Since my Sudoku K book is still a few months away, it is time to introduce another book with my Killer Sudoku and Samurai Sudoku puzzles and puzzles from other puzzle creators.
The book I’m talking about is called “Teach Yourself: Advanced Sudoku and Kakuro” by Nick ‘Afka’ Thomas.
A few words about the author first: Nick came second in the first-ever Sudoku Championship in Britain about this time last year, so he knows how to solve them quickly. He teaches logic and maths and is releasing another book some time soon about teaching arithmetic using games and logic; Nick is also a published games inventor, writer and a professional actor…
The book covers standard Sudoku (there’s about 40 or so puzzles of these), 16x16s (2 puzzles), Samurai (2 puzzles), Kakuro (15 puzzles), Killer (15 puzzles) and how to do quicker and better arithmetic. The main point about the book is that it teaches how to do the advanced stuff, and how to do the more basic stuff faster! When I say ‘advanced’ I think it’s fair to say that this book goes further than any book in teaching the most advanced techniques that the internet-community has been coming up with (including some of Nick’s own things!). For example Unsolvable Rectangles, Loops and Puzzles; several variations of what he calls “Magnetism”, which is elsewhere called Colouring or Fishy Cycles, naturally Swordfish and X-wings, XY Chains, and all that sort of thing. Unlike other books which give a few handy tips and then unleash you on lots of puzzles Nick has tried to make teaching points and illustrate them with a puzzle, then make another point and practise on another puzzle and so forth, with a handful of puzzles to practise each chapter on. Explanations are focussed heavily on the logic, and explain why the techniques work rather than just state that they do.
Here is a quote from the author:
I hope people will understand it all – but it’s radically different from anything else on the market: it’s very much for people who want to be able to do the hard and fiendish ones (and the even harder ones on the internet) quickly and effectively.
What I can add about Killer Sudoku puzzles: the easiest puzzle in this book is rated “Thinker”. There are a couple of INSANEs too. Nick asked for most difficult puzzles and I made sure to deliver them as requested.
0 Comments