done. 1 wrong guess.

Expert?? No way!

Done, two guesses.

Finished ... 2 guesses ... Not bad :)

start

ding, second guess

done

g,no guess, but not saying much - used coloring and a swordfish finally broke it open. Coloring cheating? I think so. If it can't be done in one's head it's def a crutch.

I'm old I need a crutch lol

In todays puzzle 3's and 7's were the complex killers. Majority of other numbers could be reduced to simple pairs, either in columns rows or boxes. But the key was in the simple pairs. I'm finding It's mostly about cracking any one of the simple pair relationships rather than trying to figure out the complex relationships. Reducio ad absurdum. All the simple pairs are dependent on each other. Solving one pair often leads to solving all the simple pairs. In solving medium puzzles usually the easier cracks involve looking at what remains for choices when simple pairs are ignored. Anyway, right or wrong, the head hurts less. 71 and still learning, ellenz.

jackt, I'd respectfully disagree that sudoku should be done in one's head. It is a game of LOGIC, not a game of MEMORY.

Sometimes, SEEING patterns helps you unlock the logical answer, just like planning out furniture placement in a room can be helped by to-scale paper pieces on grid paper. Maybe it's just me, but I've never heard that Sudoku is a game of testing your memory.

Interesting range of comments about the difficulty or otherwise of this puzzle, plus references to crutches, makes me think that perceived degree of difficulty depends very much on what restrictions you place on the methods you allow yourself. Greens, reds, coloring, side notes, progressive elimination, intuitive guesses, etc. can make a huge difference in your experience of a puzzle. Mostly I like to start with no crutches and see how far I can get, then change the initial restrictions if I get stuck. But I also find it enjoyable sometimes to aim for rapid demolition, using whatever methods seem most likely to produce a quick solution. (Except coloring - never tried it yet.)

go

try again later

greens and 1 guess, not bad for me.

Difficulty score 42. No green.

go

gonna finish this one now, forget about timing myself today :( Just too much going on.

Did it, no green, one lucky guess. Other than the guess, no problem. 26.

and done!

1.5 hrs (my fastest expert yet)! woot woot