SudokuSolver Forum

Am I the only one who seems to have several puzzles going at once? I have about four Clueless Specials about half-done (two I'm completely messed up on and will have to start over), and now the enxio27 Samurai from Boerge. That doesn't include the Sudoku for Dummies book in the bathroom, which invariably has a puzzle half-finished, nor the pages of standard 9x9 sudoku that I carry with me to work on in the odd moment waiting in line somewhere, etc. Am I really as crazy as my kids say I am?

You are not alone. I have about a dozen I've started and got stuck on. And I carry a stack of really easy ones I cut out of the newspaper to fight waiting room boredom or to give to nephews and nieces when they need to sit quietly in public.


Susan

Is there a contradiction here?

If I start a Sudoku then I finish it before starting another one. Hardly ever an exception to this rule. And if I really get stuck, then I ask a solver for help. First SadMan (because of its smaller set of solver techniques) and then SudoCue. Since I solve with TUSP I can easily export a grid to SadMan or SudoCue.

I only solve with pen and paper on the following occasions:
1) When traveling and I buy, get or find a paper or magazine with Sudokus. Then I pull out a pen.
2) When visiting my mother. She loves solving Sudokus, but using pen and paper only. She has a PC and can really use it, but stubbornly refuses to solve Sudokus on it with a helper program. I have given up convincing her to try that. So if she gets stuck on I Sudoku when I visit her, then we together try to resolve using pen and paper only.

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Oh, all of my half-finished puzzles are very orderly!


In general, I usually try to finish a puzzle before I start another, but there are often exceptions. I can usually finish a standard 9x9 in just a few minutes, but multi-grid puzzles usually take me much longer (I'm very methodical, writing down each step so that if I really mess things up, I can sometimes backtrack rather than starting over). If I'm out and about when I get stuck, that's usually when I start another puzzle. If it's so bad that I need to start over, I prefer to print a new copy rather than using up half an eraser, but sometimes it takes a while for that reprint to get to the top of my "to-do" list.


Sitting in front of a computer to work on puzzles is my idea of NO FUN. (Same goes for reading a book on the computer, for that matter.) If I really want to relax, I don't want to sit in front of a computer--I'd rather curl up on the couch or in bed. Another of my main puzzle-working times is when I'm out of the house waiting somewhere (such as during my son's choir practice) or on long car trips. I have a binder full of printed puzzles that I keep at home, so that I never run out. I usually carry with me a pocket folder with the puzzles I'm currently working on, as well as extras to give away to curious onlookers (I'm a sudoku "pusher", you see!).

Besides, using a solver program to work puzzles just defeats the purpose, in my mind. It seems to me that programs rely more on pattern recognition than they do on logic. I, on the other hand, want to practice my logic when I'm working puzzles. At most, I might peek at one block of a printed solution if I really get stuck.

Other than calculating pencil marks (which is sheer tedium to me) and difficulty scores, and printing puzzles, I really don't use the software. When I get to more advanced techniques, I might use a solver as a teaching tool, but that's about it.