Customer Reviews

New York Post Sudoku 1: The Official Utterly Addictive Number-Placing Puzzle

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

These puzzles are better than crack.

Every Su Doku can be solved without guesswork, and this knowledge can leave you pulling your hair in frustration as you patiently search for the one clue you know you can find if you look and think hard enough. They are more purely logical than crosswords--rather than filling their head with new words of dubious usefulness like "oleo" and "ecru," Su Doku users end up devising new logical tricks and tests, sharpening their mind like a Number 2 pencil. And there is a certain elegant beauty to the way the puzzles fall together as you start nearing the end--and a jarring ugliness to them when you go wrong early on. Make a wrong number placement near the beginning, and the puzzle becomes an irretrievable mess.

This book has several virtues to recommend it. It is small, so you can slip it in your pocket and take it places rather than lugging it around in a briefcase or a backpack. (Say, for instance, you want to bring it to the bathroom with you at work--you can slip it in your pocket and no one's the wiser. Not that I've ever done that, of course, Mark. I'm just saying you could, hypothetically, do so.) Also, it gives the beginner a good overview of the game without describing every possible logic puzzle solution technique. Lastly, it provides a good mix of difficulties in the puzzle--4 Easy ones to get you started, 26 Mild ones to build your skills, 46 Difficults to really hone your skills, and 24 Fiendish puzzles to drive you to the brink of logic-puzzle insanity as you waste a large chunk of your day in a frenzy of brain-melting number-placement. (The Fiendish puzzles are very accurately named.)

And, not to spoil the ending, but: 3,6,5,4,1,2,8,9,7

PRODUCT ADVISORY:

This book will take up all of your free time, if you let it. In fact, you may have to limit your Su Doku consumption to avoid damage to your work and social life.

The New York Post is to Su Doku what the New York Times is to crossword. If you are addicted to Su Doku (and if you played it, you probably are) this is a great book to get. The levels are Mild, Difficult and Fiendish. Webster's defines fiendish as being extremely cruel or wicked -- that's quite an accurate description for the puzzles in this section. I wouldn't recommend this book for first time Su Doku players because even the mild is a bit trickier than your average puzzle. Keep one in your bag, for those times when you have an unexpected wait. With Su Doku time flies and your brain isn't bored.

The New York Post is often credited with popularizing sudoku in the United States.... as if we needed something new that we could become addicted to! We fell for it like a ton of bricks, and now millions of us need to get our fix daily, if not more often. For those of you for whom one puzzle a day just isn't quite enough, pick up a few sudoku books so you'll always be prepared. The New York Post book series are great ones to start with, with puzzle difficulties ranging from very easy to wickedly difficult. Even the best sudoku-ers enjoy a simple puzzle from time to time (they are quick enough to do during a coffee break), and this book also makes a nice starting point for beginners.

I had never played Su Doku before, but I love numbers and logic puzzles so I bought this book! It's great. By starting at the beginning and working my way through it, I found it challenged me just enough to still be doable and fun. I highly recommend it!

I bought this book because I had done a couple of the puzzles in the daily newspaper and had quite a bit of fun with them. I recommend this to anyone who has just started playing around with Sudoku and would like to know what level of difficulty they are comfortable with. The progression of difficulty from "easy" to "fiendish" is very consistent throughout the book, which allows you to be fairly certain about your current level of skill. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it prompted me to purchase the New York Post "difficult" book, which contains 200 puzzles that are all fairly challenging without being extremely frustrating.

This book is perfect for sticking in your tote bag while on the go. I enjoy the different puzzles ranging from easy to fiendish. Although I mainly stick to the difficult/fiendish section, I will have a desire to do an easy puzzle from time to time. The price can't be beat either. The font is easy on the eyes, and the paper is easy to write and erase on (mistakes? really? :)

Hours and hours of pure Soduku enjoyment here! Get #2 and #3 while you're at it!

A good variety of these puzzles. Perfect size for sticking in your purse or briefcase while traveling.

There is one puzzle per page in this pocket sized book. It would have been overpriced at cover price $6.95.

I am a puzzle lover; crosswords, cryptos, logic, but this sudoku thing is my new favorite. I love the logic and critical thinking I use everytime I sit down with a puzzle. I have introduced them to a math class at teh high school level and the students love them. try one, you may get hooked too!

I'm assuming everyone reading this knows what Sudoku is, right? Numbers game, fad of the `00's, left-brain challenge, etc. etc. etc. Okay, that said, if you like this supposedly addictive little game, you'll love this book. I mean if you're a Sudoku fan you'll likely just be left grinning ear to ear in pacified delight at what's inside. However, if you're sane, you don't own a collection of pocket protectors, and/or want my advice: run for your life! IMHO Sudoku is even less fun than the joyous delight that was trig class, and is for sure a form of torture devised in the malevolent dungeons of some university psychology department funded by the remnants of public mind control agents unemployed since the breakup of the USSR. How can this be fun? I got this as a present (uh, if you're reading this, Dad, thank you, I Love It!) and tried to get into it and was left with my hair standing on end, shivering under a blanket, muttering like a bag lady, a traumatized shadow of my normally vigorous self. But hey, if undertaking this evil puzzle is your cuppa, go for it. This book has it all where Sudoku is concerned, and is a bargain at half the price.