Anyone play Sudoku?

[HardcoreRobot]

I usually take a few minutes out of my busy day to complete the daily Sudoku on USA Today's webpage.

I thought today's puzzle was a beast...

Any other fans?

http://puzzles.usatoday.com/sudoku/

 

[Drakkon]

my local paper started having these on sunday...started publishing the 16x16 ones...
although one of the ones the paper recently published turned out to be unsolvable talk about a beast

http://www.sodoku.org.uk/ - sodoku solver

 

[dug777]

my gf is quite a fan

 

[JoPh]

i love them. but i suck at it.

always get down to like 2 numbers left and everything is fff up beyond. so lazy to go back.

any good strategies?

 

[tami]

i don't know how to play it and was too tired last night when trying to read the directions. how do you play it?

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Originally posted by: tami
i don't know how to play it and was too tired last night when trying to read the directions. how do you play it?

each row and column must have each of the numbers 1-9 exactly once
each of the 9 boxes of 9 must have each of the numbers 1-9 exactly once

my strategy is just basic process of elimination. pick any single box, you know the number in that box cannot be the same as any other number in its row, column or 9-box.

another one, take a column of 9-boxes, in the first two you see there is a 1 in the middle column and in the 3 column

X1X
XXX
XXX

XXX
XX1
XXX

thus you know the one must be somewere in the first column in the last one

1?XX
1?XX
1?XX

you get lucky when only one of those 3 boxes remain bc then you know that must be where the one is

im still learning so im sure there are more strategies

 

[blackdogdeek]

yes. i do the uk times online ones.

 

[weezergirl]

my officemate plays that thing ALL DAY. she has like 3 books full of them.

 

[EvilYoda]

first time seeing this...pretty fun! Thanks!

 

[tami]

thanks. gotta try it on my treo tonight

 

[Kyteland]

I don't know where this "craze" suddenly came from, but these things have been around forever and aren't particularly difficult. As number puzzles go they really aren't that great.

Soduko/Number Place. Bringing mathematics to the unwashed masses. :shrug;

 

[astrosfan90]

Some of them get to be pretty tough, but the ones in the paper around here I can usually finish without trouble on my commute. Fun though. If you want hard ones, they're out there, search around.

 

[SofaKing]

no, lol

 

[neovan]

i do them all the time from the LA Times. Helps kill lots of time during break. Most of them are fairly easy even if its designated as "Diabolical"

 

[tami]

i played topsudoku on my palm. i think i just won (that was fun!) but i don't know how they confirm if i solved it or not. i'm sad now.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: tami
i played topsudoku on my palm. i think i just won (that was fun!) but i don't know how they confirm if i solved it or not. i'm sad now.

you can confirm it yourself by checking each row/column/3x3 minisquare to make sure that the numbers 1-9 are used only once.

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: tami
i played topsudoku on my palm. i think i just won (that was fun!) but i don't know how they confirm if i solved it or not. i'm sad now.

you can confirm it yourself by checking each row/column/3x3 minisquare to make sure that the numbers 1-9 are used only once.

well yes, this i did, which made me believe that i won. but i want to see a "congratulations" popup or something

 

[HardcoreRobot]

for those of you saying they are really easy, how long did it take to do the one i linked (9/8/05)? just trying to see how i am performing in relation to the resident geniuses...

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
for those of you saying they are really easy, how long did it take to do the one i linked (9/8/05)? just trying to see how i am performing in relation to the resident geniuses...

about an hour of looking at it on and off while working.

probably about 30 minutes of actual thinking.

 

[sygyzy]

What a fun game!

 

[Kyteland]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
for those of you saying they are really easy, how long did it take to do the one i linked (9/8/05)? just trying to see how i am performing in relation to the resident geniuses...

It took me about 15 minutes and a piece of scratch paper.

 

[stan394]

Originally posted by: Kyteland

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
for those of you saying they are really easy, how long did it take to do the one i linked (9/8/05)? just trying to see how i am performing in relation to the resident geniuses...

It took me about 15 minutes and a piece of scratch paper.

having a piece of scratch paper will definitely speed it up a bit. but half an hour to 45 minutes sounds about right

 

[tami]

i figured it out on my treo and i'm having fun. i'm even sneaking to play a few moves while at work.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: SofaKing
no, lol

lol

 

[habib89]

is there any way to post a puzzle on the forums? i can't access the usatoday one