BS: Sudoku Victory

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 11:36 AM

Reading my posts, I do see your point Guest PMB -- sorry!!!! But I really WAS talking about doing puzzles......

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 04:48 PM

I've been looking over his shoulder and yet again he's completed the difficult one with no jottings! Hmmmmm....

I can do Sudoku but just looking at them makes a very strange pain in my head. Seriously it does.

Sal

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: Slag
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 05:13 PM

You can't really do notes, etc. on the electronic games, unless you take the time to transfer them to paper! I did the note thing for a couple of months until I began to realize there were patterns and immutable laws involved. Good bye notes, hello speed!

My new handheld has the type with two possible correct solutions to several of the lines. On the "Beginner" level it only accepts ONE of the variations which, to my way of thinking would be confusing to a beginner. On the higher level it will accept either solution. Probably has to do with programming difficulties.

A few days ago I picked up another handheld game which is back lighted and that helps in low light or dark situations. The only drawback is that it uses a stylus! I have really haven't done much with it yet but I will let you know how it works, soon. So far, the first one was the best! It is the one that is oriented horizontally, about $12 US.

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 06:07 PM

I can't imagine solving a half-decent Sudoku without scribbling my notes and repeatedly erasing and rewriting little numbers in the little boxes until each entry is narrowed down to a single digit.

I suppose I should feel inferior to those who can keep it all in their heads (actually, I do feel that way, but try not to dwell on it), but I enjoy using my current method, and I am able to solve 'em all in my fashion.

Incidentally, 22-year-old basketball superstar Chris Paul is reportedly a serious sudoko addict. Another indication that he's the smartest player in the NBA. Go Hornets!

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 11:04 PM

Tom and I were BOTH bought low tonight by a level ONE!!!! We are composing a letter to the paper to ask them who the HELL rates these thngs...........

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 10 Jun 09 - 09:58 PM

Damn -- my husband sailed through a level 2 -- I have tried it 5 times -- he is downstairs photocopying it again for my 5th try............

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 10 Jun 09 - 10:16 PM

But I succeeded on the 6th try.........

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: Slag
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 12:15 AM

Glad to see this back in the current threads.

Nowadays the highest difficulty level takes me approximately 30 minutes with gusts down to 12. On the lowest level, I have conquered it in 2 minutes, 12 seconds. OW! I think I just twisted my arm, patting myself on the back.

My sister got a fancy Sudoku set for Christmas. It is made of wood and has little drawers in either side of a wood box with stacks of wooden number tiles. It also has smaller tile, a quarter the size of the larger ones to act as temporary guesses or non-eliminated numbers which corresponds to the paper and pencil solvers' dilemma. The top has the 81 squares with raised ridges to keep the tiles in place.

Keep solving!

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 12:32 AM

Oh _ I want me one of those sets!!!!! My husband (curse his insides) can do up to level 3s with no little notes. I have time scores for the jumble and crossword puzzles but - although I can usually slaughter level 1s and 2s, - am not consistently good enough at 3s and 4s yet to time myself.

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 10:54 PM

I hate sudoku but I do them, and I save them if I don't finish them or if I make a mistake. (I think it's a byproduct of OCD!) What I hate about 'em is I how can I tell if I've done it before? At least a Crossword brings together all the associations that come with verbage.

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: Slag
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 11:22 PM

You're right robomatic. Certain patterns occur over and over again. After a while they become recognizable no matter which way the puzzle box is turned. The end is in sight. One of the patterns is that the potential boxes for a given number will run left, center; center right and all three open, all in one line of nine box squares. You can count on this. The orientation may be top, middle; bottom, middle and three open. The three open may be in a straight row or down up down , or up down up, etc. but it's always a stopper that means you have to go on do some other number and come back after you have eliminated one or two open boxes.

My method is to start with 9 and quickly scan for obvious numbers then on to 8 and down to 1. Then I do it again. I will spend no more than 2 minutes at this. If it is particularly difficult I will take a third spin down the numbers then I will start with the most numerous number available, determined at a glance. I will scan a line in a three nine box series for the possibles. I keep my eye out for three in a row in any box and that means that a different number in one of the other two boxes has to go above or below that row and the third instance can only occupy the last three row space in the third box of nine.. I hope that make sense. If you've work with them for any time it should speak to you and really, it's kind of self evident. At any rate, my trick is not not linger over any one number as it will eventually become apparent on its own as you progress.

