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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quite a Challenge, April 24, 2007
This review is from: Killer Sudoku: 101 Puzzles (Paperback)
This is an aesthetically pleasing book for the Killer Sudoku "connaisseur". All of the puzzles are "Perfect" Killers; that is, each sum contains a minimum of two cells and each puzzle is symmetric about at least one axis. The puzzles range in difficulty from what I call "light medium" to extremely difficult. All puzzles require knowledge and use of the Rule of 45.
The book is small (5.5" x 5.5") with one puzzle per page. Puzzles are 3.5" x 3.5" which makes each cell large enough for making notes in it. The paper is smooth and thick, which allows for easy smudge-free erasing and no press-through ridges (for those of us who write hard). There is a 10-page introduction followed by 20 Easy puzzles, 20 Cool puzzles, 20 Thinker puzzles, 20 Brain puzzles, 21 IQ puzzles, and Solutions. At the end of each puzzle section are two Killer variants: an "X" variant in which the two diagonals must also contain the numbers 1-9 and a variant where some sum cages contain diagonally adjacent cells. There are also four unsolved puzzles used as examples in the introduction that you can solve as a bonus.
The introduction contains an extensive explanation of solving techniques that you'll need to know to solve the puzzles in this book. There is also a table of sums with only one solution for quick reference (though after solving enough of these puzzles you'll have most of these numbers memorized).
I have almost finished my first pass through the book. I enjoyed all the puzzles that I was able to solve and I'm determined to go back and solve the ones that are giving me trouble. As usual, the difficulty I had with each puzzle did not always match the section of the book that contained the puzzle. For example, I found #36 to be pretty tough even though it was in the Cool section. I have not yet managed to solve numbers 49, 53, 56, 59, 60, 65, 74, 75, 78, 81, 83-85, 93, and 95-101 so I would consider these to be the hardest in the book. It would be really useful if the Solutions section contained some hints on how to solve some of the harder puzzles (like showing a partially solved puzzle with an explanation of how to get to the next step).
Because of the complex and varied techniques that are used to solve these puzzles I would not recommend this book for beginners. Instead I would recommend Steve Arons' book "The Official Book of Killer Sudoku: 120 Puzzles from Lite to Truly Killer". I definitely recommend this book for intermediate and advanced Killer Sudoku solvers. Publisher, more please!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
These puzzles are ridiculously hard, January 6, 2007
This review is from: Killer Sudoku: 101 Puzzles (Paperback)
Can a puzzle be too challenging? Yes.
Any challenge that is just too difficult loses its entertainment value IMO, and this book is seemingly full of ridiculously hard puzzles. I've been doing killer sudokus for a while now and have been getting increasingly good at them, including the hardest ones from "The Official Book of Killer Sudoku: 120 Puzzles from Lite to Truly Killer", so when I started working on this book I started with "Thinker" (level 3) puzzles. Hmmm... the first one looked tough to get started on. So I thought maybe I should start with the next level down, the "Cool" level? Whoa! Still too hard. Ok, well then I guess I'll start with the "Easy" level puzzles.
Plain and simply put: the easiest puzzles in this book are harder than the hardest killer sudoku I have come across! I can't imagine how hard the "Brain" and "IQ" level must be. Obviously too hard for me.
You almost have to do everything using variations on the 45 rule. The intro includes an intense set of examples to explain the technique, and pretty much tries to prepare you for the fact that you will be doing a lot of tedious arithmetic to solve these suckers. For my part that leaves too much of a chance I'll make a stupid arithmetic error, rather than a logic error, and that's what I don't enjoy about these puzzles.
If you're getting into killer sudoku's don't start with this book. If you love kokuro then you might like these, but be prepared for doing a lot of mental math and preposterously tough puzzles.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bravo, October 21, 2007
This review is from: Killer Sudoku: 101 Puzzles (Paperback)
I started to do Killer Sudoku a few months ago, and became hooked. Of many puzzles I tried on books or online, this one is the best. It gives a very good introduction, and ease you into the games by giving you some Easy ones first and then progresses into 'Cool', 'Thinker', 'Brain', and the hardest 'IQ'. A total of 101 puzzles. It has been weeks now, and I am still doing a couple of them a week - enjoying tremendously as I go along.
There are good reasons why the puzzles are so enjoyable - particularly in the advanced sections. The author has explored the wide variety of solving skills of Killer Sudoku. Because of the math involved, numerous scenarios are possible for designing and solving interesting Killer Sudoku puzzles, I found myself discovering novel approaches every once in a while as I progress into the harder puzzles. Such discovery is pure joy, which we addicts really appreciate. I came to the realization that, unlike the classical Sudoku, the solving techniques in Killer Sudoku are much more diversified, and many are revealed during the mind mending processes of solving (and designing).
The author has also seemingly put to a lot of thoughts into the design of the puzzles. There are puzzles with unique symmetrical patterns, with unique approaches. For example, in one puzzle, the corners may be solved relatively quickly, and the center takes a lot of mind twisting and pencil works. Then there is another one, in which the first and last three columns are all filled up quickly, leaving the center three columns completely blank smiling teasingly at your face. This one, I wrote down 'Bravo' after solving it.
The puzzles have apparently been well tested and selected. I cannot say the same with some other Sudoku books.
A superb book. I look forward to a sequel with only hard puzzles of the same quality.
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