Giant Maze Puzzle

I’ve recently made a few mazes for a puzzle book, which included one that was too large to go in in the end – so I thought I’d post it here. Have fun.  (Just find your way from the in arrow to the out arrow…)

]]> http://www.garethmoore.co.uk/2011/11/giant-maze/feed/ 0 http://www.garethmoore.co.uk/2011/06/sudoku-xtra-issue-15/ http://www.garethmoore.co.uk/2011/06/sudoku-xtra-issue-15/#comments Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:20:32 +0000 Gareth Moore http://www.garethmoore.co.uk/?p=1041 More >]]> Sudoku Xtra issue 15 is now available for download from SudokuXtra.com, and it’s another packed issue of the logic puzzle magazine.  With 59 different types of logic puzzle at a wide range of difficulties it’s got something in it for everyone, and it’s far from just Sudoku and variants. In fact there’s not a single regular 9×9 Sudoku in the whole magazine! From the giant cover Masyu through to the Tapa, Heyawake, Nurikabe, new puzzles and more there is plenty to keep you busy.

The magazine can be downloaded as a PDF and printed at home, or it can be ordered pre-printed from Lulu or Amazon.com (the last of these coming in the next week or so, once their system updates and lists it).

I’m also now posting full lists of content over on the magazines page at SudokuXtra.com,so you can click the expanding links to see a list of every puzzle in both this and the previous two issues, as well as order back issues.

And talking of back issues, I didn’t post here previously but issues 13 and 14 are also available (and have been for 4 and 2 months respectively), although the Amazon.com issues of these have only just been uploaded so again these should appear in the next week or so.

I’ve just added Skyscraper puzzle support to Puzzlemix. Hop on over if you’d like to try playing Skyscraper puzzles online!

This means that there are now 16 different types of puzzle on the site, plus a variety of sizes for each of those puzzle types.

Calcudoku+ 7×7

I had a request for a 7×7 Calcudoku-esque puzzle that uses only + operations, so I thought “why not?”.  And here it is.

The cover puzzle is a giant Masyu, and then it follows through from there with the usual varied mix of sudoku variants and other puzzles, plus an extra-large bumper-packed Community Puzzles section.

This issue features more than 65 pages, leading to a record-breaking total of 139 puzzles! You’d need to complete more than 4 a day in order to do them all in time for the next issue. There are also two special Christmas Tree Sudoku puzzles (both much easier than they might look and really quite fun I think!) – it may be past Christmas now but they’re still fun puzzles!

Issue 13 is also due out in the next few days.

Sudoku 6×6 puzzle

Jigsaw 6×6 puzzle

I had a couple of 6×6 Sudoku puzzles left over when making issue 58 of Sudoku Pro magazine, so I thought I’d post them here.

Just place 1-6 into each row, column and bold-lined area.

The cover features a Boomerang Samurai, made up of 10 overlapping 8×8 puzzles, and then later on there’s a double-page spread with a real X factor, the facing Return of the Boomerang 1 & 2 – consecutive and odd/even-pair variants.

There are also heyawake, yajilin, nurikabe, masyu, dominoes, calcudoku, slitherlink, killer sudoku prime, killer sudoku pro +/-, variant size jigsaw, hitori and many more puzzle types. And there’s a second huge 13-grid 9×9 Samurai, with a Consecutive Samurai 13-X – every bit as huge and intimidating as you might imagine!

The Community Puzzles section this month welcomes another new contributor, Deb Mohanty, a key member of the Indian puzzle community and author of some very well-respected puzzles and competitions. His “No 4 in a Row” puzzles will challenge your ability to both spot the “obvious” and also reason using uniqueness logic! There are also more Labyrinth puzzles, more Haijo from Vexus, an alternative set of Yajilin from Thomas Collyer, and the hexagonal ‘Hexagodoku’ from Clarity Media. David Millar’s mighty Knight Samurai Sudoku +/- will test your Sudoku variant skills to the limit, with its five grids of attacking knights and positive and negative numbers. And that’s just some of what’s in the section this month.

Sudoku Xtra 11 is available for download as a PDF, as well as pre-printed from Lulu and also from Amazon.com (eligible for free super-saver shipping!).

Sudoku 16×16 puzzle

And to complement the Killer Sudoku I posted a moment ago, here’s a 16×16 puzzle for those who like these. Just place 1 to 9 and A to G in each row, column and 4×4 box.  Only “scan and place” logic is needed for this, I promise!

Killer Sudoku puzzle

Sudoku Xtra 11 is out now, but I’m holding off the announcement post until it’s available on Amazon.com too.  In the mean time, here’s a Killer Sudoku puzzle.

Just place 1 to 9 in each row, column and bold-lined box. Each dashed-line cage should add to the given sum, and you can’t repeat a number in a cage.

Issue 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.

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 listed everything that’s to be found in the Community Puzzles section.

Sudoku Xtra is available now from www.SudokuXtra.com

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!

Calcudoku 6×6 puzzle

It’s been an age since I’ve posted new puzzles on here directly, mainly because all my puzzle-making effort has been focused on Sudoku Xtra, Sudoku Pro, PuzzleMix and a major book I recently completed.

In any case, there’s no time like the present to fix that so here’s a simple 6×6 Calcudoku. Just place 1 to 6 in each row and column and make sure the given number results when the stated operator is applied between the numbers in each bold region.

Issue 9 of my Sudoku Xtra magazine is now available for either download as a PDF, or pre-printed from Amazon.com (US) or Lulu.com (elsewhere). With an incredible 127 logic and number puzzles across over 50 types of puzzles, this month’s issue features a giant cover PivotPix picture logic puzzle (also known as Sym-a-Pix and Spiral Galaxies).

This issue has the biggest Community Puzzles section yet, with some truly astonishing puzzles contributed by the cream of the world’s puzzle authors. From Colorlink to a Hanjie-Nurikabe cross-over, and from Symmetric Heyawake to Lying Sum Sudoku, there’s something for everyone.

The rest of the magazine as always has some new variants and rearranged content in, including the interesting Killer Sudoku 1 3 5 7 9 -2 -4 -6 -8 (guaranteed to challenge even the best Killer solvers), Odd-Pairs S and more. With greater variety than any other puzzle publication, including a huge range of Sudoku variants, Sudoku Xtra really is incredible value.

Available from the Sudoku Xtra site now!

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?!

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

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.

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!

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!

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!