There were quite a few comments from our visitors, especially on the Daily Killer Sudoku page, which makes that and other pages load slow. Therefore, I have moved some of the old comments to this new category.
If you’d like to read what other people had to say about our puzzles you may find the old comment by clicking on the “comments” link below or here.
UPDATE (some 5 years later): I reopened the comments on all pages. Feel free to add your comments there, it means a lot to me!
hello¡¡ where can i find Telegraph’s Kakuro ?
thanks Susan
With this release of Perfect Sudoku can I Generate Samurai and Samurai X Sudoku’s? Thanks and best regards,
Fernando Castro
Fernando, no, you cannot generate Samurai puzzles. There is a classic Sudoku (including “X”) generator and solver and also a Killer Sudoku solver included.
The Telegraph Kakuro only appears in the UK printed Daily Telegraph – not on line.
I did wednesday’s killer (thinker 38272) as my first ever killer sudoku problem and took about 4 hours to get my head round it and solve it. Was really pleased when I finished.
Have just completed yesterday’s IQ 233300 problem in just under 2 hours!!
I’m only using pen and paper (2 or 3 sheets of paper for notes)
Don’t think I’ll ever get to udosuk’s level though.
Alan
Urgent!
Hi DJ Ape,
i’m looking for a program, that generates killer-sudokus, samurai-sudokus, … for an event in my office. Can i get this software from you? How much would it cost?
Alright, last time I failed to mentioned an important step at the start which allowed me to solve it in such a short time. Look at the 23/4 cage in nonet 4. Because we know R[4-6]C1 can’t be 7,8,9, so the sum of these 3 cells can’t exceed 15. So R4C2 is either 8 or 9, and R[4-6]C1 is either {356} or {456}. Later it’ll be discovered that R4C2 must be 9 and by then the left stack will be nailed down a lot.
I found those kakuros’ check out http://www.kakuro.net
Cheers Adele
Am I being incredibly stupid? On the kakuro puzzle number 2 8×8, why can’t the 11 across on the second row be 83 or 47 or 56? There are two boxes with no down numbers on the top row.
Mike Japan
No weekend killer – hubby is having withdrawals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He was so excited when I got last weekends one, he needs a killer everyday.
Please let us have a killer at the weekend…
this is the only way to stop the encroachment of Alzheimers……
Thanks Adele for the link.
I can assure Mike is not being incredibly stupid at all. Looks like someone had discussed that problem in the forum. Probably a mistake from the host/administrator.
And for all those who have no problem/moral issue in making use of the computer technology as a media to solve the puzzles, for the 5 (non-printable) puzzles you could copy the whole content in those pages and paste it into a word document. Then you’ll get a well-designed grid to put the numbers in. Nice and easy!
Does anyone know how to better print the times killer.
It prints out blurry [even on photo] and I tried to cut, paste and enlarge to no avail.
I am not computer savvy so any basic ideas accepted.
I think you are all incredibly brilliant for working these sudokus out, hubby is stoked with them.
He even finds cryptic crosswords old hat now.
Can’t wait for the book for him.
Adele – what I do with the Times is add the totals for the top 3 nonets together mod(10). So e.g. 16 + 18 = 4 mod(10). Write down the sum for the top 3 nonets, and repeat for the middle and bottom nonets. This gives 3 1-digit check sums. Since the grand total is 405, these should add to 5 mod (10). If they don’t, it is usually easy to see which number I have misread. Typically a 5 or 6, but there can be others. I find working mod(10) greatly simplifies a lot of the calculations in killer sudokus. The Times had a great idea when they introduced killer sudoku, but they seem to have dropped the ball as far as promoting it is concerned.
for the times one, like the person who had a problem with 25/26 – its always a problem with the 5s and 6s. I just print it out, then compare it to on-screen and clarify if i need to. It helps to zoom in on the times graphic on screen (but NOT to print it out this way) to check those 5s and 6s.
to the person with the killer-addicted husband, there is already a killer sudoku book out by the times … its on amazon.co.uk. wont be as good as djape’s, but i hope to get one eventually.
i was also sad not to see a weekend killer! I have not timed myself on any of these yet but managed to do some of the easy’s and at least one of the cool’s in my head … only putting pen to paper when i knew the final number. that is fun but being challenged by a serious Insane or Brain is best … I think the hardest puzzle from this site, or at least the one that took me longest, was the Brain with the big 40+ sumboxes in the corners.
any chance, dj ape, that you can post older archived puzzles? i didn’t arrive here until a couple weeks ago and would love to do what I missed.
