I’ve been away for a couple of days but I thought I’d post an update on how Sudoku Xtra was going.

By Friday night I had a complete draft of the magazine, without solutions yet in it, and so I spent the weekend away checking through the proofs and re-solving many of the puzzles.

Today I made a few revisions and so now I can confirm that apart from laying out the solutions (and finishing the colour cover that will go on the Amazon version) it is fully complete.  There are exactly 100 puzzles in the first issue of the magazine, including several full page ones, and I’ve tried to include something for everyone – so there are some large grids for the people who want them, but they don’t dominate the magazine by any means for the people who don’t like them.  I’ve also included some unusual variants which you probably won’t have come across before.

Because probably the majority of readers will be printing their own copies from a download version, I’ve designed it so that each individual page can be printed alone – each sheet is a standalone ‘work sheet’ of a particular type of puzzle, including summary instructions and an example solution.  So you don’t need to waste paper printing the whole thing – you can easily skip the puzzles you are less interested in, or only print them when you’re ready for them.

I’m really very pleased at how it’s turned out, and hopefully you will be too when you see it!  Thanks very much to everyone who has posted here or emailed me directly with comments on what they’d like to see, as well as on Sudoku Pro – you’ve really helped encourage me to get it done quickly, and it’s definitely informed the puzzles I’ve put in.  (For example I was going to not include any super-large regular Sudoku but after a few requests I’ve made sure there’s some in there, including a rather unusual 20×20 Sudoku with 5×4 boxes.)

It will be out this week, certainly by first thing Friday for anyone who would like it in time for the weekend. And that’s a promise! :)