The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[The Guardiana]

Sudoku's really taken off in the Iberian Peninsula in the last month. As in other countries, it has sparked a bit of rivalry between publications but the first national Spanish paper to take Pappocom puzzles has been El Pais. They launched 3 weeks ago and Monday to Saturday they have been doing the normal puzzles.
They did it well - explaining the rules initially,starting off with gentle puzzles etc. Bearing in mind that Sudoku is something completely new in Spain and there can't be many with experience of hard puzzles (or even medium ones), the seventh puzzle they pronted in their Sunday supplement was not (I believe) Pappocom. It is called Sudoku Samurai and it is by Sekai Bunka Publishing. It involves five normal Sudoku puzzles in one - 4 puzzles going around a central one.
I've been doing Sudoku on and off since November and, although I don't consider myself an expert (medium level is about my mark for the moment), I cannot solve this Samurai one. If I can't do it, what chance has a nation who had previously seen only 6 previous puzzles???!!!
The only way I've found is to do it by trial and error.

Anybody else had experience of this puzzle and can you give me tips??

[george-no1]

If you look in the forum called 'The Times' you will see many topics on Samurai Su Doku, and a few Samurais themselves have been posted.

However, if you are not very confident with normal Su Doku I would recommend you don't try the Samurais yet. Although (in England at least) the 5 puzzles are no harder than medium level usually, it can be quite daunting and difficult to know when to start.

If you post the puzzle itself somebody (perhaps myself) will be able to help you to solve it without trial and error.

George

[The Guardiana]

Thanks George

I'm having a bit more luck now with it and I'm almost finished with yesterday's one.
Maybe El Pais had recieved complaints or something because yesterday's was certainly a little bit easier. The outer boxes of the central puzzle all contained one number - something they hadn't previously done. This has made logic prevail for me and I didn't have to guess.
It's an interesting puzzle but bloody time-consuming!!!!!

[george-no1]

In The Times the first Samurai was the hardest and then they got progressively easier, so perhaps it will be the same in El Pais.

Good luck in the future.

George

[Lindy]

For this type of 5 grid Samurai I often tackle the intersections before studying any individual grid as they can often lead to more clues. I have a cross-referencing system, described below, which has helped me get to grips with other types of Samurai configurations - they can get quite heavily interlinked!

Here's the system:

For ease of reference, I'll call the top left grid Grid 1, top right grid Grid 2, centre grid Grid 3, bottom left grid Grid 4, bottom right grid Grid 5.

Grid 1 Boxes 3 & 6 with Grid 3, boxes 4 & 7
Grid 1 boxes 7 & 8 with Grid 3, boxes 2 & 3
Grid 2 Boxes 1 & 4 with Grid 3, Boxes 6 & 9
Grid 2 Boxes 8 & 9 with Grid 3, Boxes 1 & 2
Grid 3 Box 1 with Grid 2 Boxes 8 & 9 and Grid 4 Boxes 6 & 9
Grid 3 Box 2 with Grid 1 Boxes 7 & 8 and Grid 2 Boxes 8 & 9
Grid 3 Box 3 with Grid 1 Boxes 7 & 8 and Grid 5 Boxes 4 & 7
Grid 3 box 4 with Grid 1 Boxes 3 & 6 and Grid 4 Boxes 6 & 9
Grid 3 Box 6 with Grid 2 Boxes 1 & 4 and Grid 5 Boxes 4 & 7
Grid 3 Box 7 with Grid 1 Boxes 3 & 6 and Grid 5 Boxes 2 & 3
Grid 3 Box 8 with Grid 4 Boxes 1 & 2 and Grid 5 Boxes 2 & 3
Grid 3 Box 9 with Grid 2 Boxes 1 & 4 and Grid 4 Boxes 1 & 2
Grid 4 Boxes 1 & 2 with Grid 3 Boxes 8 & 9
Grid 4 Boxes 6 & 9 with Grid 3 Boxes 1 & 4
Grid 5 Boxes 2 & 3 with Grid 3 Boxes 7 & 8
Grid 5 Boxes 4 & 7 with Grid 3 Boxes 3 & 6

I'm curious to know how other people work these puzzles.

[george-no1]

Interesting technique, Lindy.

There's no method to my madness, at all, I'm afraid. However, by just plodding through it I usually get them done in under the recommended time.

George

[numberguy]

In Chicago, a newsrag called "Red Eye" has Sudoku Samurai. The puzzles are rated easiest (one star) to hardest (five stars). So far the only ones I have seen are the five star. They are ccompanied by a figure who looks like a bathroom sign in a Samurai-style robe. He has X's for eyes and has been impaled by one of his own weapons, still in his own hand.

But now, the Chicago SunTimes has picked up the sudoku.com puzzles. Without suicidal Sudoku Samurai.