Introducion

The History of Sudoku

Sudoku has a remarkably long history given that the craze burst
the world stage in a matter of months. The tale begins in the onto
States where Howard Garnes, a freelance puzzle constructor, United
the puzzle that would eventually be known as sudoku. It was firstinvented
called
"Number Place" and published in May of 1979 by Dell Pencil Puzzles
ond Word Games magazine.
The next stop on the puzzle's journey was Japan, where the com
pany Nikoli noticed "Number Place" in the American magazine. They
published the puzzle using the name sudoku, which is an abbreviation
of the Japanese phrase suji wa dokushin ni kagiru meaning "only single
numbers allowed." Sudoku has been popular in pUzzle-obsessed Japan
since the mid-1980s.
1997 Wayne Gould, a retired Hong Kong judge originally from
New Zealand, discovered sudoku during a trip to Tokyo. Gould was so
taken by the puzzle that he started creating his own sudoku puzzles. In
the fallof 2004 Gould convinced The Times of london o print these
puzzles. It was an immediate success, and nearly every other newspa
per in London started running sudoku pUzzles.
In 2005 the sudoku frenzy quickly spread to nearly all ports of the
globe. By that summer, sudoku was a feature in many major U.S. papers.
The puzzle was back where it started, and more popular than ever!

The Rules of Sudoku

Sudoku is played on a9x9 grid. Heavier lines subdivide this grid into
nine 3x3 boxes. The object is to fill in the grid so that every row, column,
and 3×3 box contains the numbers one through nine with no repeats.

The Everything 30-Minute Sudoku Book

The puzzle begins with some of the numbers already entered, There will
always be just one solution foreach puzzle.

Howto Solve Sudoku Puzzles

This section explains some of the basic strategies ihat are used to solve
Sudoku pUzzles. If you want to discover these strategies on your own,
feel free to jump right to the pUzzles. YoU Can always return here if you
need more guidance, or want to compare these strategies to the ones
you discover.

Slice and Dice

This is a good strategy to use at the very start ot solving apuzzle.
Once you get the hong of this technique, it will make iling in numbers
seem like grabbing low-hanging
fruit.
To begin, notice that in Figure 78 2 1
1-1 rows 2 and 3 already have 9s 5 9 7
in them. This means that no more 31 74
9s can be placed anywhere in 32 4
rows 2 and 3. Now notice that
1
the upper-left 3x3 box does not
have a 9 in it yet. Of course, there 4 18
must be a9 somewhere in this 14 6|3
box, And the 9 must go in row I 4 8 2
because rows 2 and 3 have been 7 9 54
ruled out. The only possibility is
the blank square at row l, column
3 where we correctly enter a 9.
Congratulations,you have just sliced arowand found your first number
Inthe next example in Figure 1-2, notice that columns l and 3 alreaoy
have 4s in them. Now notice that the pper-left 3x3 box does nof have

X
TheEverything 30-Minute Sudoku Book
 1| 34 7 a4 in it yet. Using similar logic
8 3 as in the previous example, we
know that a 4 must go in this box
91 5 in column 2. Uh-oh! There are
2 4 5 two possible places in column 2:
6 4 row l or row 3. This is where dic
4 8 ing comes into play. We see that
row l already has a 4 in it, which
3 67 leaves row 3 as the only posibil
4 9 7 ity. A4 is correctly placed in row
6 58 2 3, column 2 of the grid. You just
sliced and diced acolumn! This
basic strategy can be applied to
allcolumns and rows within 3×3 boxes. With a litle practice, you will eas
ily notice where a puzzle can be sliced and diced.

