Britain, UK news from The Times and The Sunday Times - Times Online: "The battle begins to win Britain's first Su Doku title
By Michael Harvey
FANS of the logic puzzle that has captured the nation�s imagination will have the chance to pit themselves against the most fiendish Su Doku yet devised at the first National Su Doku Championships.
The puzzle has won millions of addicts since it was introduced to Britain by The Times last November. For the first time players will be in competition with others against the clock. Wayne Gould, who compiles Su Doku for T2 in which it appears five days a week, will produce his most difficult puzzle for the event at The Times Cheltenham Festival of Literature in October.
The Times National Su Doku Championships will follow in the tradition of the Times Crossword competitions and will involve at least one elimination round eligible for all to enter. There will also be a Su Doku junior competition. Hundreds of schools round the country now use Su Doku in lessons.
Carol Vorderman, the Countdown maths wizard and enthusiastic Su Doku solver, hopes to take part as compere or competitor, or both. �I do about five puzzles a day. It�s like an addiction,� she said. �It takes me about 19 minutes to do a fiendish one. I�ll get it down to ten.�
The Times National Su Doku Championships will follow in the tradition of the Times Crossword competitions and will involve at least one elimination round eligible for all to enter. There will also be a junior competition. Hundreds of schools across the country now use Su Doku in lessons. Full details of the championship have yet to be finalised but will be published in The Times.
Within weeks of Su Doku first appearing in T2, it had become a national phenomenon. Newspapers are taking it up from New York to New Zealand via South Africa."
I am right htere with you guys too.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Too good for Fiendish? Then try Killer Su Doku - Times 2 - Times Online
Too good for Fiendish? Then try Killer Su Doku - Times 2 - Times Online
Too good for Fiendish? Then try Killer Su Doku
Leo Lewis in Tokyo
The undisputed grand puzzle master of Su Doku, Tetsuya Nishio, says he has a ‘dreadful challenge’ for Times readers: a worthy successor to the puzzle that has so infuriated and entertained you
THE Japanese have produced more than their fair share of single-minded masters. There are sushi masters who have devoted their lives to the immaculate slicing of raw fish and there are green tea masters who have spent decades honing the art of brewing the perfect cuppa.
And then there is Tetsuya Nishio, the undisputed grand “puzzle master” of Su Doku: a bespectacled fiend from the darkest suburbs of Tokyo who spends his every waking hour devising abominable new ways to torture our brain cells. His only weapon is logic, but, in his own words, “it is a knife that kills”.
His commitment to deviousness is absolute, and he is notorious among the millions of Su Doku fans spread across Japan. When Su Doku champions burst into tears of frustration over the latest “super difficult” puzzle, his is the name they curse out loud. Master Nishio has trained almost all of Japan’s greatest champions and apprentice puzzle masters.
And now, in its first sighting outside Japan, one of the cruellest twists on the basic Su Doku game has reached The Times straight from Nishio’s diabolical stable.
“Of course I have recently read in the Japanese press about the extraordinary Su Doku boom in the UK and I was very happy to see it happening,” says the puzzle master, “but Britain has not had the puzzles for long enough to become fully used to their complexities. This new variation will be a dreadful challenge for you.”
Samunamupure (it translates as “sum number place” and we have named it Killer Su Doku) is a variation that has been evolving among Nishio and his small clan of devoted puzzle students for some years. It is, he says, the perfect example of a next-generation puzzle: it is simple to understand, requires no insider knowledge or training and rewards pure and simple logic.
The digits within the oddly shaped “inner boxes” (marked by dotted lines) must add up to the small number written in the top corner of that box. Apart from that, all the normal Su Doku rules apply. “The really satisfying part,” says Nishio with an evil smirk, “is that you can design a Samunamupure puzzle in a way that you do not need to insert any starting numbers in the grid. I think that will make some people very disturbed.”
