Like you, I live my life in fear. In my case it's fear that I've bet my blog on the wrong horse. Crosswords are so old school and, after all, there are plenty of crossword blogs. In the mean time, it's becoming increasingly clear that sudoku is not a flash in the pan. Shouldn't I be investing in that instead? Today, I take a stab at what just could be the next great blogging trend. Let me gather my notes on today's sudoku, clear my throat, and launch into my new venture. Ok, here goes...
Welcome to the first ever entry in my new blog! What a thrill to speak to you today about our shared passion — the joy of sudoku. I'll be coming to you regularly with a full analysis on each day's puzzle and through your insightful comments and naive questions together with my gentle admonishments for not being as clever as I am, we'll have a great time.
Today's Tuesday sudoku has some lively numeric combinations not seen in precisely this way for weeks. Beginning with a 6 in the far NW corner is 0.0328% more likely than any other number so that was no surprise for those who follow my statistical analysis closely.
This was, once again, a themeless sudoku. I know some of you are annoyed to see the number 3 crop up so frequently in today's puzzle but my advice is, get to know that numeral. Sure, it's sudokuese but it comes in handy for constructors trying to work out of a jam so you're going to encounter it again and again.
What killed the puzzle for me personally, though, was 7. Hate it, hate it, hate it! That number's insistence on showing up in every single row and every single column sucks the life out of what was otherwise some very sparkly fill.
Update: The Tuesday puzzle (answers) is by Gary J. Whitehead who seems to have regained his middle initial after losing it in his previous puzzle a couple of months ago. If you saw the circles arranged in a diamond and thought baseball, you're not alone. The Delaware Diamond is, in fact, a star in Ursa Major (Big Dipper) and if you want to see it yourself just walk outside some very dark night, twist around to a right ascension of exactly 9h 40m 44s, look up to a declination of 48d 14' 2" and there it is! It's twinkling a little brighter tonight because its namesake state is the star of an NYT puzzle.
I like IT'LL DO as an answer word. DELINQUENT makes its overdue first appearance at the Times. CUT A RUG is such wacky imagery for "dance" that I wonder where it comes from.
What? 7 rocks! Don't quit you're day job, dude.
Posted by: LindaB | May 05, 2008 at 07:30 PM
But it's Tuesday, for chrissakes! What were they thinking? That would have been a tough puzzle on Friday.
I guess being a sudoku editor means never having to know what day of the week it is.
Posted by: john farmer | May 05, 2008 at 07:42 PM
Ways to make the easy early-week Sudokus more interesting:
1 / Use the numerals I through IX.
2 / Do it in Hexadecimal (1 through 9) (wee joke).
3 / Do it in binary (0001 thru 1001).
4 / White out several of the given numbers to make it a Friday.
5 / Do it upside down. No, the puzzle.
6 / Do it with one hand tied behind your front.
7 / Convert each number, 1 through 9, to a random alphabetical letter (actually did this, very odd effect).
8 / Do the whole thing in your head.
9 / Do two at the same time, with a pencil in each hand.
10 / Use a chess timer, and slap the thing wildly each time you make an entry -- like the ghost of Bobby Fischer.
Posted by: KarmaSartre | May 05, 2008 at 07:58 PM
I am STILL laughing...at the post and the comments.
Too funny.
Posted by: Linda G | May 05, 2008 at 08:27 PM
My real complaint is the clues are always the same...oh sure, sometimes in a different order, but by Wednesday you have seen them all.
I no longer do them in pen, but use the applet and tonight I filled in the puzzle in a Tyler Hinmanlike time of 14.7863295 seconds, which turned out to also be the answer in row six.
Posted by: PhillySolver | May 05, 2008 at 09:13 PM
Wow -- cremate the critic! Brilliant!
Posted by: Donald | May 06, 2008 at 06:05 AM
Thanks, all, for your comments and email. Of course sudokus are fun but I've been searching for a while to come up with some way to talk about how they fall short of crosswords in my mind.
Contrary to some assertions I received, I don't think it would be impossible to blog about them. Certainly a daily analysis like I attempted would be deathly but there are some things to say about solving techniques and, yes, even construction techniques that will, for example, not require an inordinate amount of backtracking. There's a balance where possible is not the same as fun.
Several people wrote to tell me this was one of their favorite posts on this blog. Aw, shucks...
Posted by: JimH | May 06, 2008 at 08:23 AM
7 / Convert each number, 1 through 9, to a random alphabetical letter (actually did this, very odd effect).
pat merrell (i think it was him) used to have a "sci-doku" in scientific american which was a regular sudoku except with 9 different letters, which could then be anagrammed to form a science-related word.
Posted by: joon | May 06, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Frank Longo has some "Wordoku" books in which one row or column or diagonal spells out an anagram of the letters included. Sometimes you figure out the anagram and use that to fill in some letters without using logical deduction—so it's sort of like aptitude for anagrams lets you cheat a smidgen. (There are other word sudoku books out there—Frank's first one is the one I happen to have.)
Posted by: Orange | May 06, 2008 at 03:48 PM
I'm hoping that the Sesame Street website will soon include Sudoku puzzles, ala "Brought to you by the number 7". I can't waste my time on non-educational pursuits.
Pat
http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/?scrollerId=games
Posted by: Pat Manzo | May 06, 2008 at 07:09 PM
I certainly enjoy Sudoku, but I think the one thing that highlights the difference is the fact that I don't think I'll *ever* remember a sukoku puzzle. In fact, a Sudoku puzzle book could contain just 6 or maybe 10 puzzles, and then just do number substitutions and rotations, and I'd never forget them.
On the other hand, there are puzzle clues I'll never forget. BUSH/GORE is frozen in time in my brain until the day I die.
- Mark
Posted by: Mark Nelson | June 18, 2008 at 06:03 AM
Sudoku Learning Center is a web site designed to help people master a wide variety of solver techniques. It includes instructional text and specially designed puzzles and graphical hints to help individuals master Sudoku.
The techinques covered are hidden singles, block and row/column interactions, block and block interactions, naked subsets, hidden subsets, XY Wings, X-Wings, Swordfish, Coloring and Forcing Chains.
In addition, the web site has a "Dancing Links" solver for those that want solutions to puzzles not covered by the above techniques.
Besides the lessons on the various techniques, you may choose the types of puzzles you wish to solve. It allows you to select custom puzzles with just the techniques you wish to see in your puzzles. It's a great way to play Sudoku for fun:)
Hopefully someone besides me will find this useful I would appreciate feedback on the web site. It is still a work in progress and obviously needs more work. The web site http://www.sudokulearningcenter.com
Posted by: Pat | July 22, 2008 at 07:34 AM
Sudoku is addictive, and it is fun. I've created www.sudoku-series.com, a website full of Sudoku, ranging from Sudoku for Kids, to super hard Sudoku, and even Samurai Sudoku and Super Sudoku.
You can also play online.
Posted by: Andrei R | September 18, 2008 at 07:48 AM