The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Pappocom]

Welcome to Le Figaro, which has been running Pappocom puzzles for a while now - but which now does so directly from me. I hope you all continue to enjoy the Pappocom Sudoku puzzle.

Pappocom's Sudoku first appeared in the Conway Daily Sun, New Hampshire in September 2004, and it has appeared in The Times (of London) since November 2004.

Don't be put off by some of the complicated-sounding posts in these forums. In some parts of the world they have gotten quite expert already. If you want help, just send in your question, and you are certain to get a friendly reply.

- Wayne Gould (Pappocom)

[Del]

To Mr. Gould,
As an Englishman, retired, in France I was introduced to Sudoku by Le Figaro about 2 to 3 months ago. I contribute to the Le Figaro Forum where the principle of solving by logical steps alone is strongly supported. As yet the other contributors do not seem to be aware of all the solving techniques described in some English language websites. X-Wings, known here as "le chariot", has recently made its appearance, but at the moment Forcing Chains, which I have introduced as "la randonnée", is regarded by some as being merely trial and error. There are several players who complete the weekend "Diabolique" without, it would appear, any particular problem. As Sudoku has not been active in France as long as or as enthusiastically as in the UK perhaps the puzzles here are set at a slightly lower level of complexity. If so may we look forward to some increase in difficulty level in the future?

[Pappocom]

The puzzles supplied to Le Figaro are standard Pappocom puzzles. However, I allow newspapers to use their own grade-naming conventions, so it is possible that some papers may use names which signify a somewhat misleading level of difficulty. I doubt that this is the case with Le Figaro, however.

- Wayne