came up with a way to keep me entertained for a while. Thanks.

[scrivener]

So...did you all get the trivia answer correct, too, or did that not even matter? The trivia thing was my effort to give a little local flavor to the puzzles. Do you think they're lame, or should I keep doing that?

[lavagal]

So...did you all get the trivia answer correct, too, or did that not even matter? The trivia thing was my effort to give a little local flavor to the puzzles. Do you think they're lame, or should I keep doing that?

you mean is First Hawaiian Tower 952 feet tall? That was my answer, haha. Sorry, I love trivia, you know that, but I don't know if I would get it all right. I certainly don't mind it and feel I learn something as a result.

[Moto]

Did I get it wrong? I got the numbers 9, 2, and 4. I figured it would be 492 feet tall which would make the tower about 41 floors high assuming 12 feet per floor.

[Moto]

Did I get it wrong? I got the numbers 9, 2, and 4. I figured it would be 492 feet tall which would make the tower about 41 floors high assuming 12 feet per floor. Keep the trivia, for if you know the answer, it could help you solve the puzzle a little quicker. In fact, you could even make the puzzle a little more difficult by making it unsolvable unless you know the three digits of the trivia answer. Keep up the great work, Scriv.

[lavagal]

I was trying to remember the numbers off the top of my head...it was 942. So what? FHT cannot be that tall? Why not? It was erected by a gawd, right? hahahaha.

[scrivener]

Anybody get this past Sunday's puzzle done? I've been told by an anonymous emailer (my first email from the puzzle-solving public!) that this one was too difficult to be "Kapiolani Boulevard."

[lavagal]

Anybody get this past Sunday's puzzle done? I've been told by an anonymous emailer (my first email from the puzzle-solving public!) that this one was too difficult to be "Kapiolani Boulevard."

Yes this puzzle was one heck of a challenge. If I can't get it done in 45 minutes, I have to put it down and be a wife and a mom, cook meals, clean the house, write and edit, etc. It's a guilty pleasure to spend more than 15 minutes on something for me and this puzzle stretched that a bit. So I had to shelve it Mitchell. I guess for you that's a good thing?

I always get a kick out of finding a place for the numbers that aren't actually on the grid.

[scrivener]

So I had to shelve it Mitchell. I guess for you that's a good thing?
I don't think so. I am not aiming for the sudoku masters, who know where to find their puzzles. I'm aiming for the casual sudoku puzzler and for the beginner, so I'm hoping MOSTLY for puzzles that challenge, but are solvable before people give up.

Anyway, I think I know why people had problems, so I'm going to post a little lesson sometime this week.

ps: thanks so much for the feedback!

[dick]

Sudoku is against my religion, but I thought it was way cool that Scrivener has a gig in the 'Bull... just saw it the other day... Cheers, dude!

[Keith H.]

Anybody get this past Sunday's puzzle done? I've been told by an anonymous emailer (my first email from the puzzle-solving public!) that this one was too difficult to be "Kapiolani Boulevard."

Make that Kapiolani Boulevard...during rush hour. :confused: Took me about 15 minutes to get it done, a good challenge though.

[MadAzza]

Keith! Have I met you? I mean, before the HT picnic? I could have sworn I'd met you before, and I probably gave you the creeps because I kept staring at you and trying to figure it out.

Oh, this is off topic again. Sorry!

I'm too chatty tonight, I guess.

[lavagal]

Keith! Have I met you? I mean, before the HT picnic? I could have sworn I'd met you before, and I probably gave you the creeps because I kept staring at you and trying to figure it out.

Oh, this is off topic again. Sorry!

I'm too chatty tonight, I guess.


Could be Keith Haugen! Hawaiiana Expert Extraordinaire!

[craigwatanabe]

Sudoku can be an addictive puzzle and the fact that some of the posters here post at times when they should be sleeping makes me wonder if they just can't put down that sheet of paper and get some rest :D

I started one Sudoku puzzle but after a half hourI decided I have more important things to do such as change that low-hanging diaper on my 2-year old who needed a diaper change half an hour ago. :eek:

If I'm going to toil over something, I think I'd rather day trade and get money out of it at the same time.

[Paul Ogata]

Mel (and other fellow Mac addicts),

For those times when you have no connection to the internet, but are carrying your PowerBook, you can play Sudoku on the Sudoku Dashboard Widget. This can be downloaded at
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/sudokuwidget.html

The new 1.5 version has lots of cool improvements on the original version and even lets you keep track of high scores.

I had talked about my addiction to Sudoku on the air last year, and for Christmas I got 4 handheld electronic Sudoku games and several Sudoku books. Ah, the power of radio.

[Keith H.]

Keith! Have I met you? I mean, before the HT picnic? I could have sworn I'd met you before, and I probably gave you the creeps because I kept staring at you and trying to figure it out.

Oh, this is off topic again. Sorry!