The original samunamupure was devised a few years ago by Miyuki Nisawa, one of the puzzle-master’s most accomplished pupils. Under his tutelage she has further sharpened the puzzle’s bite, gradually stretching its difficulty while retaining the appallingly addictive qualities of the Su Doku genre. Others have joined her in honing the puzzles.
Yumiko Meguro, another of the clan, said: “Britain will be surprised and confused by Samunamupure at first, but once you have realised its secret, you will be absolutely lost to it.”
Although Su Doku has its roots outside Japan, it is no surprise that it is here that people such as Nishio have taken the idea to new levels of devotion. Lodged deep in the heart of Japanese culture is the spirit of monozukuri — a concept that translates roughly as “craftsmanship” but implies an obsessive attention to detail. Nishio and his cohorts are in a special class that arises from this concept — of so-called “puzzle-otaku”, or “Su Doku-nerds”.
Nishio spends most of his time in his puzzle studio in Higashimurayama, churning out about 15 puzzles a day. At the moment, he is particularly hard-worked because of a dramatic social phenomenon on the Japanese horizon. “From next year, all the baby boomers born after the Second World War are going to retire at 65, and they are all going to start doing Su Doku to fill their time. The puzzle community and I have to be ready.”
When he does venture outdoors there are certain things he always takes with him. One is a battered, yellowing copy of a 20-year-old American crossword magazine which published the first Su Doku puzzle that Nishio saw. It was included in the magazine as a curio, and never took off in the US. Nishio not only enjoyed the puzzle — as the pencil markings surrounding the grid attest — but gave up his job writing standard logic puzzles to take the Su Doku idea forward.
The other thing that he always carries is a small pad of empty Su Doku grids, “always ready for the next great idea”, he says, taking the pad out and jotting down a secret “work in progress” Su Doku that seems to involve a lot of arrows. “Train, café, bar — you never know when genius will strike.”
Nishio’s mastery of Su Doku has put him at the centre of a huge network of former pupils in Japan and other puzzle masters from around the world. They come to him for advice, for unsweetened criticism of their new offerings, and to seek judgment on the great Su Doku debates of the day.
When one of his apprentices, for example, came up with a new theory that allows certain squares to be filled in earlier than regular logic would allow, the debate raged for months. Eventually, Nishio was won over by the argument, and an explanation of Hamada’s Logic now has pride of place in the front pages of Nishio’s puzzle books.
“Hamada’s Logic makes things fun,” says Nishio. “It gives you the chance to try out some truly mind-bending puzzles that involve a dozen leaps of logic just to fill in a single number.” The master also once engaged in a lengthy debate with Wayne Gould, the compiler behind the Times Su Doku puzzles. Gould complained about a particular Su Doku puzzle of Nishio’s devising, arguing that it required a leap of more than just logic to complete. Nishio argued fiercely against this sacrilege, eventually persuading Gould that it was a puzzle with which Mr Spock would have been perfectly satisfied.
The greatest lesson that Nishio has tried to instill in the members of his stable is that the ideal Su Doku puzzle — of any genre — should involve the solver in a single path of logic. It is perfecting this, he says, that makes it immediately obvious to him which are mediocre Su Doku and which are great.
“I spend every moment thinking about new puzzles and how to make the existing puzzles more interesting. To write a simple puzzle (by his definition, the sort that appears in The Times) takes me around 15 minutes. But a more complicated one will take me as much as two hours.
“The time is spent ensuring that there is a unique solution that can be navigated only by logic.”
As Britain prepares to take on the new challenge of next-generation Su Doku, Japan’s puzzle master offers a simple word of warning: “Do not get too addicted. We can make these puzzles so difficult that it would take a champion six hours to complete one.”
HOW TO PLAY KILLER SU DOKU
KILLER SU DOKU is based on the traditional Su Doku grid with the same rules and digits 1 to 9. Every column, every row and every 3x3 box must contain those digits 1 to 9. But as you can see, in Killer Su Doku there are no traditional clue numbers — only cells linked by dotted lines with a number printed in the top left-hand corner.
