Sudoku Xtra 8 now out
Jul 1st
Sudoku Xtra issue 8 is now available for download! Printed copies are available from Lulu already, with Amazon.com due to follow in the next week or so.
There’s an ‘S’ theme for a few of the puzzles this month, as you can see on the cover (right).
This issue I’m very excited to welcome some brand new Community Puzzles section contributors – Thomas Collyer, the two-time UK Times National Sudoku Champion; and Grant Fikes, one of the most prolific authors of Japanese puzzles outside Japan itself – who have very kindly donated some fantastic puzzles to this issue. There are also some brilliant Slitherlink/Sudoku cross-over puzzles by David Millar of The Griddle, and that’s only half of the section described so far!
The rest of the magazine as always has some new variants and rearranged content in, including Killer Prime (Killer Sudoku with prime numbers…) and Skyscraper S (a twisted 6×6 Skyscraper variant!). At just £3.99/$5.99 for a download it’s still incredible value even when compared to cheaper mags – with 116 puzzles that’s less than 4p/6¢ a puzzle, and you’d have to average around 4 a day to get the whole issue complete in time for issue 9!
With over 50 different types of puzzle in issue 8, what are you waiting for?! 
The return of Sudoku Pro magazine!
Jun 6th
After the demise of Accolade Puzzles it had begun to look like it was the end of the road for Sudoku Pro, the puzzle magazine I supplied all the puzzles for and which was packed full of many Sudoku variants and other Japanese puzzles. But now, thanks to the support of the magazine’s new owner, My Hobby Store (publishers of a wide range of other hobby titles), Sudoku Pro is back!
Issue 51 of Sudoku Pro is on sale in independent newsagents now – you won’t find it in WH Smiths or your supermarket, but your local newsagent will be able to order it for you if they don’t already have it on the shelves. Or alternatively you can subscribe via the My Hobby Store website, and save some money and get it delivered to your door as soon as it’s available every month. At £22 for 12 issues it’s pretty amazing value. I have issue 51 in my hands and it looks as good as ever, now being in a slightly smaller and therefore more easily portable format.
If you enjoyed Sudoku Pro before then you’ll certainly enjoy it again, since the selection of puzzles is almost identical. If you’ve never read it but would be interested in a magazine packed full of Sudoku variants and other Japanese puzzles, then please do seek it out to ensure it sells enough issues to keep going strong!
Sudoku Xtra 7 magazine now out
May 26th
Sudoku Xtra issue 7 is now out! It’s available for download and also pre-printed from Lulu (for UK and most of the world), with the Amazon.com pre-printed version (for the US) due to follow in around a week or so (once they update their database).
Issue 7 of Sudoku Xtra contains even more large-page Japanese puzzle fun, with an incredible 116 varied logic and number puzzles. A special section in this issue is devoted to giant puzzles, with the 13 full-page puzzles including Hanjie, Nurikabe, Yajilin, Slitherlink, Hashi, Samurai Sudoku variants, Kakuro and more.
Sudoku Xtra offers greater variety than any other puzzle publication, with a huge range of Sudoku variants that include Jigsaw, Extra Region, Skyscraper, Consecutive and many more. Other featured puzzles include Calcudoku, Futoshiki, Hitori, Killer Sudoku and a range of variants, including Zero Killer Sudoku Inequality!
Designed to print on either A4 or Letter paper, or pre-printed on similarly large paper, Sudoku Xtra features puzzles at a range of difficulties, so is suitable for both logic puzzle fans and casual solvers alike. No matter what you like, you’re sure to find many puzzles to enjoy in Sudoku Xtra issue 7.
There’s also another great Puzzle Community section too, thanks to the generous contributors. Puzzles sent in for issue 7 include Navigrid, Mini Killer Sudoku, Knighted Sum Sudoku, Fillomino and more.
Get Sudoku Xtra 7 now.
Samurai Killer Plus and Minus
May 14th
Killer Plus Minus Samurai puzzle
If you’re a Sudoku Xtra reader you’ll have seen these in their regular 9×9 form in both issues 5 and 6, but this is the first time I’ve made a Samurai one, and the first time I’ve posted one here I think.
This is essentially a regular Killer Sudoku puzzle, except that instead of placing 1 to 9 you must place -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 into each row, column and bold-lined 3×3 box. There are also two overlapping 9×9 grids to solve simultaneously.
As in regular Killer, the values in each dashed-line cage must sum to the given total, and you cannot repeat the same number within any one cage.
Good luck!
Sudoku Xtra 6 available worldwide
May 3rd
I’m pleased to announce that Sudoku Xtra issue 6 is now out and available for the full triumvirate of download and self-print, pre-printed from Lulu (recommended for most of the world) and also free same-day posting from Amazon.com (recommended for US).
It’s packed with a frankly ridiculous 133 separate puzzles. The range of content includes:
- Light-up / Akari
- A large cover Nurikabe puzzle
- -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 Killer Sudoku – back by popular demand!
- A third Jigsaw 6×6 Variety Pack of miniature variants
- An extra-big Yajilin
- Killer Inequality Sudoku – lots of symbols on a grid!
