SUDOKU

Who here enjoys their little bit of Sudoku out there?

Whether you do it to kill time in the train, or to fuel your brain for the weekend ahead, I'm sure there are a number of reasons why people do it.



"Sudoku" 数独 is derived from two Japanese words meaning 'numbers' and 'solitarity', meaning you deal with these numbers in your lonesome. Combined, there is no such word in the Japanese dictionary, it was possibly mashed by the person(s) who created it (much like Japanese people do with their naming using English).

I know a thing or two about sudoku and to be honest, I am the fastest person I know.
How?
Techniques? Guessing?
In actual fact, yes to both but with an if and a maybe.

There are certain techniques out there with fancy names, such as single value chains, only spot values etcetera, which are only useful if you actually understand what they mean.
Personally, I have no idea what most of these techniques mean.
I discovered my own 'rules' of solving them without knowing that they were indeed some of the 'techniques' that professionals reference.
So with techniques, discover them yourself, you will find them much more meaningful if you arrive at them in your 'lonesome'.

Guessing, possibly the games' worst way to solve it. Some of you may be thinking, "what? guessing, that defeats the whole purpose, this guy doesn't know what he is talking about"
It may defeat the purpose of solving the puzzle for some people, but to be gosh darn honest, it's the quickest and most effective way of getting the puzzle done.
But here's the catch, it's not just 'I will decide that this box is a 9' without any legitimate reasoning, you have to cleverly pick which numbers to guess.

• If I get stuck, I seek out any places where only one of two numbers can exist. Then I see how much more can be solved from those places, if those places were filled. The more that can be done, the better.
• Once I have decided my spot, I mentally fill in the spaces (I do it all in my head, because I like to keep my grid clean). Faintly filling the boxes in helps as well.
• If I come up against any inconsistencies, I know that the first guess was wrong.
• HENCE, the only other option MUST be true. And so the puzzle goes on.

If done well, usually only one guess per puzzle is enough to solve the whole thing.
It may not be elegant, but it works.

Another tip if you want to be fast
Don't put possible numbers in the corners.
It wastes time writing them and scribbling or erasing them out.
In a sense I feel THIS is cheating. Sudoku for me, is a brain boosting activity, relying on your brain more enhances the boosting effect it has.
Relying on numbers in the corners is a brain dead activity. I don't like it.
It makes your puzzle messy too.
Having solved a puzzle with a clean sheet is a VERY satisfying experience.
Why don't you try it sometime, who knows you may enjoy it more.

And some sudoku books if you got excited from any of this.