Lucky you! For today only I am publishing my own Sudoku puzzle.

My good friend Pashmina has written about this Sudoku malarkey - which now means there are almost as many pieces written about it as there are Sudoku grids in circulation. She has also pointed out that Newsnight have done their own - with the twist that they’ve swapped the numbers for the letters of the word Newsnight. Lucky for them Newsnight has exactly nine non-repeating letters. But it’s clearly a micky take, marred only by the fact that they are participating in this craze.

But that’s nothing compared to The Guardian’s effort in their G2 tabloid. After some dismissive words about other publications they say:

The Guardian has already occupied the moral high ground in the Battle of Sudoku by becoming the only newspaper to publish puzzles hand-crafted by the game’s original Japanese inventors (as opposed to the risibly inferior versions spewed out by computer programs). And today, in order to further demonstrate our superiority over our so-called rivals, we publish a Sudoku on every page - yes, even the cover! Needless to say, every puzzle in G2 today has been lovingly etched by a black-belt Sudoku master on the upper slopes of Mount Fuji.

This is clearly a micky-take, too, but G2 is now guilty of taking this “battle” and escalating it into war - albeit while making it a very silly one.

Here are some amazing facts about Sudoku:

• Sudoku was invented in Japan in 400AD, by Samurai warriors seeking to hone their minds as much as their swordplay skills.
• Sudoku actually means “Way of the bean curd”, due to its elegance and power to bring calm.
• The greatest Sudoku players are revered not only for their speed of completion, but also for the beauty in which they fill in the cells. This includes calligraphy skills and the order in which they fill the cells.
• In 1941, Ju Wei-Po was killed in a feud over an uncompleted Sudoku puzzle. His killer was sentenced to death, but committed suicide before the execution date.
• The world Sudoku championships are hosted annually in Korea, where over 600 competitors battle for the title of “Sumani-ku”, which means “the most high curder”.

Of course, I’m probably a bit obsessed only because I completely messed up yesterday’s Guardian puzzle and had to give it up as a hopeless cause. Instead, here is my very own Sudoku puzzle for you.

Tags: sudoku, guardian, newsnight