Hi Cara
we pre ordered the killer book from the times and he has done it all.
He is never going to get Alzheimers thats for sure.
The worst thing I did was come across this site because now he will only do killer variety.
Wheres the book – begging here.
I did the download of Perfect Sudoku v0.4 and it works perfectly. Meanwhile, I would like to suggest, in terms of printing, the following: (a)to have the possibility of choose the grid output: small, medium or big; (b)to have the grid centered on the page.
I don’t know if it is easy or not to do the improvement but I can tell you that was very nice to have it.
Best regards,
Fernando Castro
hello ¡¡ now is 13 hours pm in Spain, and in the times on line continues the 18 of november killer’s, do you konw what time appears the new one? thanks
Come on dj..no weekend killer is bad enough but an easy one on monday makes it three days without a brain teaser.. how about an “insane or IQ” every day please
Hi DJ – here’s an idea. How about 2 killer sudokus a day. The first could be easy/cool and free to introduce and addict newbies. The second could be iq/insane and require registration/membership for the already addicted. I would happily pay for my daily fix 🙂
Hi, agree with fdkr, but the first killer could be any level, and the second iq/insane, best regards
Monday, November 14 puzzle…perhaps the best example of a swordfish i’ve seen – it actually has a nested set of swordfishes with an X-wing mixed in, but all with the same number…
Running out of ideas? All yesterday’s killer puzzles have already been solved.
Mayndo, please explain a bit more what you’re saying, I think I don’t understand. Which puzzles have already been solved and where and how and why? 🙂
I surely haven’t posted any puzzle more than once, if that’s what you’re claiming.
My vote? I like it the way it is. Some of us have to work during the week and can’t cope with too many killers.
I also enjoy the different difficulty levels throughout the week, though my favourites are always the insane ones. Not too hard, just fun! Keep ’em coming.
If you want more killers, why not buy Djape’s Sudoku K book? It’s available at; viaoptima@portugalmail.pt or
viaoptima@mail.telepac.pt
(I dealt with Luis Torres Fontes who was very efficient).It costs 7 Euros, they accept Paypal and for a little extra they will post it anywhere.
Mike Japan
I thought it would be easier to get the book off this website.
I was hoping for the downloadable version.
Thanks for the link.
I have been checking back here thinking dj would add a link to purchase it or update us on the PDF format.
Shall check that out right now…thanks
Adele (and everybody else interested in Sudoku K book) – the book will be available to purchase in PDF form from this website. This is what I said in this post here: http://www.djapedjape.com/?p=99 and it will surely be done. The PDF will be payable through PayPal.
There are (always) technical issues but don’t worry – it will be available probably sometime during next week.
I second Cara’s request for older archived ones as I only found this site last week. The first one I came across was an INSANE and this hooked me!
Maybe would be a good extra incentive for getting people to sign up for a modest fee for a 2 puzzle a day option?
As regards an older comment not on this page about solving Friday’s IQ by noting that exchanging a 2×2 square containing 4242 or 2424 would make the puzzle not unique. Whilst this is a good idea to eliminate a potential solution, I don’t like it as you would not actually know if there was a unique solution. However I had been stuck with all sorts of permuatations waiting to be solved until I found this tip, so thanks.
Also yes to the Killer book from this site please. I’d prefer a download as my usual method of solving is to pop the file into a picture editing program to reduce the black contrast and enlarge the picture for printing on an A4 sheet, so I can write possibles in the “roped off” areas.
Finally where do you get the lingo from? nonets, innies and outies? Is there a convenient description somewhere of these?
My comment crossed with djape’s response on the book. Look forward to it.
Small point – actually I like the png file format as it goes into my picture editing software (adobe photoshop elements) for blowing up to A4 size. Acrobat doesnt seem to be able to do this for its PDF files – or are there any techies out there who know how to extract and blow up a page?
