Friday, October 10, 2008

New Word Sudoku Puzzles (Qudoku!) for Friday, 10/10/2008

New Word Sudoku Puzzles (Qudoku!) for Friday, 10/10/2008

Today we’ll finish our tour of oxymoronic Qudoku puzzles using 16x16 grid-size Word Sudoku puzzles to supply the letters for the oxymoron. I find the large size unfinishable, if that’s a word. So I often break up what would normally be a 16x16 Qudoku into a “Two Qudoku” puzzle set with two 9x9 Sudoku puzzles supplying the letters. But let’s begin with the large size.

BLOCKADE HURTS WIN
16x16 Qudoku Word Puzzle
Each row, column, 4x4 square and group of circled squares contain the letters in the anagram exactly once
Copy letters in circled cells to the matching numbered cell in the quote
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PARCHED JUG OF MINT
16x16 Qudoku Word Puzzle
Each row, column, 4x4 square and group of circled squares contain the letters in the anagram exactly once
Copy letters in circled cells to the matching numbered cell in the quote

If 16x16 grids are too hard, what’s the fun of attempting longer quotes that use many letters? Well, sometimes, with some ingenuity, you can break the large number of letters into two sets, and form regular-sized 9x9 Word Sudoku puzzles out of each set, so that each puzzle is quite solvable in a reasonable amount of time (thus fun!) and the combined set of letters generates what you need to fill in the quote. But if the puzzle only needs 16 letters, where do we get the 18 letters needed for two 9x9 puzzles? EASY! Repeated letters in the different puzzles, or extra letters that are there for ease of finding an anagram!



AWESTRUCK



HOBNAILED

9x9 “Two Qudoku” Word Puzzle
Solve each Word Sudoku puzzle using the letters in the respective anagrams
In each Word Sudoku puzzle, each row, column, 3x3 square and group of circled squares contain the letters in the anagram exactly once
Copy letters in circled cells to the matching numbered cell in the quote

Solutions first thing in the morning. I’ll return to my normal daily Classic 9x9 Word Sudoku pattern tomorrow--just in time for the weekend.

I hope you enjoyed this 10-day interlude to explore a different kind of Word Sudoku puzzle, combining Sudoku with quips, quotes and even oxymorons in something I call “Qudoku.” Please let me know what you thought. Interesting? Stupid and boring? Way over the top? Or would you like more of these?

I have created two books of these Qudoku puzzles, of all sizes, just like what we did the past ten days. But those pesky publishers aren’t convinced yet that there’s still a market for new Sudoku books, especially puzzle variants such as Word Sudoku.

Your posts here could possibly help change their minds!

Thanks,
--Dave

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