Scanning Squares
Frequently there will be 4|9 2 8
just one possible number for a 58 1 3
square. For example in Figure 73 5 4
1-3, look at the square at row I,
column l. If we run through all 8
of the numbers 1 to 9 we can 52 87
see that only a 6 is possible, SO 5
aóshould be placed in row I, 2 3 71
column 1. All numbers except 6
are ruled out because they are 7 8 96
already found in the same row, 1 5 93
or column, or 3x3 box. When
scanning, look for blank squares
that have a lot of numbers in their row,column, and 3x3 box. Or some
times it is necessary to methodically scan all blank squares just lo hnd
one elusive entry.

xi
The Everything 30-Minute Sudoku Book
 Scanning Rows, Columns, and 3x3 Boxes
Let's stort with rows. OB course, every row must have all of he
numbers 1through9. So pick arow and ask: Where in this rOw ton
lgo? (We are assuming a l is
not aiready found in the row.)
If there is only one possible 345 9
square in the row, then we can 57 1
enter a linto that square. If we 6 1
find two or more squares for a 4 2
1, then we can skip it and move
69 45
on. We continue by looking for
aunique square in the row for 5 7 2
a 2, fora 3, and so on up to 9. 3 7
After awhile, you will be able 1 7|4
to do this surprisingly fust. 7 453
Try this strategy with the first
row in Figure 1-4, You should
find that a7 can be entered into
column 2. This strategy con be applied to oll rows, columns, and 3x3
boxes. You might start with just the areas of the grid that are nearly
filled-in; or it might be necessary to go methodically through all rows,
columns, and 3x3 boxes.

Write-In Candidates
Ihe previous strategies will not completely solve the more chal
lenging sudoku puzzles, including the puzzles in this book. For these
we will need to also take a new approgch. To start, enter
into eacn
Square all of the possible numbers lwrite small)l. We will call these
numbers candidates. The goal of the rest of the strategies will be to
rule out candidates until there is hopefully only
one remaining "
Square. lhe figures in the examples on page xii will include s
candidate numbers in some of the squares.

The Everything 30-Minute Sudoku

Book
 Twins 2 4416|7
In Figure 1-5, notice that 1 5
283 6
97
row 6, column 2 has two candi
dates: 3 and 5. It would seem 684|7 9 5231
that we do not have enough 8 4 2
information to determine which 2 61
is the correct candidate: 3 or 5. 4 5
3

927
Okay, now look in the upper 86 22l1 9
left 3x3 box and see that there
are exactly two 5 candidates in 126 5
this box, both in column 2. We 45|1 26
have just found a twin! We do
not know which of these two 5s
is correct, but we do know that one of the twins will be entered into
column 2. As a result, all other 5 candidates should be removed from
anywhere in column 2. Breakthrough! This means that row 6, column
2 must be a 3.
12

7
6s 3 8 45 4 5 4 5

Matching Couples 3 897

8 6
Figure 1-6 illustrates another
strategy that can be. used to 67 9 2
rule out candidates. In this case 5 1 6 3
we will determine which candi 36 25 1 8 4
date is correct in row 1, column
4|386 7
8: the 1, the 4, or the 5. The
first row contains a matching
4 56
couple: the two squares with 6 92 3 8
the candidates 4 and 5 and 3 89 6
nothing else. Ultimotely one of
these squares must be a 4and
the other a 5, we just don't know which one is which. In either case,
there can be no other 4s or 5s in row 1. Therefore all other 4 and 5

The Everything 30-Minute Sudoku Book XI0

candidates should be eliminated trom row 1. Eureka! We have i..,
determined that row lcolumn 8 must be a l because that is the onh.
remaining candidate.

Tips
Following jvst a few simple guidelines will make your play more salisty
ing and will help you along if you get stuck, so remember these tips.
No guessing! Every entry must be proven with logic-future
entries depend on it!
Be ready to use and reuse all strategies as the flow of the puzzle
changes.
Don't dwell on just one section of the board, especially if you
get stumped.
Be sure that every entry is valid. Mistakes are very hard to cor
rect later.
When the solving gets tough, try to analyze the board methodi:
cally across each and every row, column, and 3x3 box.
Follow the numbers: Entries will often unlock more entries in a
pleasing cascade of answers.
The best bets for analysis are the rows, columns, and 3x3 boxes
that are nearly completed.
Never give up! Put the board aside and you might be surprised
how easy it is to solve later with a fresh look.
Teach yourself! One of the ijoys of sudoku is discovering new

strategies and methods that work for you.

If
Can you beat the clock? Take the sudoku and find out.
you are good enough, then you should be ablechallenge
to solve any ppuzzlein
this book in 30 minutes or less. If you need more time, that just means
that you need more practice-an excellent reason to do more puzzles!

Xiy The Everyhing 30-Minute Sudoku Book