Solution to Wednesday's Word Sudoku Puzzles

Yesterday’s Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the anagram ALMS FRONDS.

A new puzzle in a bit.

Thanks,
--Dave

New Word Sudoku Puzzle for Wednesday 1/5/2011

Today’s 9x9 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle is based on letters in the anagram ALMS FRONDS.

ALMS FRONDS
9x9 Hidden Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and 3x3 square contains the letters in the word or phrase exactly once
The hidden word or phrase is spelled down the diagonal

Solution first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

Solution to State Sudoku

Yesterday's State Sudoku puzzle asked you to name a U.S. state and its motto, given this clue:

This state entered the union on 1/4/1896, the 45th state to join the union.

The answers: Utah: “Industry”

Thanks,
--Dave

Solution to Tuesday's Word Sudoku Puzzle

Yesterday’s Classic Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the word OLYMPIANS.

A new puzzle in a bit.

Thanks,
--Dave

Celebrating United States History: State Sudoku

This state entered the union on 1/4/1896, the 45th state to join the union.

HARD UNITS
9x9 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 3x3 square and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word or phrase exactly once
Copy the numbered letters into the corresponding cells of the quote grid to unveil the state and its motto

Solutions tomorrow morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

(Word Sudoku puzzles and text © 2011, David H. Thompson. All Rights Reserved. Please contact author through the blog for usage permission.)

New Word Sudoku Puzzle for Tuesday, 1/4/2011

Today’s 9x9 Classic Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the word OLYMPIANS.

OLYMPIANS
9x9 Classic Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and 3x3 square contains the letters in the word or phrase exactly once

Solution first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

Solution to State Sudoku

Yesterday's State Sudoku puzzle asked you to name a U.S. state and its motto, given this clue:

This state entered the union on 1/3/1959, the 49th state to join the union.

The answers: Alaska: “North to the Future”

Thanks,
--Dave

Solution to Monday's Word Sudoku Puzzle

Yesterday’s Classic Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the words PRIME COST.

A new puzzle in a bit.

Thanks,
--Dave

Celebrating United States History: State Sudoku

This state entered the union on 1/3/1959, the 49th state to join the union.

ANKLES
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word or phrase exactly once

FOURTH
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word or phrase exactly once
Copy the numbered letters into the corresponding cells of the quote grid to unveil the state and its motto

Solutions tomorrow morning.

Thanks,
--Dave
(Word Sudoku puzzles and text © 2011, David H. Thompson. All Rights Reserved. Please contact author through the blog for usage permission.)

New Word Sudoku Puzzle for Monday, 1/3/2011

Today’s 9x9 Classic Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the words PRIME COST.

PRIME COST
9x9 Classic Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and 3x3 square contains the letters in the word or phrase exactly once

Solution first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

Solution to State Sudoku

Yesterday’s State Sudoku puzzle asked you to name a U.S. state and its motto, given this clue:

This state entered the union on 1/2/1788, the 4th state to join the union.

The answers: Georgia: “Wisdom, justice, and moderation”

Thanks,
--Dave

Solution to the Sunday Challenge Word Sudoku Puzzle

Yesterday’s Sunday Challenge Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the letters in the anagram CANOE’S BLIGHT.

A new puzzle in a bit.

Thanks,
--Dave

Celebrating United States History: State Sudoku

This state entered the union on 1/2/1788, the 4th state to join the union.

JUST MACED
9x9 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 3x3 square and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word or phrase exactly once

ROWING
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 3x3 square and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word or phrase exactly once
Copy the numbered letters into the corresponding cells of the quote grid to unveil the state and its motto

Solutions tomorrow morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

(Word Sudoku puzzles and text © 2011, David H. Thompson. All Rights Reserved. Please contact author through the blog for usage permission.)

Sunday Challenge: New Word Sudoku Puzzle for Sunday, 1/2/2011

Today’s 12x12 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the letters in the anagram CANOE’S BLIGHT.

CANOE’S BLIGHT
Sunday Challenge: 12x12 Hidden Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and 3x4 rectangle contains the letters in the word or phrase exactly once
The hidden word or phrase is spelled down the diagonal

Solution first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

(All puzzles and text contained in this blog are copyright © 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, David H. Thompson. All rights reserved. You have my permission to print single copies for your individual solving pleasure, but you may not collect or further distribute these puzzles in any way without my explicit written permission. Please contact me through this blog's comment feature. And please tell your puzzle-loving friends to follow this blog. Thank you!)

Solutions to Yesterday’s Letter Run Word Sudoku Puzzles

Yesterday’s puzzles explored the common phrases containing all the letters in the letter run ABCDEFGHI.

A new puzzle in a few hours.

Thanks,
--Dave

Solutions to the Saturday Swifty Word Sudoku Puzzles

Yesterday’s Qudoku puzzle set spelled out an adverbial pun known as a Tom Swifty. This one shows Tom knows his classical music.

The Sunday Challenge in a few hours.

Thanks,
--Dave

Extra (Letter Run) Word Sudoku Puzzle for 1/1/2011

(from http://www.wordle.net/) Words and phrases containing all the letters in the letter run ACEGIKMOR

What common phrases contain all the letters in the letters run ABCDEFGHI? This month’s Letter Run Qudoku puzzle set challenges you to find out.

ZWEIBACKS
9x9 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 3x3 square and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once

FLUXED
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once

THRONG
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once
Copy circled letters to the corresponding numbered cells in the quote grid to spell out common phrases containing all the letters in the letter run ABCDEFGHI

Solutions tomorrow morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

New Word Sudoku (Swifty Sudoku!) Puzzles for Saturday, 1/1/2011

Please get in the elevator," said Tom uppishly.

