Extreme Sudoku For Dummies

by Andrew Heron, Andrew Stuart

Have you worn out all of your pencils mastering ever-changing Sudoku puzzles? Have you stepped up your game to the next level and now seek something a little more demanding? Do you crave the challenge of more cunning, deadly Sudoku?"Extreme Sudoku For Dummies" features 236 beyond diabolical puzzles to challenge even the most skilled expert--perfect for anyone who wants to be a true Sudoku master. In this book you will not only discover some amazingly tricky Sudoku puzzles, but also face new challenges in the form of Killer Sudoku, Irregular Sudoku, and other recently developed variations. And you won't need to rely on guesswork--you'll find an easy-to-understand, logical approach that will help you tackle even the most difficult puzzles in the book. "Extreme Sudoku For Dummies" offers: An overview of Sudoku basicsVariations such as 9 x 9, 12 x 12, 16 x 16, jigsaw, circular, and killer puzzlesUseful strategies to filter out candidates and solve puzzles, one step at a timeThe lowdown on advanced strategies such as Naked Pairs, Naked Triplets, Hidden Pairs, X-Wing, Y-Wing, and other techniquesTime completion estimates so that you can use the clock to measure your progress and ability

Along with a wealth of puzzles that will test every Sudoku player's skill, "Extreme Sudoku For Dummies" provides the tips, tricks, advice, and strategies to help you become a true master of the game.

360 pages, Paperback

First published November 13, 2006

Reviews

[Paul Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Challenging puzzles and well-crafted instructions

What an absolutely marvelous idea for Sudoku addicts like myself! Andrew Heron and Andrew Stuart, the joint authors of this marvelous little puzzle compilation, explain the simple idea behind Extreme Sudokuy for Dummies:

" ... If you find yourself breezing through most Sudoku puzzles without even breaking a sweat, then this is the book for you."

The puzzles in this marvelous little collection start at difficult and move to downright fiendish (and trust me here, fellow puzzle solvers, "fiendish" in this book means EXACTLY what it says!). The teaching section of the book takes you through the simplest gridlock busting techniques to the most complex. Most of the advanced techniques (at least, those that I'm aware of) are briefly and reasonably clearly explained in the opening pages but it takes solving the actual puzzles to switch on that "aha" light bulb, to come to understand how the technique is applied in a full puzzle and to see how it fits into the context of a developing solution.

Heron and Stuart cover an enormous range of puzzle solving techniques including:

Crosshatching
Single candidate squares
Single square candidates
Virtual crosshatching
Naked pairs, triples and quads
Row, column and box claims
Remote pair chains
Non-unique rectangles
Bivalue Universal Grave
X-wings, Swordfish and Jellyfish
XY-wings
XYZ-wings
Conjugate Pair Chains
Multi-colouring
XY-chains

This is NOT a puzzle book for beginners but if you're already a competent solver looking for challenges and a way to stretch your puzzle solving abilities with more esoteric techniques, then look no further than this delightful book. Highly recommended. Even if you're already an accomplished solver familiar with these techniques, you'll find the puzzles more than sufficiently challenging to justify the cost of the book.

A handful of jigsaw and killer sudoku variations will round out your pleasure and stimulate the old synapses with a little variety.

Paul Weiss

[Patrick]

Very Challenging and too time consuming for me. I think I will stick to the papers.