The joined squares must be filled with the numbers 1 to 9 that add up to the printed top left-hand figure.
Hints to solve Killer are hidden in the joined squares where only one combination of numbers is possible. In the case of two joined squares, if the printed number is 3, it should be 1 and 2 that go into the squares; if the number is 17, the combination should be 8 and 9. Likewise, in the case of three joined squares, if the printed number is 6, the only combination possible is 1, 2 and 3; if the number is 24, 7, 8 and 9. It is best to start by solving the joined squares with the lower-value printed numbers and then gradually move on to those with larger printed numbers. Killer Su Doku also has a time set by its compiler. See if you can beat the clock.
We think Killer Su Doku is a worthy successor to the puzzle that has infuriated and entertained you since last November when The Times introduced it to Britain. We hope you agree that Killer Su Doku is a deadly new dimension. Good luck.
From today, there is a daily Killer puzzle on the back page of T2, alongside the original simple and Champagne prize Su Doku puzzles.
COMPETITION
WIN A hand-held electronic Su Doku game and The Times Killer Su Doku book.
Complete all five killer puzzles on this page and send your entries to Killer Competition, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1TT by Tuesday, September 6.
The first ten correct entries drawn will win Su Doku Challenge from Product Creations, an electronic game which comes with 10,000 puzzles, reusable wipe-clean card inserts and LCD display, rrp £34.99 (www.productcreations.com ).
Each winner will also receive a copy of The Times Killer Su Doku book with 100 puzzles to torture and entertain you.
This is a free entry competition. The Editor’s decision is final.
Yahoo... A competition. I am game.
Too good for Fiendish? Then try Killer Su Doku
Leo Lewis in Tokyo
The undisputed grand puzzle master of Su Doku, Tetsuya Nishio, says he has a ‘dreadful challenge’ for Times readers: a worthy successor to the puzzle that has so infuriated and entertained you
THE Japanese have produced more than their fair share of single-minded masters. There are sushi masters who have devoted their lives to the immaculate slicing of raw fish and there are green tea masters who have spent decades honing the art of brewing the perfect cuppa.
And then there is Tetsuya Nishio, the undisputed grand “puzzle master” of Su Doku: a bespectacled fiend from the darkest suburbs of Tokyo who spends his every waking hour devising abominable new ways to torture our brain cells. His only weapon is logic, but, in his own words, “it is a knife that kills”.
His commitment to deviousness is absolute, and he is notorious among the millions of Su Doku fans spread across Japan. When Su Doku champions burst into tears of frustration over the latest “super difficult” puzzle, his is the name they curse out loud. Master Nishio has trained almost all of Japan’s greatest champions and apprentice puzzle masters.
And now, in its first sighting outside Japan, one of the cruellest twists on the basic Su Doku game has reached The Times straight from Nishio’s diabolical stable.
“Of course I have recently read in the Japanese press about the extraordinary Su Doku boom in the UK and I was very happy to see it happening,” says the puzzle master, “but Britain has not had the puzzles for long enough to become fully used to their complexities. This new variation will be a dreadful challenge for you.”
Samunamupure (it translates as “sum number place” and we have named it Killer Su Doku) is a variation that has been evolving among Nishio and his small clan of devoted puzzle students for some years. It is, he says, the perfect example of a next-generation puzzle: it is simple to understand, requires no insider knowledge or training and rewards pure and simple logic.
The digits within the oddly shaped “inner boxes” (marked by dotted lines) must add up to the small number written in the top corner of that box. Apart from that, all the normal Su Doku rules apply. “The really satisfying part,” says Nishio with an evil smirk, “is that you can design a Samunamupure puzzle in a way that you do not need to insert any starting numbers in the grid. I think that will make some people very disturbed.”
The original samunamupure was devised a few years ago by Miyuki Nisawa, one of the puzzle-master’s most accomplished pupils. Under his tutelage she has further sharpened the puzzle’s bite, gradually stretching its difficulty while retaining the appallingly addictive qualities of the Su Doku genre. Others have joined her in honing the puzzles.
