Customer Reviews

Absolutely Nasty Sudoku Level 3 (Mensa)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mensa Absolutely Nasty Sudoku Level 3 (Mensa)

I like to think of myself as a sudoku whiz and this book has me humbled. It's difficult but not impossible. It's a matter of patience and logic that will win the day against these absolutely nasty puzzles.

I finally found some really difficult sudoku - they take time! But from the write-up I was expecting to get some explanations on how to solve using the more complicated techniques. It would also be nice if the answers included reference to which of the more difficult techniques were used to solve them.

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 and in fact the whole series. Book 1 in the series started relatively easy - about as hard as a typical "hard" puzzle in other books, requiring no more than assiduous application of basic Sudoku techniques (which includes pairs, triples, and quads). Book 2 starts basically the way book 1 left off, but about halfway through adds a number of more advanced techniques.

Book 3 (this book) picks up right where book 2 left off, with an X-wing and XY-wing in the first two puzzles. Needless to say that it's starting off quite well! I will update this review as I get farther through the book.

You will need to know the following types of techniques:

* Elementary techniques (cross-hatching, single cell, single candidate)
* Locked candidate elimination
* Naked pairs, triples, and quads
* X-wings: LOTS of them, some puzzles requiring two different X-wing patterns
* Non-unique (or "Gordonian") rectangles, including some that are beyond the simple ones (see one of the two books above for more explanation)
* XY-wings and XYZ-wings

EDITED: I'm now just past 50 puzzles in the book, and these puzzles included my first legitimate jellyfish (order 4 fishy pattern) and several that require multiple X-wings and non-unique rectangles. Round about puzzle 50, they start requiring multiple advanced techniques per puzzle.

The book is spiral bound, which is very nice. 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!

I am a Sudoku freak and have been struggling to find puzzles that are even more perplexing. The Mensa Nasty Sudoku Series is a great bundle of trouble that truly makes my brain hurt. Sudoku is such a fabulous way to learn focusing techniques as well as training one's mind in logical thought processes. The easy way out of a Sudoku hexagram is to guess. But where is the fun in that? These are puzzles that build with exciting and suspenseful ways to problem solve, making me have the illusion of being smarter than I really am.
Please purchase this series if you are ready to learn new things and resist the temptation to find an easy way out of a situation. What a metaphor for life! Thank you Frank Longo and Amazon!

I finally found a sudoku puzzle that can't be done in an hour. An awesome book.

Instructional. Very challenging, but easy to use. The puzzles are a good size for being able to pencil in candidate numbers and the spiral binding makes working on the puzzles easy.

Being a sudoku nut, I was looking for a sudoku book that would be a challenge. SO many you buy today in the book stores have too many easy puzzles. So when I saw Mensa Absolutely Nasty Sudoko, I figured thais was the book and I was right. This is the book for someone that likes hard sudoko puzzles.

I bought this for a friend, who had paid twice the price at a large chain book store, for others in this series. She loves this set of books, and this one she loved as it was challenging.

item came very quickly and in excellent condition. my sister in law says the puzzles are very difficult. i would do business with this vendor again.

I like the puzzles very much. They were the challenging kind that I have been looking for. My minor complaints are that the print was too small and that there was not enough room to write in the margins. Of couse, it might help if my eyesight was better.