The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Shazbot]

I'm actually doing Angus J's Extreme puzzles while listening to Rob Thomas, Matchbox 20, Maroon 5 and enjoying it. But I DO use the assists provided (highlight candidates, not the hint button unless I'm really desperate). I actually think I'm slower solving puzzles if there's NO music now, which is just the opposite of what I would have expected!

[lunababy_moonchild]

Isn't the "multi-tasking" issue a bit of a red herring? It all depends on the music, doesn't it? You wouldn't (would you?) listen to a late Beethoven quartet while doing a Pappocom Very Hard, but you might well have Classic FM on telling you to relax and playing The Lark Ascending while zinging through an Easy.

Well, I have yet to attain Pappocom Very Hard under any circumstances so I can't comment on that and you'd be surprised just what can be achieved under multitasking (for example my mother once managed to pick up us two children from school whilst having a migraine. At any other time having a migraine meant lying down in a darkened room and calling a doctor).

I do find Beethoven very soothing though and Classic FM is geared to relaxation, I'll grant you, but I do Nikoli Super-Difficult in front of it - does that count? The Easy one's I can zing through at any time, in front of anything currently playing on the TV.

No, can’t do two things at once

Never thought of that, will consider another poll, although the subject of multitasking might be off-topic

And then there's

I'm actually doing Angus J's Extreme puzzles while listening to Rob Thomas, Matchbox 20, Maroon 5 and enjoying it. But I DO use the assists provided (highlight candidates, not the hint button unless I'm really desperate). I actually think I'm slower solving puzzles if there's NO music now, which is just the opposite of what I would have expected!

I wonder, and this could be a different category on a separate poll, if there would be a difference in solving method in addition to music presence/type. For example, I solve using paper and pencil and listening to relaxing Classic FM on TV (which is available via radio so I could try solving on the computer to see if there is a difference), so does solving on a computer make a difference to

Code: Select all

a) grade of puzzle solved i.e. possible to solve a higher grade using computer
b) music listened to

And since Rob Thomas, Matchbox 20, Maroon 5 are higher tempo than the aforementioned relaxing classics, does that make a difference to time taken to solve?

Hmmmmm. Will consider another poll.

Luna

[MCC]

Forget about the poll I didn't mention, thinking on it, I realised it would only be a (subset(subset(subset))) and the response would be too low to comment on, look at how many have voted on luna's poll. Many comments/no votes.

Speaking of Philip Glass, he's being interviewed tonight on BBC2.

[lunababy_moonchild]

Many comments/no votes.

Actually I was looking for a discussion but the last time I tried something like this a poll was suggested so I put one in this time just in case. Belt and braces approach, if you like.

Speaking of Philip Glass, he's being interviewed tonight on BBC2.

Must look and see if he's changed any. Last time I saw him was around the 70's and he had much curly hair and was weaving about in ecstasy at the piano, which looked profoundly weird (especially to me as a child at the time).

Luna

[emm]

Over 300 people have looked at the thread, Luna, and so 9 responses is about 3% which I think is not bad given the way people these days just aren’t prepared to commit themselves! Market researchers might even call it significant. I do still think you needed an extra option though - an unconditional No might have got a response or two.

Your poll was about enjoyment which is subjective and I’m always happy to discuss any possibilities for improving it. The real red herrings in the discussion are actually whether music affects ease of solving or time of solving – there are just too many other factors and vaiables. eg. I might really enjoy a puzzle that I stretch out for the duration of La Traviata on a morning at home when I might otherwise have tossed it off under duress in minutes in (just say) the toilet cubicle at work. That’s a purely illustrative example, you understand – to make the point that enjoyment and ease aren’t always one and the same thing – but you probably know this already.

[jf27]

people these days just aren’t prepared to commit themselves!

Whoa, whoa! Some of us probably find we can vote for none, since, in view of the tosspot clause added to the third choice, the option of not being able to listen to music AND do sudokus was not allowed (despite Luna's subsequent misgivings, if I read her correctly!

[lunababy_moonchild]

OK. The poll - as previously stated - was added at the last minute, by me, because I remember asking a similar question previously and being PM'd that it may have been easier to do it as a poll, thus it wasn't at all thought out, let alone well thought out.

I do appreciate the responses to the thread though. I was under the impression that it was 'just me' that found enjoyment in doing puzzles with music in the background and created this thread to find out. The responses have been interesting and I found out (more or less) what I wanted to know.

Luna

[Lardarse]

And then there are people like me who can't concentrate with silence...