Customer Reviews

Higher Sudoku: New Challenging Variations from Japan

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

 

 

Ok book but I like different kinds of Sudoku and this book is mostly difficult regular puzzles

I have purchased this book twice because I like it so much. These puzzles are not for light weights. It is one of the few books that I have found that did not totally disappoint me with a bunch of easy and medium puzzles that put me to sleep.

I had to write in response to the reviewer who rated this book down because the puzzles left him hanging and he had to guess. I know a lot of sudoku collections do this, and I hate it, too. But there is NO Guessing involved in Nishio's puzzles. You only have to guess if you do not apply Hamada Logic to the more difficult puzzles, and Nishio very helpfully demonstrates how Hamada Logic works in the first few pages of the book. The Devilish and Very Difficult puzzles take some hard thinking and a lot of time, but really there is no guessing necessary. None whatsoever. In addition, this marvelous book includes the most fascinating sudoku variation I've ever seen: Plus One Sudoku. Bottom line: if you're a casual sudoku solver, who likes puzzles that can be solved in minutes, this is not the book for you. But if you love to REALLY work at a puzzle, and don't mind concentrating hard for long stretches at a time, buy this marvelous collection.

This is a terrific book of wonderfully-devised puzzles, but it is not for the casual sudoku player. These are truly difficult to very difficult! Unfortunately, Sudoku doesn't have universal classifications as to level of difficulty -- what one book might describe as "hard" might be merely "moderate" in another book and yet "fiendish" in still another book. This book STARTS with Moderate level puzzles, but these "moderates" I feel are on par with Hard or Difficult puzzles in most other books including the NY Post collections. The Difficult and Very Difficult in this collection are tougher I think than Difficult and Beware in the Wil Shortz collections. As for Devilish in this collection, faw-ged-abow-dit! You won't find many puzzles as challenging as these!
The puzzles claim to be hand-composed by the author, not computer-generated. I can believe that. Each puzzle seems to have a different theme and construction than the last. They are truly masterful.
Finally, to add spice to an already very interesting collection are some novelty puzzles: random aka jigsaw sudoku, flower aka samurai sudoku, and something called plus one sudoku, all of which I enjoyed.
Highly recommended for the skilled sudoku fan.

I would gladly give the reviewer Barbara my book had I known how miuch I would not like it. I have many Sudoku and Kakuro books and love the difficult and challenging puzzles. However, I hate puzzles that leave you stranded and make you guess or make you look up the number for a cell. There are much better books out there that require no guessing just skillful thinking.

I also found many easier ones placed among the harder ones and vice-versa. I won't buy anymore books by this author. If I could rate it a zero, I would.