Archive for September, 2010

Sudoku Xtra 10 – over 60 puzzle types!

Sudoku Xtra 10Issue 10 of Sudoku Xtra magazine is now available, and it’s packed with over 60 different types of wordless logic puzzle!

With 125 separate puzzles there really should be something in there for everyone, so whether you like huge Samurai Sudoku puzzles such as the 13-grid Samurai X, or just encountering a wide range of different Japanese logic puzzles, then there’s something in it for you. And don’t be confused by the name – the puzzles include not just Sudoku and a huge range of variants, but also Hanjie, Nurikabe, Yajilin, Slitherlink and many more.

To celebrate the 10th issue I’ve featured a range of 10-themed puzzles in the main section, including some with 10-shaped givens, 10 sides, 10-related layouts or 10-based values in the puzzles (for example a powers of 10 +/- Killer Sudoku!).

Meanwhile the Community Puzzles section just continues to get better and better thanks to the incredible skill and generosity of those contributing puzzles. New this issue is a page of Labyrinth puzzles (as seen in Beyond Sudoku) from Nathan Roberts, as well as Navigrids plus a new puzzle from the Vexus Puzzle Design stall. There’s also a page of challenging Battleships puzzles courtesy of Clarity Media, and on top of that there’s an awesome loop puzzle called Castle Wall from Palmer Mebane/MellowMelon.

The incredibly talented David Millar has crafted some special issue 10 puzzles, with some Sum Sudoku that have only “10″ clues, and a Slitherlink with only “10″ pairs in the grid! Meanwhile Grant Fikes has created three brilliant classic Nikoli-style puzzles, and there’s another visually-stunning Altair Slitherlink and more from Jim Bumgardner. Not only that but also Tom Collyer has created two more incredibly impressive Nurikabe-Sudoku cross-over puzzles, which really put all your puzzle-solving skills to the test. 

All that, and I’ve not even li
sted everything that’s to be found in the Community Puzzles secti
on.

Sudoku Xtra is available now from www.SudokuXtra.com


Samurai 8X


Samurai 8X puzzle

When I was making Sudoku Xtra 10 I wanted to put in a really big Samurai Sudoku puzzle. In the end because I had a square page area available beneath the instructions I went with a 13-grid one (just as a one-off to see what sort of reaction it got!) but I had started off intending to use an 8-grid one. It seemed a shame to let it go to waste, so I’m posting it here.

  • Place 1 to 9 into each row, column, main diagonal and 3×3 box of each of the eight 9×9 grids.
  • Note that, as in a regular Sudoku, only the rows, columns and main diagonals within the eight underlying 9×9 grids are guaranteed to contain all of 1-9. Any row, column or diagonal not entirely within a single 9×9 grid has no restriction on its content.

So best of luck – you don’t need it, but it might help anyway! ;)