Sorry to be posting a third comment but I have 2 solutions for today’s BRAIN, the alternatives being in some of the cells in the 3×3 areas on the right hand side. Let me know if you want to know what they are. Assuming I’m right it seems to validate my earlier dislike about the technique of elimination assuming a unique solution.
Russell, today’s puzzle is an “X”, did you take that into consideration? Make sure your diagonals are ok when you exchange those numbers.
Ok here is my final word. I now know what is wrong with playing about with the image – I lost the X down the diagonals! Apologies to all. The solution is unique.
I enjoyed a lot this BRAIN, I will be surely a buyer for the PDF version of the book, and I would also agree for the 2 killers/day!
How come, with 340 votes cast, the percentage of votes at the top left of this page only adds up to 99%?
Mike (pedantic) Japan
Rounding errors:-
49 is 14.4%, 18 (twice) is 5.3%
With regards to printing png files.
There is a very good and free piece of software called faststone image viewer. You can download it from majorgeeks.com or just do a search on the net. It is an excellent image viewer and will allow you to print the image any size and anywhere on your paper.
For printing puzzles, what always works for me is to hit “Print Screen”, paste into Paint, select the part of the image I want and then paste into Word. Now I can drag it to whatever size I want and any position before printing.
Just tried ‘THINKER’ three times, but failed three times in exactly the same way. Grrrr, can’t wait to see the solution.
I am struggling with todays ‘Thinker’ (40778).
I have found recent killers difficult – rarely any innies/outies (ok a couple of pairs in this one) but no progressive ones – you know, where you get one number and that creates and innie. So anyone, after the innies then what?
I also found the ‘easy’ earlier in the week quite hard. A few weeks ago I was up with the IQ’s and finding my way – now I’m struggling. Anyone else notice a hardening? Or is it just me?
Cheers
For printing puzzles, what I find best is an A4-sized photo-copied blank grid plus a pink highlight pen made in Thailand by MonAmi Co. Ltd (cost = 2 for 1 Euro)
Mike Japan
I’m with hasher…..also have trouble after innies – I also found Easy quite hard this week, but flew through Brain?? Strange. I also sometimes have trouble with Fiendish Su Doku – do the basic elimination, and then just can’t get any further. I find writing all the possible combinations in a block helpful with elimination, but sometimes the block gets so full you can’t see what’s going on!!
Hasher, here is a technique I use that might help you out. C9 is almost isolated, except for C8R8 and C9R9. For cells C9R1-R8 and C8R8, they total 49. If C9R9 was 1, this would give a total of 50 for a line plus an outie, which means C8R8 would be 5. This now means that C8R8 must be 4 more than C9R9. I now put in all the combinations (2 and 6, 3 and 7, etc) and eliminate combos as per normal. Don’t know if this is a named technique, but I’ve used it a few times before to good use!
How this helps.
I must admit I haven’t found the latest puzzles any more difficult but it is true you don’t get many numbers to start with. I did the Cool last night and I didn’t get a number for a while. You just have to create myriad pair combinations and eventually the numbers will come. Killer sudoku seems to keep evolving which keeps it fresh.
Not complaining – I still enjoy the puzzles, but hints from time to time would be nice.
Now got Thinker 40778 50% but seem to have come to a blockage.
Middle 3 nonets ok, top three reasonable but bottom three being unreasonable.
Help?
Thanks for the trick Stu
I now find that c8r8= 7 or 9 (which I had already) and c9r9 must only be 3 or 5. So i have eliminated ne possibility for c9r9.
Its a step but…
Or am I being really thick today?
I am with you Hasher. Today’s IQ is unsolvable. There is a probleme with the bottom three boxes.
Mayundo, please let me know what kind of a problem did you find in today’s IQ?
To all visitors: please understand that I need to provide puzzles for thousands of people here and everyone have their preference. Some are complaining that puzzles are too easy and now a few of you find them too difficult. This is why every week I post puzzles with all difficulty levels.
Also, in the poll that I ran here about difficulty levels, “INSANE” got most votes. We try to provide puzzles that most people will enjoy.
This week’s easy was maybe a bit more complicated because it was an “X”, which always adds a little extra.
All in all, there is a reason why there is “Killer” in “Killer Sudoku”! 🙂