A Tom Swifty is an adverbial pun that simultaneously describes a speaker and refers to the speaker's statement. The name comes from the Tom Swift book series for young readers. The authors were roundly criticized for overusing adverbs and descriptive phrases, so that Tom hardly ever said "said" and rarely said anything without a qualifying adverb. A Tom Swifty pun is a parody of this style that will make you groan out loud.

FARCES
Swifty Sudoku: 6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once

VOTING
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once

PHYLUM
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once
Copy circled letters to the corresponding numbered cells in the quote grid to spell out the Tom Swifty

Solutions first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

2011 MagicWordSquare posting schedule

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoy visiting this blog, hopefully on a regular basis. Please follow it!

I started MagicWordSquare almost three years ago for a number of reasons. First, I wanted experience blogging, so I could take what I learned back to my job and apply it there. Second, I wanted to explore the fun of playing with words and letters—nerdy, I know! But the fact that one set of letters can be used so many different ways, one word can mean so many different things, and one sentence can be interpreted with many different meanings…language, and English in particular, is simply fascinating! It was a way to keep my mid-life brain active, figuring out how to challenge your brain.

Third, I was hoping (and still am!) that a publisher would realize there’s a market for these puzzles, collected in book form. I have many more puzzles not posted here; there are lots of eager puzzle solvers out there; all we need is that middleman distributor!

And fourth, I wanted to share my puzzles with you.

So I’m sticking with this another year at least. I’ve mapped out 2011 with both the daily 9x9 puzzles and a variety of new forms of Sudoku wordplay, using the variant I created that I call “Qudoku,” for Word Sudoku-with-quote.

You may have noticed that my posting schedule is a bit complex! I post (1) daily; (2) weekly; (3) monthly, and (4) according to specific dates throughout the full year, such as birthdays. Here’s the 2011 schedule for your puzzle-solving planning purposes:

Daily posting schedule, each week

• Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri: 9x9 Classic Word Sudoku
• Wed: 9x9 Hidden Word Sudoku
• Sat: Swifty Sudoku
• Sun: Sunday Challenge

A Swifty Sudoku puzzle is a Qudoku puzzle set spelling out a hopefully very bad adverbial pun. And the Sunday Challenge is a 12x12 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle. My local newspaper (The Oregonian) publishes 9x9’s all week of increasing difficulty; then it publishes a 16x16 on Sunday, which I find too hard to do in a reasonable time. So I’ve created something in-between, that includes a hidden word or phrase. Challenging but doable.

Monthly posting schedule
In 2011 I’m also challenging you with a regularly-scheduled set of extra Word Sudoku puzzles posted on specific days of each month.

• 1st: Letter Run Sudoku or Word from Word Sudoku
• 15th (Ides!): Last Word Sudoku
• 28th: Quote of the month Sudoku

Letter Run Sudoku plays off ‘runs of letters’ such as ABCDEFGHI. Most Word Sudoku puzzles published elsewhere use random letters or letter runs as the symbols in their puzzles. But my letter run puzzles are different, as I hope you’ve come to expect. The Qudoku puzzle set contains a quote grid spelling out several common phrases that each contain all the letters in the letter run. For example, given the letter run ABCDEFGHI, one (perhaps not-so-common) phrase containing all these letters is ‘the Mayor of Casterbridge;’ another is ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me?’

Word from Word Sudoku is one of the kinds of word play puzzles I referred to at the beginning of this post—forming new words from the letters in one word. For example, from the word verticals you can derive the five-letter words acres, tears, ravels and vials, to name just a very few. Check out the first of these puzzles later today.

Last Word Sudoku is a Qudoku puzzle set spelling out famous last words from historical figures. I came across a wonderful book “Immortal Last Words” by Terry Breverton (Quercus Publishing, Plc, London; www.quercusbooks.co.uk) containing the last words or immortal sayings of 370 people—dying remarks, deathbed declarations and final farewells, as the title page explains it. Absolutely worth reading—buy it now! (Quercus: http://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/book.php?id=9781849164788; Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Last-Words-Memorable-Statements/dp/1849164789) I’ll “value-add” to a few of these sayings each month on the Ides, encasing them in Qudoku puzzle sets and challenging you to ‘decode’ them.

Birthday posting schedule And finally, I post based on historical dates.

• Day of entering the union: State Sudoku
• Birthday: Presidential Sudoku

So, for instance, on August 4, I’ll post a Qudoku puzzle set involving President Barack Obama (his birth date is August 4, 1961); and on August 1, I’ll post a Qudoku puzzle set involving the state of Colorado (which entered the union August 1, 1876). This will be the first year for Presidential Sudoku; State Sudoku is entering its third year! The first Presidential Sudoku puzzle set will post on Jan. 7; the first State Sudoku puzzle set of 2011 will post Jan. 2.

Word Sudoku pages Say you’re sick, and have time on your hands: You want a variety of many puzzles, not just one hard one. I’ve listened to those of you who crave more than one Word Sudoku puzzle to solve at once. I’m creating a series of blog pages that will each contain about a dozen (or more!) Word Sudoku puzzles, each page exploring one theme. I’m working on a page of Maya Angelou quotes; I’m considering a page of “Top Ten” lists, etc. Look for the first page in mid-January.

So in 2011, I’m posting more than 500 Word Sudoku puzzles. It should keep you busy! Please use the blog’s comments to let me know what you think—what you like, what you don’t; what you’d like to see more of or perhaps less of. And please follow this blog!

Thanks,
--Dave
1/1/2011

Solutions to Friday's Word Sudoku Puzzles

Yesterday’s two Qudoku puzzle sets set the stage for the new year. Happy 2011!

A new puzzle in a bit.

Thanks,
--Dave