Yes, some new books could be a good idea. What books would you like to see, other than a second volume of Inequalities?by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
"(probably doesn't help that I don't know what an X-wing is - can you solve the puzzles without knowing that?)" In many cases, nope. It's a funny name but an easy piece of logic so you probably sometimes apply an equivalent deduction without calling it an x-wing. They're not always easy to see though. The x-wing deduction (which has nothing to do with 'x's - "square deducby gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
I don't claim to be expert at solving inequalities quickly, but yes that's what I do first. I go as far as I can with the minimums, then when I get stuck I repeat with the maximums. As long as possible I avoid writing in any other candidates, because it makes it really hard to see the wood for the trees. I think to be fair you'd find these puzzles easier if they were two to a page and you hadby gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Now you can place the 2 in the top-middle 3x3, so at this point you should have 9x1 and 6x2 placed, and all I've written in the grid so far is the minimum number that can fit in each cell (which I've updated as at each step one gets forced higher by a placement).by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Which means the 2s must be in the top row of the bottom-left 3x3, letting you place a 2 in the bottom-middle 3x3.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
And now only one place for a 2 in the bottom-right 3x3.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
And only one place in the 4th row where a 2 can fit.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
And only one place in the middle-left 3x3 where a 2 can fit.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Next up, 2s must be in the top row of the top-middle 3x3, and right column of the top-right 3x3. And better still, there's only one place in the 6th column where a 2 can now fit.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
And just in case it's not obvious, you can then immediately place all of the other 1s.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Okay, so I start this puzzle by writing in the minimum value in each cell. Having done that I see immediately that there's an x-wing on the 1s in row 4 and row 8. This lets you eliminate all other 1s in their columns, 4 and 7. This means you know the 1s must be in the middle row of the top-middle 3x3, eliminating them from elsewhere on that row. You can now place a definite 1 in the top-by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Puzzle 21? I'll print a copy and take a look.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
The good news is that issue 22 is finally available! Subscribers should have already received their copies, and everyone else can now download it from the magazines page or buy a pre-printed version from Amazon (direct links: Amazon UK; Amazon US). Sudoku Xtra 22 is packed full with 144 top-quality logic puzzles of a wide range of types. New Sudoku types appearing for the first time in thisby gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Can I make a request? If you have bought any of these books on Amazon would you mind posting a brief review of some of them? Reviews help people make purchasing decisions (even bad reviews) which in turn drive sales and means I can carry on making more books - so it's a virtuous circle. Indeed the same applies for any of my other content on Amazon too. Thanks!by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Happy Christmas to all Sudoku Xtra readers too! I'm posting some special Christmas puzzles for online play over at www.puzzlemix.com - they're free for everyone so do take a look! There are 7, and the 2nd was posted today.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
I'm definitely interested in requests, yes! So that was Skyscraper Samurai Stars. And I'm really glad the books are going down well so far - thanks for the comments everyone!by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
5 titles are now available in the UK: UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=101+samurai+moore&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3A101+samurai+moore&ajr=2 And 4 in the US: US: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=101+samurai+moore&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3A101+samurai+moore&ajr=2 The rest should follow inby gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Ah, the sum you're referring to is the "anti-spam" bit of the forum! The sum you get is random, Elisabeth, so I had to think for a minute about what you were referring to! I can't see what you're asked or what you enter, so nothing to worry about there. I think if you get it wrong your message won't appear, although it should tell you so! You can create an account on this forum iby gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Thank you! They're starting to appear on Amazon.com (although at the moment of writing they're listed as not available for order), so the first set should be on Amazon.co.uk soon too.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
And I've just finished two more, which also should be available in the next couple of days: Jigsaw Samurai Sudoku: 101 Samurai Killer Jigsaw Sudoku: 101 Samurai The 13-grid book I mentioned in my previous post contains 101 x 13-grid puzzles, or in other words it's a bit like having over 1,300 sudoku puzzles in one book!by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
My new series of Samurai Sudoku books will start to become available soon, so I'm finalllllly delivering on promises I've made many times over the past couple of years! First up are six titles: Samurai Sudoku: 101 Samurai Killer Samurai Sudoku: 101 Samurai Arrow Sudoku: 101 Samurai Samurai Star / Flower Sudoku: 101 Samurai Samurai 13-grid Sudoku: 101 Samurai Outside Sudoku: 101 Samuraiby gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Firstly, I'm so annoyed I got the circles and squares the wrong way around in the instructions - I'm sure I checked that two or three times too! Doh. Sorry about that. Secondly, how about a book of 101 5-grid Samurai Trio Sudoku? And 101 5-grid Samurai Odd/Even (not Odd-pair) Sudoku? I'm not sure the world is ready for a full book of 13-grid ones yet!by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
On the subject of Samurais, I've been working on making sets of these for years so I'm pretty much all ready to get going on publishing some books (finally, after many requests!). I've done some research and it looks like the standard book size is 100, so I can't really go smaller than that unfortunately! So looks like I'll do books of 100 or 101. That increases the printing costs but I wonby gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Yes, I've noticed I'm not so great at rating my inequality-based puzzles for difficulty, which I notice in particular with Futoshiki - I think I did a better job in the Futoshiki 2 book than in the first one, for example. The trouble for me is it's difficult to balance the inequality logic against the sudoku logic, and I'm not sure I get that quite right. Do I ignore the sudoku part and rate thby gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
I will make them available for PDF download at some point, hopefully within the next couple of weeks. I really need to get the main website for the series up and running properly too! Samurais are next on the list, but I can't do 200 I don't think! I was considering a similar format to my Sudoku Xtra Specials for those, where I have 50 16x16 or 50 25x25 in the same book. What do you think?by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
I've been working on Kropki Sudoku and Arrow Sudoku books thanks to the above requests - both should be available from Amazon in the next couple of days!by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Sudoku Xtra will feature as a prop in the Sky One comedy series "Spy" on Friday night this week (16th November). It's on 8:30pm-9:00pm. I've set my video! (Well, Sky+ box, but you know what I mean)by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
There's also (non-variant) Tapa in Sudoku Xtra issues 14, 15, 16 and 20.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
Thanks for all the feedback - very useful! So are you (mostly) all saying that the magazine should ONLY contain Sudoku and variants. i.e. no other puzzle types?by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
QuoteMarilyn Wow, 200 XVs, brilliant! Is this available only at Amazon, as I can't find a PDF download for it here. Currently it's only available at Amazon, along with a wide range of other titles. Search for "200 puzzles Gareth Moore" and you'll find them all. However I will certainly be making them available as PDFs in the (hopefully not too distant) future too.by gareth - Sudoku Xtra Discussion Forum
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