I'm too chatty tonight, I guess.

Hmmm...good question, maybe...but if so, I must be having early-onset Alzheimer's 'cause I'm coming up empty. :(

If you do figure it out, let me know. :)

[Keith H.]

Could be Keith Haugen! Hawaiiana Expert Extraordinaire!

ROTFL! I wish I were! But nope, I'm not.

[craigwatanabe]

Mel (and other fellow Mac addicts),

For those times when you have no connection to the internet, but are carrying your PowerBook, you can play Sudoku on the Sudoku Dashboard Widget. This can be downloaded at
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/sudokuwidget.html

The new 1.5 version has lots of cool improvements on the original version and even lets you keep track of high scores.

I had talked about my addiction to Sudoku on the air last year, and for Christmas I got 4 handheld electronic Sudoku games and several Sudoku books. Ah, the power of radio.

Hi Paul...yes the power of radio! Hmmmm maybe you should be talking about that new house on Hawaii Loa Ridge you'd love to own one day :rolleyes:

Someone should put Sudoko in the school math curricullum and get the kids hooked on paper games instead of video games.

[lavagal]

ROTFL! I wish I were! But nope, I'm not.

No, you're not! Your this skinny punahou grad with a great little webpage! love it!

[MadAzza]

Could be Keith Haugen! Hawaiiana Expert Extraordinaire!

No, I know Keith Haugen. Not him. This Keith just looked really familiar to me.

[AbsolutChaos]

Despite watching everyone at work doing these puzzles and printing extra copies from the newspaper so everybody in the lounge can try, I'm deliberately staying away from Sukoku puzzles. I'm addicted to enough other things as it is. ;)

[Surfingfarmboy]

Someone should put Sudoko in the school math curricullum and get the kids hooked on paper games instead of video games.

I think our man Scrivener has been doing just that, for some time now, in his teachings at ASSETS. Sudoku would fit in as well in those elementary logic 101 classes ( the ones where one has to master the common flaws of logic ) that everybody seems to have to take in undergrad college courses.

[pzarquon]

Sudoku is definitely a logic puzzle, but I think one of the things that scares some people away is the impression that it's a math puzzle. I know I did, before someone explained it to me. Despite the numbers, there's no math involved, and the sequence could just as easily be the letters from A through I, or a series of nine different shapes or symbols.

[scrivener]

It's true; I've been doing logic puzzles in my classes since my first year as a math teacher. When I was the only one in the world (it seemed) who knew what a Number Place puzzle was, I was cool. Now that the world is doing sudoku, I'm not as cool, but my students seem a little more eager to work on them than they used to.

There are a million other logic puzzles completely different from sudoku, some numbers-oriented and some language-oriented. I subscribe to two Japanese puzzle magazines and use these puzzles, too, in my classroom.

As for sudoku being not a math puzzle, what do you think logic is? Logical reasoning is the foundation upon which all mathematics is based. Yes, we start with the a priori 1+1=2, but then we ask ourselves, what does that imply? And what does that imply? And then what does that imply?

Logic is math. Decision-making is math. Gordian knots are math. Music is math. And all of math is poetry.

[scrivener]

I suspect I should post this in a new thread so its intended audience might see it, but at my sudoku site, I have posted the beginnings of a tutorial for TOTAL beginners. I basically hold their hands from beginning to end. I think just about everyone will find that it's too slow an explanation, and will be zooming off on their own to finish the puzzle before I'm even done with the lesson.

That's what happens in my classroom, anyway.

[dick]

Ahhh... logic.... Back in my youth at UH, I took math 101 my first semester, thinking it'd be "easy." Once we got into "if you roll a die 7 times, what are the chances you'll get a 3?" I got lost and failed. The only class in my life I failed. Logic, math, whatever, makes me (and this is no joke) physically ill. I can't calculate my mileage for work without a calculator.

Sure, I can read and play music, but dotted eighth-sixteenths don't seem so obtuse as opposed to weird fractions (which essentially music is...).

[Cameron]

just found this cool sudoku site check it out http://www.sudokucraving.com/game.php

[zztype]

In case you missed it, Scriv had another puzzle this past Sunday:

http://starbulletin.com/2006/04/30/features/sudoku.html

[davidecullen]

Hi,

Got the whole family here addicted!
Have a look on
http://www.sudokuoftheday.co.uk
for some absurdly difficult puzzles as well as the easier ones to get
you started.

[scrivener]

hi davidecullen, and welcome to ht:

i don't think anyone has a problem with your promoting your website, but it seems kind of dishonest to pretend it's not yours. rather than mislead us, why don't you tell us about yourself: what do you do, what's the site about, and would you rather perspire fluorescent green sweat, or fart blue smoke (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=6491&highlight=blue+smoke)? Come on! You could be the tie-breaker!