Yumiko Meguro, another of the clan, said: “Britain will be surprised and confused by Samunamupure at first, but once you have realised its secret, you will be absolutely lost to it.”
Although Su Doku has its roots outside Japan, it is no surprise that it is here that people such as Nishio have taken the idea to new levels of devotion. Lodged deep in the heart of Japanese culture is the spirit of monozukuri — a concept that translates roughly as “craftsmanship” but implies an obsessive attention to detail. Nishio and his cohorts are in a special class that arises from this concept — of so-called “puzzle-otaku”, or “Su Doku-nerds”.
Nishio spends most of his time in his puzzle studio in Higashimurayama, churning out about 15 puzzles a day. At the moment, he is particularly hard-worked because of a dramatic social phenomenon on the Japanese horizon. “From next year, all the baby boomers born after the Second World War are going to retire at 65, and they are all going to start doing Su Doku to fill their time. The puzzle community and I have to be ready.”
When he does venture outdoors there are certain things he always takes with him. One is a battered, yellowing copy of a 20-year-old American crossword magazine which published the first Su Doku puzzle that Nishio saw. It was included in the magazine as a curio, and never took off in the US. Nishio not only enjoyed the puzzle — as the pencil markings surrounding the grid attest — but gave up his job writing standard logic puzzles to take the Su Doku idea forward.
The other thing that he always carries is a small pad of empty Su Doku grids, “always ready for the next great idea”, he says, taking the pad out and jotting down a secret “work in progress” Su Doku that seems to involve a lot of arrows. “Train, café, bar — you never know when genius will strike.”
Nishio’s mastery of Su Doku has put him at the centre of a huge network of former pupils in Japan and other puzzle masters from around the world. They come to him for advice, for unsweetened criticism of their new offerings, and to seek judgment on the great Su Doku debates of the day.
When one of his apprentices, for example, came up with a new theory that allows certain squares to be filled in earlier than regular logic would allow, the debate raged for months. Eventually, Nishio was won over by the argument, and an explanation of Hamada’s Logic now has pride of place in the front pages of Nishio’s puzzle books.
“Hamada’s Logic makes things fun,” says Nishio. “It gives you the chance to try out some truly mind-bending puzzles that involve a dozen leaps of logic just to fill in a single number.” The master also once engaged in a lengthy debate with Wayne Gould, the compiler behind the Times Su Doku puzzles. Gould complained about a particular Su Doku puzzle of Nishio’s devising, arguing that it required a leap of more than just logic to complete. Nishio argued fiercely against this sacrilege, eventually persuading Gould that it was a puzzle with which Mr Spock would have been perfectly satisfied.
The greatest lesson that Nishio has tried to instill in the members of his stable is that the ideal Su Doku puzzle — of any genre — should involve the solver in a single path of logic. It is perfecting this, he says, that makes it immediately obvious to him which are mediocre Su Doku and which are great.
“I spend every moment thinking about new puzzles and how to make the existing puzzles more interesting. To write a simple puzzle (by his definition, the sort that appears in The Times) takes me around 15 minutes. But a more complicated one will take me as much as two hours.
“The time is spent ensuring that there is a unique solution that can be navigated only by logic.”
As Britain prepares to take on the new challenge of next-generation Su Doku, Japan’s puzzle master offers a simple word of warning: “Do not get too addicted. We can make these puzzles so difficult that it would take a champion six hours to complete one.”
HOW TO PLAY KILLER SU DOKU
KILLER SU DOKU is based on the traditional Su Doku grid with the same rules and digits 1 to 9. Every column, every row and every 3x3 box must contain those digits 1 to 9. But as you can see, in Killer Su Doku there are no traditional clue numbers — only cells linked by dotted lines with a number printed in the top left-hand corner.
The joined squares must be filled with the numbers 1 to 9 that add up to the printed top left-hand figure.
