Solve Sudoku and Impress/Piss Off Your Friends

[inkbrush76]

Don't click through the following link if you really enjoy Sudoku puzzles.

How to solve Sudoku without trying.

Yeah, I've fiddled with Sudoku, but it's never quite as satisfying for me as solving a hard crossword puzzle. Since Sudoku seems a whole lot like encryption or file compression anyway, it makes sense that there's a system for solving it.

Comments

[boadiccea]

There are a few systems for solving Sudoku. None of them are entirely absolute when used by themselves, but if you combine methodologies, you can always solve.

I prefer to solve as much as I can without the need to erase. Erasing gets tedious and messy. There are ways to do it visually without the need to write every number in and eliminate methodically -- it'll narrow things down, and THEN I start writing in possibles and erasing if I need to. Most of the time I just solve with a pen and don't need to go there.

[inkbrush76]

Yeah, I'd seen the one I linked to before, but I'd never actually tried it myself. I gave it a quick go this morning, though, and I have to admit that you can't even say it was easy. It was completely mindless execution, the hardest part of which was not skipping ahead and answering things out of order for the method.

[orangelamb]

That's how I've always done it. Of course, that only works on the simplest of the puzzles. At some point they do become too difficult for this systematic breakdown to work and you DO have to engage your brain. heh Funny thing is we've been having computer issues all day at work and I just finished playing 3 games of Suduko before I paged over to read my Flist. :)