Customer Reviews

Black Belt Sudoku (Martial Arts Sudoku)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Don't be fooled by the title - if you are looking for challenging Sudoku puzzles, this is not the book for you.

..but more of a medium gray. If you are looking for "Fiendish" or "Tough" puzzles, you will be bored here.

Apparently ANYONE can get a black belt if this book is any indication. The 21st puzzle I solved completely by inspection, didn't write ANY number possibilities in at all, which is totally unacceptable for an allegedly hard level sudoku book. If you enjoy challenging sudoku puzzles skip over this book. The Second Degree Brown Belt book was more challenging, though by far my favorite Sudoku book to date is "Sudoku Genius" by Tom Sheldon ISBN 0-452-28750-2.

Let me add my name to the long list of disappointed sudoku lovers looking for a fiendish challenge!

On the plus side, a nicely bound book with good quality paper that is very friendly to a pencil and eraser. But the book simply fails to live up to its billing as a collection of "super tough" puzzles.

If you're an accomplished sudoku fan, looking for a tougher nut to crack, this certainly isn't going to be your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Not recommended.

Paul Weiss

Although this book is titled "Black Belt", the puzzles are equivalent to my daily paper's easy or medium puzzles. All 300 puzzles use the same basic logic rule and many have the same layout so that they actually become monotonous instead of challenging or even interesting. Many of the logic rules typically used to solve difficult puzzles are not even used here. Definitely a disappointment.

These puzzles are both straight forward to solve and lack variety in the logic required to solve them. They don't come close to rising to the more challenging puzzles found in the London Times or the New York Post. To call this book "Black Belt" Sudoku is, in my opinion, misleading.

I should have listened to the other reviewers here and skipped this book. These are definitely not "black belt" puzzles. I've done puzzles labelled as "easy" that were harder than these. I can do them in my head - without making any notations at all. I may just have to donate this to my son's 5th grade class... or only work in it when I'm trying to bore myself to sleep at night.

I was expecting tough sudokus when I bought this book - the ones where logic eventually fails and you have to make a guess. Instead I cruised through the first few I tried. I would rate these puzzles as moderate - perhaps green belt sudoku would be a better title.

I've been working on bringing my game to the advanced level and thought I could "grow" into this book if it was too tough. I shouldn't have worried. This is an intermediate sudoku book-- at best.

Black Belt Sudoku was just as advertized. Great shape! Has no flaws nor was not written in. Would go here again