Comments on: Consecutive Samurai Star

By: Gareth Moore

Gareth Moore — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:36:56 +0000

Thanks for all your comments, Spittledung, on this and other posts. Yes, I think that the way Consecutive puzzles ‘flow’ from the start point is really attractive, and it makes the puzzle feel pleasantly ‘manageable’ as you solve. Of course, getting started can be a different matter!

By: Spittledung

Spittledung — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 06:06:41 +0000

I really enjoyed this puzzle with the flower design and all of the other elements. I also like that you start with only 4 givens and explode from the center outwards.

By: Gareth Moore

Gareth Moore — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:29:10 +0000

I’m really glad you’re enjoying the consecutive puzzles – as I wrote a few days ago I’ve always wanted to make them but have just never got round to it! I tried one from a World Sudoku Championships a couple of years ago and thought it was fun.

I think the great thing about consecutive sudoku – compared to non-consecutive sudoku (where all of the digits are non-consecutive) is that the consecutive constraint eliminates all except two (or one) other digit, which makes the puzzle much more tightly constrained, and therefore entertaining to solve (for me at least!).

Now I know for sure they really are fun (and it wasn’t just a fluke) a book of them sounds like a great idea. I could add them to puzzlemix.com as an online puzzle, but a downloadable/printable PDF is a great idea. I will look at doing that this coming week.

By: Christine

Christine — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:52:25 +0000

Hi Gareth

I am really enjoying these consecutive puzzles. I have completed them all now and of the star, the skyscraper and the two grid samurai, found the latter to be much more difficult than the others – a real challenge, but manageable in the end! (I’ve never looked into some of the complex solving strategies you mentioned, so was glad they weren’t needed!

Have you considered adding a pdf file of consecutive sudoku puzzles to those you can buy on your puzzlemix site? I certainly wouldn’t mind paying for some more.

Thanks for providing these puzzles. It’s good to get away from the more standard puzzles.