Hints to solve Killer are hidden in the joined squares where only one combination of numbers is possible. In the case of two joined squares, if the printed number is 3, it should be 1 and 2 that go into the squares; if the number is 17, the combination should be 8 and 9. Likewise, in the case of three joined squares, if the printed number is 6, the only combination possible is 1, 2 and 3; if the number is 24, 7, 8 and 9. It is best to start by solving the joined squares with the lower-value printed numbers and then gradually move on to those with larger printed numbers. Killer Su Doku also has a time set by its compiler. See if you can beat the clock.
We think Killer Su Doku is a worthy successor to the puzzle that has infuriated and entertained you since last November when The Times introduced it to Britain. We hope you agree that Killer Su Doku is a deadly new dimension. Good luck.
From today, there is a daily Killer puzzle on the back page of T2, alongside the original simple and Champagne prize Su Doku puzzles.
COMPETITION
WIN A hand-held electronic Su Doku game and The Times Killer Su Doku book.
Complete all five killer puzzles on this page and send your entries to Killer Competition, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1TT by Tuesday, September 6.
The first ten correct entries drawn will win Su Doku Challenge from Product Creations, an electronic game which comes with 10,000 puzzles, reusable wipe-clean card inserts and LCD display, rrp £34.99 (www.productcreations.com ).
Each winner will also receive a copy of The Times Killer Su Doku book with 100 puzzles to torture and entertain you.
This is a free entry competition. The Editor’s decision is final.
Yahoo... A competition. I am game.
Sudoku - A language of it's Own: Terms defined for all
Sudoku: "The puzzle grid consists of 9 rows (horizontally), 9 columns (vertically) and 9 3x3 boxes. Rows, columns and boxes are all kinds of unit. There are 27 units in a grid. Each unit must contain the digits 1 through 9.
Every unit contains 9 cells. Please don't call the cells "squares", because a box is square and the grid is square. The word "square" only causes confusion.
Three adjoining boxes in a line are a chute. If the chute is horizontal, it is a band. There are 3 bands: top, middle and bottom. If the chute is vertical, it is a stack. There are 3 stacks: left, middle and right. There are 6 chutes in a grid.
The numbers already in the grid are the puzzle's clues. The numbers you add, as a player, are big numbers (as opposed to the small numbers you use temporarily, which are pencilmarks).
When you have an empty cell, the remaining numbers which could go into it according to the rules of the game are the empty cell's candidates.
Boxes are numbered 1 to 9, in this layout:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
Rows are numbered 1 to 9, top to bottom.
Columns are numbered 1 to 9, left to right.
A cell is referenced by its row and column number, e.g., r1c1 for the top-left cell, r5c5 for the center cell. "
Well, that pretty much settles it I see boxes termed "regions" and "blocks", but it looks like we are defining the language here. Next, as the culture develops further there will be our own tyoe of currency
Every unit contains 9 cells. Please don't call the cells "squares", because a box is square and the grid is square. The word "square" only causes confusion.
Three adjoining boxes in a line are a chute. If the chute is horizontal, it is a band. There are 3 bands: top, middle and bottom. If the chute is vertical, it is a stack. There are 3 stacks: left, middle and right. There are 6 chutes in a grid.
The numbers already in the grid are the puzzle's clues. The numbers you add, as a player, are big numbers (as opposed to the small numbers you use temporarily, which are pencilmarks).
When you have an empty cell, the remaining numbers which could go into it according to the rules of the game are the empty cell's candidates.
Boxes are numbered 1 to 9, in this layout:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
Rows are numbered 1 to 9, top to bottom.
Columns are numbered 1 to 9, left to right.
A cell is referenced by its row and column number, e.g., r1c1 for the top-left cell, r5c5 for the center cell. "
Well, that pretty much settles it I see boxes termed "regions" and "blocks", but it looks like we are defining the language here. Next, as the culture develops further there will be our own tyoe of currency
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