Customer Reviews

Absolutely Nasty Sudoku Level 2 (Mensa)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These books are so nice! The puzzles are nice and big, and the paper is high quality, which definitely makes it easier. I concur with the previous reviewer, though. Volume 2 is not noticeably harder than Volume 1. However, Volumes 3 & 4 will wear you out! They did me (you might know all the crazy techniques I have yet to learn). The books are really well made and a pleasure to work. I enjoy them immensely, and I hope you do as well!!! :)

I recently purchased the entire Menza series, and I have to say they've lived up to the Menza criteria. You have to focus and know your solving techniques to get through these without guessing or cheating. Do yourself a favor and purchase the book Mensa Guide to Solving Sudoku: Hundreds of Puzzles Plus Techniques to Help You Crack Them All (Mensa) to help you learn the techniques used in these puzzles. I started out by letting my wife begin with Mensa Absolutely Nasty Sudoku Level 1 (Mensa), and I've been working on Level 2.
After familiarizing myself with the solving tips, I went to work on my Level 2. Usually I go straight to the back and try and solve the last puzzle in the book. That kinda tells me how difficult the book will be. That puzzle is still unsolved. I've now worked through the first 65 puzzles in Level 2, starting from #1. I've used the X-Wing technique frequently and also some Swordfishes to get through these, so you'd better be prepared. My wife is also struggling with her Level 1, but mostly due to inefficiant candidate marking and not staying focused on all possibilities while marking. Some of her puzzles have, however, still required an X-Wing to solve.
When I get really stuck, I also tend to use a sudoku tool called Simple Sudoku. This is freeware and can be downloaded from [...]. This tool will allow you to easily see things such as hidden pairs and locked candidates when you build in your book puzzles. Use the filters to find the X-Wings and Swordfishes, and if you still have trouble, the tool will provide you with a hint, although even the hints themselves can be a little difficult to figure out.
These books are definitely for the serious Sudoku puzzlers. I can only imagine how hard the Level 4 book will be, but I'll need to work up to that. Have fun with it!

I like this series quite a bit, however, I'm only giving this one 4 stars because as far as I can tell, the puzzles are not any harder than those in the first level. For my next purchase, I'm skipping level 3 and going right to level 4. Hopefully those will be harder. See my review of level 1 for why I like the series.

This is an excellent book, with lots of difficult puzzles. One really nice thing about this series as a whole is that it provides you a clear path of improvement. If you are using the Mensa Guide to Solving Sudoku: Hundreds of Puzzles Plus Techniques to Help You Crack Them All or
Mastering Sudoku Week by Week: 52 Steps to Becoming a Sudoku Wizard (which is actually my favorite), this is a great series to have alongside.

One problem I have with most Sudoku reviews is that they are not specific about what techniques are and are not required, so I will attempt to list here all the ones I've found required in the book. Book 1 in the series started relatively easy - about as hard as a typical "hard" puzzle in other books. Book 2 (this book) starts basically the way book 1 left off, requiring the following types of techniques:

* Elementary techniques (cross-hatching, single cell, single candidate)
* Locked candidate elimination
* Naked pairs, triples, and quads

About halfway through, however, the puzzles get considerably harder. In the second half of book 2, you will find puzzles requiring:

* X-wings: LOTS of them, some puzzles requiring two different X-wing patterns
* Non-unique (or "Gordonian") rectangles
* XY-wings

I would say the majority of the puzzles in the second half require at least one X-wing each. This was actually a nice little bonus for me, as I was looking for a chance to practice X-wings. I will do reviews of the further books in the series as I get to them, including required techniques.

The book is spiral bound, which is very nice. I am going to amend my initial impression and review to say that I really like having the cover continue over the binding. Although it would be slightly easier to have it lay flat without the cover there, the space makes a perfect place to store your pencil when you are required to do non-Sudoku activities. Some might dislike the concept of paying for Sudoku books at all - countering that puzzles are available online for free - but I think there's great benefit in having a book you can take with you.

Overall, a great series of books. Start by buying the one that applies to you and get going improving your Sudoku!

This book is very challenging. It requires total focus. I would definitely buy a similar book again.

This is the best Sudoku book (series) that I've seen. The puzzles are all one level of difficulty, so I don't have to turn to the end of the book for the hard ones while leaving the rest of the book blank. They all have unique answers, and are very challenging. It's strange to think of a puzzle as 'beautiful' but some of these are!

I've almost finished the Level 2 book, and now I've refined my techniques enough that most of the puzzles are not too difficult (in the beginning they were very challenging). Now I'll move onto Level 3.

The format is very good. Puzzles are large enough. The difficulty matches well to the level. I buy all 4 of the series for myself and as gifts. If you're tired of sudoku books which claim to have difficult puzzles and find only medium level difficulty, then this is the series for you.

I've been working a number of puzzles in books edited by Will Shortz and wanted a book of puzzles that were equivalent to his "Beware! Very Challenging" designation, without the easier puzzles. This is perfect! In fact, I think some of the puzzles are slightly harder.

So far (60 puzzles in, of a total of 242), I've been able to solve all the puzzles. But they've made me think. And some I've had to set aside overnight and approach with a fresh eye the next day.

As noted by other reviewers, the spiral bind is good for working puzzles, the book is a good size for working in your lap, paper quality is good and the grid sizes reasonable.

NOTE: This book does not have any solving tips or instructions. If you don't already have some idea of the rules and how to solve puzzles, I'd recommend an easier book that does have instructions. I have not used the Mensa book, but I've heard it's good. I was given the following book and found it very understandable and informative, with plenty of puzzles in a nice progression of difficulty:

Sudoku For Dummies

My wife LOVES sudoku. She was delighted with this level of Sudoku, she recommends it highly

I've bought this and the Level 1 book too and think they are great. These 2 books really are right in line with my current skill level so they are just challenging enough to give me fits initially but after a while I can figure them out. Absolutely love the paper quality, box size and wire-bound book format (great for holding open) which makes building candidate lists very easy and holds up well to erasing. I know others have said you don't need any advanced techniques to solve these 2 books and they are right so if you're looking for xwings, swordfish, etc. then you might need the later level books (I do hope 3 and 4 have them). But if you're looking for good solid puzzles in the intermediate level then you'll enjoy this book. I'm going to get the rest of the series and put them on my shelf until I'm ready for them just in case they are ever discontinued! Yes, I like them that much.