The Guardian jumps on the sudoku bandwagon
It is a truth universally acknowledged that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (score two on the cliche-ometer). And there is none more equal and more opposite than The Guardian. So today they have launched their own sudoku puzzle, following the Telegraph and The Times. That’s the “equal” bit. The “opposite” bit is that they rather proudly proclaim that each of their puzzles is hand-crafted, unlike inferior models from rival brands.
I recommend you try one (click on the PDF versions - easier than solving them on-line). The rules are very simple, and it’s certainly fun. The one in The Guardian today took me about 30 minutes, which I suspect is very poor - and it’s supposed to be an easy one. Solving it reminded me of solving Minesweeper, with a grid full of numbers, and common combinations and patterns leading you to more numbers in more boxes.
The most interesting thing will be how these “hand crafted” sudoku grids work out. The paper’s trailer is teasing:
They contain almost imperceptible witticisms and symmetrical patterns which enhance the pleasure of completing them. Solvers may notice that the layout of the “clue numbers” to start you off has its own logic and pattern. Or, with some of the harder puzzles we will publish you may only halfway through notice that the 9s you have laboured to place have satisfyingly worked their way to the four corneres of the grid.
We’ll see how it pans out; I’m looking forward it. As far as I can see, the pros of sudoku are that it’s solvable by logic (as opposed to knowledge as with crosswords) and that it’s a numerical puzzle, which is a refreshing change. Among the cons is, I suspect, that it won’t end up generating the same sense of wonder as and wit as Araucaria’s “Poetical scene has surprisingly chaste Lord Archer vegetating (3, 3, 8, 12)”.
Still, The Guardian’s promise of wit evokes the introduction of Georges Perec’s Life: A User’s Manual in which he waxes lyrical that jigsaw puzzles are far from a solitary game, but rather a subtle battle between creator and solver, with the creator leading the solver into all kinds of traps and blind alleys. A pictorial counterpart to sudoku’s numbers. I await the rest of the week’s puzzles with interest.
