X-Treme Sudoku (Paperback)

~ CC Editors of Nikoli Publishing (Author)
Key Phrases: time puzzle, Very Difficult, Puzzle Difficult

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The next step, like having a whole book of just Saturday Times crossword puzzles. Even more fiendish, even more fun, X-treme Sudoku proudly presents 320 puzzles rated "Difficult" to "Very Difficult." These are the toughest, knottiest, most demanding Sudoku out there—prepare to have your brain cells crackle, your pencils melt, your mind obsessed with numbers and squares.

No one is better than Nikoli at rounding up such a collection. A Japanese puzzle and game company that started the Sudoku craze over twenty years ago, Nikoli is known for creating the only handcrafted puzzles around. As Tim Preston, publishing director of Puzzler Media, Britain's biggest seller of crossword and cryptogram puzzles, has said: "It is a matter of great pride to get your puzzle into one of Nikoli's magazines. Handmade puzzles are much better. . . . It gives you the satisfaction that you are pitting your wits against an individual who has thought about what your next step would be and has tried to obscure the path."

For X-treme Sudoku, the puzzle-makers at Nikoli went out of their way to obscure the path. There are puzzles with entire boxes empty. Puzzles with whole rows left blank. Puzzles that form mysteriously beautiful symmetries, but demand a calculating logic to solve.

For the X-treme solver, paradise.

About the Author

Nikoli is the Japanese puzzle and game company that's been nurturing and developing Sudoku for over twenty years. They hold the trademark on Sudoku in Japan, and supply 100% of the puzzles published in Japanese newspapers and magazines.

Product Details

• Paperback: 405 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (November 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761146229
• ISBN-13: 978-0761146223
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 4.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #257,882 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It'll be hard to go back..., June 1, 2007

By	Tamara Mady (MN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

...to computer generated sudoku after you start playing these. I don't know what it is, but somehow, these handcrafted puzzles don't only look so much cooler, they're actually funner!

The book comes with two levels of challenge - creatively titled "Difficult" and "Very Difficult." Even though I'm relatively new to these puzzles, I'd posit that the former really should be called "Moderate," using the standardly accepted levels of difficulty. My only gripe with the book is that I wish the page's measurements were bigger, but that's personal preference.

Nonetheless, this is a great buy with 320 puzzles, and it'll likely last you a long time!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great series of Sudoku books, August 19, 2008

By	Thomas W. Roth "twroth" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Nikoli books are really the best Sudoku books out there. They select puzzles which can be solved using logic rather than the really esoteric methods you can find out about on Sudoku web pages like X Wing and Swordfish. This tends to make them more fun because they are hard yet with enough effort can be solved. They also have a brief but helpful section with some strategy.
How many books have you bought which are half worthless because you don't enjoy working the simple puzzles any longer? Well, these books are specifically made with only the tougher puzzles so you get more fun for your money.
Otherwise the criticisms are true: it's a small book, which can be good since it takes up little space yet bad because you'll have trouble opening it very wide to write in since it's small and fat. If only they made it in a spiral format I'd give it 5 stars.
It probably has few reviews because they aren't sold everywhere but they 're worth the effort to find and certainly worth purchasing. Printed on good paper, too, in case you need to erase or make pencil marks in the boxes.

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Puzzles!, November 5, 2009

By	A. Jennings - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After trying Nikoli handcrafted puzzles a couple of months ago, I was desperate to find a challenging book. X-Treme Sudoku is that book! It is obvious they put a lot of detail in crafting their puzzles and they are a real treat to tackle. They aren't impossible puzzles, but you will spend a nice chunk of time working through these. I highly recommend this book to anyone tired of computer-generated puzzles and eager to be challenged!