Sudoku

geeza

geeza

geeza

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Who does them or can do them? I still havent managed to complete one, ive started doing them at work and im slowly getting better. Neally finished one the other day but i think i just made one mistake that knackered me up at the end.

Anyone got any tactics?
 
geeza said:
Who does them or can do them? I still havent managed to complete one, ive started doing them at work and im slowly getting better. Neally finished one the other day but i think i just made one mistake that knackered me up at the end.

Anyone got any tactics?
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There really isn't tactics I just tend to mentally blank out lines for numbers to see where the others can go.

Rich
 
Start with a particular number i.e. 1. Find all the 1's on the grid, then try to see if any two (or more) of them run along into the same 9x9 grid, then see if any other numbers in that grid eliminate to leave just one box - meaning that a 1 goes into that box.

That's the method I use anyway. Taught it myself so don't know if it's the common way to do sudokus.
 
Discovered these during a 1 week stay in hospital. They're dangerously addictive, although I'm not sure why! I usually concentrate on each individual number first, i.e. all 1's, then all 2's etc. After that I use a mixture of looking at 3x3 grids or vertical/ horizontal rows. Works for me.
 
Yeah, they're fun. We have a board that's basically a mini whiteboard and then a book full of them to work from - some of the harder ones are insane. With the harder ones, the only way to complete them is to systematically write in every possible number that could be there, small in the corners of the squares, until you can slowly work it out.

What's interesting is that myself and the wife's brains work in totally different ways with Sudoku. She can see numbers I can't get my head around and visa versa. When we're working on one together we spend most of the time explaining how we worked a number out :p
 
Curio said:
When we're working on one together we spend most of the time explaining how we worked a number out :p
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Heh I have to do that with my girlfriend too :)

I tend to start looking for rows/columns/boxes with 5 numbers in, maybe 4 if it's a tricky one, and work out what it still needs. I then hold those 4/5 numbers still missing in my head and go through them 1 by 1 trying to work out if there are any that can only go in one square. Sounds awkward, but very quick when you spend too long being addicted :p

If that stops working, I'll work on rows/columns of grids...trickier to explain, basically take the first three columns from the left, which together form 3 complete boxes down the left hand side of the puzzle. Then look down it for a number, say 2- if it appears in the first column and the second column, that tells you which box it has to be in in the third (if it's not already there). Then it's a kindof cross referencing of rows to work out where it has to go. Again, sounds long winded, but second nature now.

I've tried rewriting that second paragraph 3 times, and I still can't make it make sense. I guess I know what I do in my head, but can't get it in to words, sorry :)
 
I can do very hard Sudokus. First you have to start going from 1-9 checking the obvious just from the initial figures.
Next I then check columns and rows by looking ahead when you know where a figure goes but not exactly which square. Hard to explain. If you know a number goes in the left column of say the top square it can eliminate the same number in the squares below.This alone is sufficient for most.
Then I check column and rows individually for 1-9 to try and complete them.
Then I check boxes in the same way.
If its a very hard one you might then have to complete it only through elimination by checking what can't go in a square.
If its is an extremely hard one you have to make 2 or more guesses.
 
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ive got a sudoku problem for you all to solve. see where i messed up! so close, yet so far away

Img_1975.jpg
 
thanks. made quite a few mistakes it seems

I think i started crapping up when i put the 1 and the 3 in the left hand middle box the wrong way around. Ill manage to complete one soon though
 
I tend to do them frequently on holiday or if im in need of something else to do rather than watch the tv!
 
Are all Sudokus possible? There is only one that I have never been able to complete; is it because some sudokus are actually impossible to complete without guessing numbers, or are they all actually possible to work out?
 
Samtheman1k said:
Are all Sudokus possible? There is only one that I have never been able to complete; is it because some sudokus are actually impossible to complete without guessing numbers, or are they all actually possible to work out?
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some of the real hard ones you need to make a calculated guess at least once or twice
 
I hate the ones were you have to make calculated guesses, i just hate the uncertainty!!! lol
 
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