The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Abs]

Thanks a lot Crazy Girl.

[Haley430]

Thanks, MCC

So who collects it then? ;)

[Pat]

I only mention these as a free interesting puzzle to Londoners on Fridays, to make up for the final disappearance of the old-fashioned Red London Buses yesterday.

i still have a red bus, perhaps 5" long and no motor.

these few samples make me wish i had the Metro puzzles every Friday!

- Pat

[Bigtone53]

these few samples make me wish i had the Metro puzzles every Friday!

Somewhat perversely, www.metro.co.uk gives you the answers but not the puzzles. They obviously want people to continue to scrabble around London mainline stations for the hard copies.

[afjt]

Somewhat perversely, www.metro.co.uk gives you the answers but not the puzzles. They obviously want people to continue to scrabble around London mainline stations for the hard copies.

It's the other way round with the crossword - they took it out of the paper a while back, so now you can only find it on the website. Surely it makes more sense for the crossword etc to be in the printed paper so people can do it on the train in the morning...bearing in mind that this is a paper which can only be found at railway stations !

[Pat]

the metro newspaper, in the uk, usually publishes a hard puzzle on Friday.
Yesterday's one was easy -- however it's also not symmetric.
Take away the extra clue in r5c1
and you get a much better puzzle!

Code: Select all

 . . 3 | . . . | 8 . 9
 . . . | . 7 . | . 4 .
 5 . . | . . 1 | . . 6
 ------+-------+------
 . 9 . | . 1 7 | 2 . .
 . . . | . 6 . | . . .
 . . 7 | 4 8 . | . 3 .
 ------+-------+------
 8 . . | 7 . . | . . 3
 . 3 . | . 2 . | . . .
 2 . 6 | . . . | 5 . .



[999_Springs]

I have noticed that the Friday Metro puzzles seem to be getting easier and easier. At the start there was always an X-wing or swordfish or some other technique needed to solve the puzzle. But now the puzzles can usually be solved using a couple of obvious naked pairs.

Is it just me, or are the puzzles really getting easier?

[999_Springs]

For example, take this Friday's Metro puzzle. One naked pair needed. That's it. Easy peasy!

[999_Springs]

Was there something wrong with today's!? It was an all singles!! (Or did they change the calendar so that today isn't Friday!?)

[999_Springs]

Does anyone here do Metro puzzles? I no longer do after they put a drinking water advertisement over the puzzle space, severely reducing the cell size. I don't know whether they have gone back to more advanced techniques or still only print all singles puzzles.

Should I do Metro's Friday puzzles again?

[Bigtone53]

Should I do Metro's Friday puzzles again?

I agree that they have become easy. Much harder, at least to me, are the daily Difficult puzzles in thelondonpaper, one of the two evening freebies in London and from the Metro stable.

The puzzles in http://www.thelondonpaper.com are different and often asymmetrical.

[999_Springs]

The puzzles in http://www.thelondonpaper.com are different and often asymmetrical.

Are they as hard or harder than the old Metro's Friday puzzles? If not, I'll just stick to The Times's puzzles. I don't mind much about symmetry.

[Pat]

The puzzles in http://www.thelondonpaper.com
are different and often asymmetrical.

Are they as hard or harder than the old Metro's Friday puzzles?
If not, I'll just stick to The Times's puzzles.
I don't mind much about symmetry.

hey 999_Springs,

Bigtone53 probably meant that thelondonpaper's printed puzzles are decent;
the online puzzles differ from the printed ones, and seem easy.

[Bigtone53]

Bigtone53 probably meant that thelondonpaper's printed puzzles are decent;
the online puzzles differ from the printed ones, and seem easy.

Thanks, Pat.

Yes to me the daily printed puzzles are harder than the old Metro Fridays, but
a) I dont do pencilmarks, and
b) they have to be completed in the 30 mins or so on my evening bus ride to Paddington Station,

so my definition of 'harder' may not be everybody's