[NoCal Boy]

Sudoku is definitely a logic puzzle, but I think one of the things that scares some people away is the impression that it's a math puzzle. I know I did, before someone explained it to me. Despite the numbers, there's no math involved, and the sequence could just as easily be the letters from A through I, or a series of nine different shapes or symbols.

I was under the same mistaken impression until yesterday, when I happened upon a baseball version of Sudoku in a recent issue of ESPN Magazine. It's a natural fit, with nine players on a baseball field. They've even published a book of this variation: ESPN Baseball Sudoku (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933060239/sr=8-1/qid=1147878775/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2173397-9841619?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

One day and I was hooked. Look forward to following this thread with all of you as I feed my new addiction.

[Cameron]

sudoku with a fun twist, the ability to challenge others!

http://www.sudokucombat.com/ (http://www.sudokucombat.com/index2.php)

[Kelly0040]

Anyone try Kakuro? It's like Sudoku, but not really. Has to do with the sum of numbers going horizantally and vertically. I picked up a book at the supermarket and ahhhh can't stop.

Both wrack my brains tho. Love 'em.

[scrivener]

I've done the kakuro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakuro) puzzles. I liked that they added a little bit of math to the logic soup, and I bought my father a couple of kakuro books for fathers' day. The books I gave him explain the puzzles well. Too well, I think. Both books provided tables of all the legal combinations for each sum in each possible number of given squares. Having these tables essentially turns the puzzle into pure logic, which is fine, but it takes the mathiness out of it.

[scrivener]

The trivia question appearing with Scrivener's Sudoku in the SB on Sunday the 2nd of July was inspired by Surfingfarmboy. It is my favorite of the trivia I've used so far!

[Surfingfarmboy]

The trivia question appearing with Scrivener's Sudoku in the SB on Sunday the 2nd of July was inspired by Surfingfarmboy. It is my favorite of the trivia I've used so far!

Eyyy...'fo real? If it's the trivia question I suspect, (the one I casually mentioned to you way back when you were soliciting suggestions during the beginning stage of your column), I do have proof to support the answer in case there are those who might dispute the answer.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Well...I was way off in predicting the trivia question in today's "Scrivener's Sudoku" in the SB. I was completely off base. And even though I'm usually part of this annual event, I have to say: I have no clue! Other than the fact that there are plenty of 'em!

[scrivener]

Coming up with new trivia questions that fit the format is getting more and more difficult, so I thought I'd focus for a while on annual events and cultural agencies, such as the Pro Bowl, the marathon, the Girl Scouts, and the Aloha United Way. If anyone has ideas for other questions of this sort (with non-commercial references), I'd love it if you'd pass them on!

[MadAzza]

Scriv, you've got competition (http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060705-013631-6324r)

[scrivener]

Finally, a venue worthy of my talents...
It's too bad I've given the SB rights of first refusal.

[pzarquon]

Competitive sudoku? Sudoku Combat (http://www.sudokucombat.com/)!

[scrivener]

Hey. If anyone still has the crossword-puzzle page of Sunday's Star-Bulletin, could you look at my Sudoku puzzle and tell me what the trivia question looks like? I need the question and the answer-part, where there are blanks for the numbers to be written. Thanks!

ps: The print version, not the online version.

[Palolo Joe]

The Star-Bulletin gave you the opportunity to put your puzzles in the paper, and you don't subscribe?

Auwe... :confused:

[scrivener]

oooooh, busted!

[Palolo Joe]

I thought they might have at least comped you one... :D

[EastCoastTropics]

http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/27/features/sudoku.html

:)

I've heard about this game for months and just now am starting to read Scrivener's beginner tut! :o

[scrivener]

Ahh...I need to finish that tutorial...

Let me know if you need some help beyond what that tutorial covers.

[shaveice]

interesting story: Sudoku players hold first national championship

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071020/us_nm/usa_sudoku_dc

[cynsaligia]

since i kicked scriv's shin (http://hawaiithreads.com/showpost.php?p=174012&postcount=58) earlier today, i thought i'd make nice by sharing this:


sudoku cube (http://www.popgadget.net/2007/11/handful_of_sudo.php)! =)

Serious Sudoku gamers, you'll love Sudoku Cube! While it features billions of combinations - there's actually only one solution. You can solve 18 different Sudoku puzzles simultaneously on the cube. There are six vertical across three sides (3 + 3 + 3), six horizontal across three sides and six regional - one on each side. Includes Sudoku cube and instruction booklet, solve and history of Sudoku. Also includes 50 new 2-D Sudoku puzzles. Measures 2.25" x 2.25" x 2.25".

This is a very wonderful "secret Santa" or "white elephant" game in the office, or perfect for a stocking stuffer for your sister in Sudoku challenges! No peeling the stickers off!

Price: $8.99 at Amazon.

[scrivener]

That's a cool cube. I have two that are similar but not as well-thought-out, both gifts from students.