- Dominoes - first time back since issue 1
- Plus all of the regular puzzles, from Skyscraper to Samurais to Calcudoku to Hashi to Hanjie to Kakuro and so on…
There’s a bumper-packed Puzzle Community section too, thanks to the generous contributors. Just look at some of the types that are in issue 6:
- Yin Yang Sudoku
- Sudoku Minus (a trickier version of Sudoku Times!)
- Hexagon 25
- Klump
- Modula
- and more!
So if you’d like a copy (and if not, why not?! ) then just pick one of these links:
Download and self-print * Lulu * Amazon.com
Have fun!
Samurai Killer Sudoku Pro 6×6
Apr 27th
Killer Sudoku Pro 6×6 Samurai puzzle
It’s been quiet here recently – much of my effort has been going on my UK General Election site, How To Vote, although Sudoku Xtra 6 was out on Saturday too. Anyway, there are still 10 days to go to the election but after that I’ll get some time back!
However I thought I should finally post another puzzle – so here one is. Place 1 to 6 in each row, column and 2×3 box (rows and columns are defined by the three underlying 6×6 grids, which you have to infer from the stepping). Also place numbers so that the value at the top-left of each dashed-line cage results from applying the operation between all the value in that cage. For subtraction and division start with the largest value.
Have fun!
Sudoku Xtra Issue 5
Apr 3rd
I’m very pleased to announce that issue 5 of Sudoku Xtra magazine is now available for download or in pre-printed form from either Amazon.com (US) or Lulu.com (recommended for rest of world).
This issue has even more puzzles than the previous ones, with a pretty mind-boggling 131 separate logic and number puzzles!
New content includes:
- Suraromu – the latest loop puzzle from Japan
- PivotPix (a.k.a. Tentai Show / Sym-a-Pix)
- -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 Killer Sudoku!
- An extra page of Yajilin, designed to help you get into the puzzle
- Some new Sudoku combinations
Plus the regular stuff is there too, including:
- Another Jigsaw 6×6 Variety Pack of miniature variants
- More Sudoku at more sizes than ever before
- Lots of Sudoku variations on a theme
- All of the other regular puzzles, from Skyscraper to Samurais to Calcudoku to Hashi to Hanjie to Kakuro and so on…
And the generous puzzle community contributors have been as creative as ever. Just look at some of the types that are in issue 5:
- Kuromasu / Kurodoko
- Sudoku Times (outside products)
- Hexagon 25
- Shapely Alleys and Skyscrapers
- Modula
- Pathfinder
- and more!
As always, it’s designed to print well in black and white on either A4 or Letter paper, using up most of the space and without pointlessly wasting ink on large dark areas. If you have a colour printer there’s a small colour trim to each issue – this month’s is orange – but this prints fine as a greyscale. Pre-printed copies have a colour cover but black and white interior.
Solution time distribution graphs
Mar 28th
I was tidying my desk earlier when I suddenly thought: wouldn’t it be fun to see exactly how your puzzle solving time compared with every other solver?!
And so now you can. If you play puzzles online at PuzzleMix then the statistics show a distribution of solution times, highlighting where you fitted:
My result is the yellow/pale blue bar, and as you can see I was the second or third fastest on this particular puzzle. Previously all I’d have known is that I was better than average, and near the fastest. Now I can see just exactly where I fit in.
I think this is great! Of course, it’s a bit embarrassing when your highlight bar is off to the right, or doesn’t even fit on… (it only shows the top 90% of results when there are 20 or more, and omits all results longer than 2 hours).
Samurai 3-grid Calcudoku
Mar 24th
Samurai 3-grid Calcudoku 6×6 puzzle
I’ve been posting a few new varieties of Sudoku puzzle in the daily puzzle section of PuzzleMix (i.e. the subscription section, which costs less than £1 a month for well over 1,000 puzzles a year). These aren’t especially unusual variations, but I’ve done a few different mixes (e.g. Sudoku-X 12×12 and Wraparound Sudoku 6×6), and I thought it was about time I posted a new mix here too.
So here’s a 3-grid Samurai Calcudoku puzzle. You must place 1-6 in each of the 3 underlying 6×6 grids – I’m afraid these aren’t marked explicitly so you might want to draw in where the grid borders go so you don’t forget whilst solving. Other than that, also place numbers so that the number given in each bold-lined cage results from applying the given operator between the numbers in that cage. Start with the highest number for division and subtraction. There is no restriction on repeating numbers in cages.
Good luck!
Toroidal Killer Toroidal Jigsaw Sudoku
Mar 19th
Toroidal Killer Jigsaw Toroidal puzzle
A while back someone asked for some variant toroidal patterns on PuzzleMix, so I was just adding a couple of them to the daily puzzles section when it occurred to me that I could put up a few toroidal killer sudoku too, for a change. However I then realised that the code which creates the HTML will need editing to cope with toroidal regions, but I knew my PDF code was more flexible… and then I thought it would be great to mix this with some toroidal jigsaw regions too… and here’s the somewhat confusing result! A Toroidal Killer with Toroidal Jigsaw regions.
Now if you enjoy this twisted beast let me know, otherwise I probably won’t make any more of them!
Full rules:
- Place 1 to 9 in each row, column and bold-lined jigsaw region
- Place numbers so that the dashed-line cages add to the total given
- No number can repeat in a dashed-line cage.
- Some jigsaw regions and cages ‘wrap around’ the outside the puzzle, continuing at the start/end of the same row/column
Good luck!
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