Samurai SuDoku, Killer Sudoku and more

This is just a reminder that tomorrow, on Sunday, February 28, 2010, my Samurai Sudoku puzzles will restart in the Comics section of The Washington Post.

Also, I am pleased to announce that I’ve made a deal with Kinokuniya bookstore from New York City. They will offer for sale all of my books, all 28 of them! So, if you are strolling down Manhattan, go to 1073 Avenue of the Americas and at least have a look at the hard copies of my books. I bet you’ll like them! Please let me know what you think of them and even more importantly, how they are presented in the Kinokuniya bookstore.

In case you didn’t see this one coming, well then… you don’t know me and should be coming to this site more often!

Killer TriDoku puzzle: all standard rules of Killer Sudoku apply + of course the TriDoku rules.

Has anyone else published this kind of puzzle until now?

Killer TriDoku for Monday, February 22, 2010. Difficulty: BRAIN
(when you click&download the puzzle it won’t look so blury!!!)

The solution is here

If you can have Diagonal Sudoku or Sudoku X puzzles, why not have a TriDoku X? Although it looks more like a TriDoku *, I decided to keep the “X” in the name. Perhaps it could be called a TriDoku Star?

Whatever you call it, I think the additional rules are obvious: in addition to all the triangular nonets, outside and inner edges, hexagons etc., you now have 3 more lines of 9 cells that must follow the no-repeats rule. Those 3 lines are clearly indicated in the puzzle.

And by the way: I switched the dark gray and light gray cells. I think the puzzle looks better this way. Let me know what you think.

TriDoku X for Thursday, February 18, 2010. Difficulty: BRAIN

I’d like to hear more comments from you! I really need to know how you like these puzzles. If you hate them – tell me. Please!

Here is another variant of Outside Sudoku puzzles: a consecutive Sudoku. I’m sure you are aware of the rules, but lets repeat that the numbers in cells that are connected by the pipe “|” symbol MUST BE CONSECUTIVE. Numbers is cell that are have no pipe symbol between them MUST NOT BE CONSECUTIVE, they have to be non-consecutive.

Outside Consecutive Sudoku for Tuesday, February 16, 2010 – Difficulty: BRAIN.

Here is a puzzle that I think deserves a lot of attention: TriDoku! It’s a great puzzle-type but for some reason it’s very rarely seen in the Sudoku world. I want to change that!

Even though it may not appear obvious, there are 81 cells in this puzzle. And there are 9 nonets. Just like in your ordinary Sudokus. But there aren’t 9 rows and 9 columns. Why? Because the puzzle is triangular!

The rules:
1. There are 9 nonets in forms of triangles. These are drawn with thick lines. All must contain all numbers 1-9.
2. Each edge of the big triangle contains 9 numbers – again, no repeats there either. These cells are shaded in DARK GRAY.
3. There is an INNER triangle, shaded in LIGHT GRAY. Each side of the inner triangle contains 9 numbers. No repeats on those sides, please.
4. And finally: two cells that are touching each other must not contain the same number! Make sure you use this rule! Each cell is touching up to 12 other cells! Be careful!

All solving techniques come from classic Sudoku. Use naked and hidden singles and subsets in nonets and edges. Use interactions between the nonets and the corresponding edges. But finally, you will have to use: the hexagon rule!

The Hexagon rule comes directly from rule number 4. Since two touching cells cannot contain the same numbers, then a group of cells that are ALL touching each other cannot contain any repeats. Simple? Yes. Well then, each hexagon (6 cells pointing to each other) must not contain duplicates, so you CAN use the subsets solving technique, but be careful, there are 6 cells and 9 possible numbers!

Some of the techniques I will explain in detail in the coming days. Now, lets see the puzzle!

Oh, and one quick note: 3 cells are marked half dark gray half light gray. They are not split in any way, they contain one number, but they belong to both an outside edge and an inner edge, so I marked them this way.

TriDoku for Friday, February 12, 2010. Difficulty: THINKER

Comments? Questions? Please!