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: frogprince
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 11:52 PM

An acquaintance told me awhile back that sudoku is easier than crosswords. Yeah...sure... I have yet to get one. I've had almost the whole damn thing working, and then found out that a lot of it couldn't be right.
I think any idjit can do sudokus; it's just geniuses like Bill D. and me who can't.
                  
(Signed, some inflammotory troll pretending to be frogprince)

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 14 Jun 09 - 06:01 PM

well -- did the local crossword puzzle today but could not get beyond first base on a level 3-which is my husband's fault as he had started it without photocopying it (how dare he) and I took his numbers to be correct. But WERE THEY?????????????.

Slag - I do it in the reverse order - start with the 1s and work through to the 9s......

And then there is/are the Jumbles (which I adore and can usually sail through) --- but I cannot do cryptoquicks.......

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: Slag
Date: 14 Jun 09 - 08:24 PM

Yeah. The cryptoquizzes always use some weirdly worded quote that defies all normal random letter distribution. I think they have all won awards for the most verbose and awkwardly worded sentences in the English (sometimes) language.

Here's a thought on Sudoku. If you take a correctly completed puzzle and break the nine boxes apart-cut them out with scissors if it's on paper and mix them up, how long will it take you to put it back in the correct order? Easy, huh? Come on, I mean without cheating! Well for any two boxes of nine you have 4 possible positions....! There are nine boxes with four possible positions with which to begin.... that's 4 to the 9th power or 262,144 possible positions to start. True, once you have put a couple together the odds greatly increase in your favor, However, you cannot know if it is in the correct sequence until you have three boxes of nine lined up! I haven't worked out ALL the odds but it looks intriguing!

The thing I hate about crosswords puzzles is that the more difficult ones are almost always dishonest in some way, including making up words which do not exist anywhere else other than that particular puzzle. Throw in variants and obsolete terms from the Middles ages, fifteen or twenty French terms a few movie actors from the 50's and the composer's niece's middle name and then solve in the suggested one hour. Right.

In the simpler puzzles there are relatively a small portion of the English/ American English vocabulary that have the ability to fit the matrix. I understand the British crosswords tend to not use the American matrix. That is, they have less contiguous squares and therefore use more real words. We seldom see that type puzzle in the US.

As for the Jumbles, Yes! I love them and usually breeze through them but on occasion I'll hang on one and if it's six letters or more! WOW! Talk about your possibilities! Frustrating! Sometimes I'll figure out the final riddle or question and then work backwards.    I would say all this stuff is really a waste of time (kinda like the Internet some days, you know?) but it does keep your mind active so maybe it's not a total waste.

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: Brakn
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 05:37 AM

I'm afraid to say that I'm addicted to the Killer puzzle on both the Guardian(UK)- Saturdays and the Observer on Sundays and think I've completed every one. Some do take more time than others.

They both have printable versions here.

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 06:45 AM

I like the competition in The Independent on Saturdays. A 16*16 grid divided into 16 4*4 blocks. Complete as per Sudoku but using hexadecimal digits (0-9 + A-F)

It takes things a stage further!

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: Bainbo
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 06:54 AM

I heard the British comedian Sean Lock on the radio the other day, saying: "You know how sudokus are all graded - 'easy', 'medium', 'fiendish'? What they should say under all of them is just ... 'Pointless'."

I agree with him. But I still can't stop doing them.

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 09:06 PM

All I can say is -- I am glad I am not alone!!!!! Slag - on the Jumbles it is wonderful if you can solve the riddle first because then ....... YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHICH LETTERS YOU NEED.....and if you only have certain letters in certain words -- then you know their placement.......then life is really good!

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 01 Sep 09 - 10:46 PM

So - who 'grades' these darn Sudoku things anyway!!! Just spent about an hour on a level 1 (which I finally solved I can proudly say.......)

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 08 Sep 09 - 10:28 PM

Blasted through a level 1 tonighy -- superb
1

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: robomatic
Date: 08 Sep 09 - 10:42 PM

Bainbo. Your message said it all.

Subject: RE: BS: Sudoku Victory
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 08 Sep 09 - 10:46 PM

As Bainbo said - s/he can't stop doing them............