Sudoku help

Must be a 2 on the bottom row next to the 8

No. hang on !

i love maths and find this craze totally weird

is that odd?

Not that this'll help I expect:

[pre]
4 7 8 3 6 1 9 5 2
1 x x 7 x 5 6 8 4
5 6 x x x x 3 7 1

7 x 4 x 1 x 8 6 9
2 x x 4 x 6 7 1 5
6 x 1 x 7 9 2 4 3

9 1 7 6 x x x 2 8
3 x 6 1 x 8 x 9 7
8 x 5 9 x 7 1 3 6[/pre]

was going to say Study....
cb it passes the time on planes mate!

Not really, it has nothing to do with maths, just logic. The numbers could be replaced with letters, or shapes.

lol reyes

funny you should say that

tried it the first time on a plane from the states a few months ago as was so desperate to kill some time

it nearly killed my sanity

yeah study spot on

I like the Killer that they have in The Times.It has no numbers in at all.
Starts easy on Monday and by Saturday it is very,very hard.
It can take me 5 days on and off to complete one although occasionally I can do it in an hour.

I've seen a puzzle before, reyes, where there are a couple of possibilities, maybe this is like that!

I'll get the mrs to have a look at this later, she likes these too.

cheers, it's got me baffled.

nice formatting dk !

Gene, I got the mrs 3 books of 'Killers' for her birthday - she loves them too.

Anyone else reach a stage where they can't go any further, so put in one number in a 50/50 stab, then luckily complete it? :D

There used to be a sudoku game on gameswarehouse machines (quiz machines often found in pubs), so I'd input the given numbers into a sudoku solver on my mobile phone. Had to be fast because it was timed between questions and answers. There'd usually be as much as 11 possible grids. Even after answering about 10 questions, therefore giving us at least 10 more numbers in the grid, there were still plenty of possible grids left. They saw me coming. ]:)

you can put a '9' in the middle square of the top middle box

4 7 8 3 6 1 9 5 2
1 x x 7 x 5 6 8 4
5 6 x x x x 3 7 1
7 x 4 x 1 x 8 6 9
2 x x 4 x 6 7 1 5
6 x 1 x 7 9 2 4 3
9 1 7 6 x x x 2 8
3 x 6 1 x 8 x 9 7
8 x 5 9 x 7 1 3 6

Reyes - the 2 in the bottom middle box has to go in the middle column, which means that in the top middle box it has to go in the bottom row.

We know that the 2 in the bottom left box is in the middle column, so we can therefore deduce that the 2 in the top left box is in the right hand column, middle row.

I.e.

4 7 8 3 6 1 9 5 2
1 x 2 7 x 5 6 8 4
5 6 x x x x 3 7 1
7 x 4 x 1 x 8 6 9
2 x x 4 x 6 7 1 5
6 x 1 x 7 9 2 4 3
9 1 7 6 x x x 2 8
3 x 6 1 x 8 x 9 7
8 x 5 9 x 7 1 3 6

You can definitely finish the top left box from there - not sure if the rest of the puzzle then falls out but it's a start!

nope - can go in box beneath that too.

Brilliant SP

Good work Smalltime. The old "deduce one number to one column then carry on through" method. :)

Reyes - the 2 in the bottom middle box has to go in the middle column, which means that in the top middle box it has to go in the bottom row.

How? Why can't it go between the 7 and 5 above it? (top middle box)

retract that - can see it now...

4 7 8 3 6 1 9 5 2
1 3 2 7 9 5 6 8 4
5 6 9 8 4 2 3 7 1

7 5 4 2 1 3 8 6 9
2 9 3 4 8 6 7 1 5
6 8 1 5 7 9 2 4 3

9 1 7 6 3 4 5 2 8
3 2 6 1 5 8 4 9 7
8 4 5 9 2 7 1 3 6

Reyes, from the 2 in the bottom right grid, you know that in the bottom middle grid it has to be in the middle, so from that clue, the 2 in the top middle grid needs to be on the bottom row. Follow that through.

Pah!

Brilliant StP - cheers.

never had to resort to such treachery to fill in 1 box! Rest of puzzle was a doddle after that.

CC to the rescue

:) No problemo. Guess I should probably get on with some work now...