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.
