HomeSudoku BooksKiller Sudoku 1: The Deadly New Dimension |
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29 of 31 found the following review helpful:
 Now Add Some Math Jun 07, 2006
By Joshua Koppel
Killer sudoku is my favorite sudoku variation (with the possible exception of killer samurai sudoku). The game is the same in many ways. The grid layout is the same. The logic for solving is the same. The completed puzzle is the same. But the clues, the clues, are different. Unlike with traditional sudoku, you will not start with a partially filled puzzle grid. Although I have seen a handful where one or two numbers is given, usually no numbers are provided. So how do you solve these?
Well, instead of the standard partially-filled grid, the puzzler is told what the relationship is between groups of squares. You may be told that two connected boxes have a sum total of eight or you may bee told that five connected boxes have a sum total of thirty-three. But whatever you are told, each box has a relation to others. What you fill in follows the standard Sudoku rules but some of the elimination and possibilities are similar to those in Kakuro. For instance, if two boxes add up to four, then they have to be a one and a three. you just don't know which.
These regions of relationships can range from just one square to nine or more. Just remember that sometimes one of these regions will contain the same number twice or more because it spans multiple rows, columns and subgrids. Ouch. Wrapping you mind around killer sudoku can take some getting used to but I find it a wonderful puzzle that combines classic sudoku with the mathematics of Kakuro. The result is one I find highly entertaining and am happy is finally being collected in quantity instead of just a few.
This volume contains a short section on how to solve the puzzls and thwn 110 puzzles in five levels (Gentle, moderate, tricky, tough, and deadly). If you are looking for a new dimension in sudoku, check it out.
23 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 a Good Collection of Puzzles May 30, 2006
By B. B. Trammell
I was hoping to be the first person to review this one, but it appears I'm a couple of days late. When I bought it, I was unsure about whether it'd be good or not because there were no reviews.
ON KILLER SUDOKU:
I had first encountered Killer Sudoku in Will Shortz's Favorite Sudoku variations. I liked it so much I wanted to get more. It may seem like Killer Sukoku is just some cheap knock off of the original, but I'd say it's what the original should have been. In fact, it'll probably make you bored of the original like it has for me. Killer Sudoku is so much more complex, and gives you a lot of oppurtunities to apply logic that don't exist in the original. It gets to the point in the original that to make them the most difficult, the puzzle solver must resort to the chore of possibility testing to figure it out. In Killer Sudoku there's a lot of tricks you can do involving the sum regions, and that keeps it interesting.
Although regular Sudoku has numbers, it doesn't work with numerical values (the numbers could be replaced with letters or even meaningless symbols and you'd still be able to figure it out). In Killer Sudoku the numerical values are crucial to figuring out the puzzles; most of them give you no starting numbers and only give you sum regions instead.
ON THIS BOOK:
One of the first things I noticed was the Sudoku borders are in BOLD BLACK and that makes them easy to see. In Will Shortz's book with Killer Sudoku, the borders were lighter and less noticable, and I'd sometimes lose track of which 3x3 square I was in. What the first reviewer said about difficulty is mostly true. It rougly gets more difficult from puzzle 1 to 110, but I've found hard ones sooner than they should be and I found a lot of easy ones later than they should be. In fact, I found that the whole "Deadly" section wasn't any harder than the previous section. I really don't know how they came up with the goal times for these. For a few of them I finished in less than half as much of the goal time. For others I used much more than the goal time.
I found puzzles 78 and 98 to be the two most difficult ones. Puzzle 78 has a number in a certain area that looks valid, but really it isn't if you look further. Without finding it, I don't think you can make progress. Puzzle 98 involved a sum region trick I had never needed to use before. It took me forever to think of it. I'm very certain you can't go on without figuring it out.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Lots of Fun Jan 18, 2007
By Senor Brujo
In my opinion, Killer Sudoku puzzles are much more fun and satisfying to solve than regular Sudoku puzzles because of the added complexity of the sums and the various techniques that can be employed to solve them. "Killer Su Doku 1: The Deadly New Dimension" contains 110 puzzles of which there are 17 Gentle, 30 Moderate, 42 Tricky, 16 Tough, and 5 Deadly puzzles. Each puzzle has a suggested time to beat. There is also a two-page "Guidelines for Solving Killer Su Doku".
I didn't find the guidelines for solving to be particularly useful. They give a quite minimal explanation of how to solve these types of puzzles and leave out explanations of some of the more important techniques for solving, such as the 45 Rule. (Steve Arons book, "The Official Book of Killer Sudoku" contains a much more comprehensive introduction.)
Regarding the suggested times, I didn't specifically time myself, but I often noticed that I took much less or much more time than what was suggested. As for difficulty, I found that sometimes a puzzle in a given section was either much harder or much easier than what was implied. The puzzles in the Deadly section were no more difficult than the ones in the Tough section. The hardest puzzles in the book are 78, 98, and 105. I eventually figured out some interesting equations and relational techniques for solving 78 and 98. (Whew, that was fun!) Puzzle 105 is the only one that I have not yet managed to solve.
This brings me to a recommendation for the Solutions section. In general, I find the solutions in the backs of Sudoku books to be useless. If I finish a puzzle and it conforms to the rules then it's correct; otherwise it's wrong. I don't need a solution to tell me that. The only time I look at the solution is occasionally when I'm doing a really difficult puzzle and I want to check an intermediate result to make sure I'm on the right track so I don't end up having to erase the entire puzzle and start over. This also helps to instantly understand what type of mistake I made. Something that would be really helpful in the solutions for the really difficult puzzles would be to show a partially solved grid and an explanation of how to get to the next step.
On the whole I found this book to be very enjoyable and highly recommend it for any Killer Sudoku fan. Publisher, another one please!
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
I'm hooked on Killer Sudoku! May 29, 2006
By EAF
If you're a Sudoku fan and are looking for something a bit different, pick up this book!
The rules for Killer Sudoku are quite simple, especially if you've already mastered the rules of Sudoku. The digits within the dotted-line boxes must add up to the small number written in the top corner of that box. Apart from that, all the normal Sudoku rules apply (1-9 in each row, column and nonet).
The puzzles are divided into five difficulty levels: Gentle, Moderate, Tricky, Tough and Deadly. The only qualm I had with this book is that some of the earlier puzzles seemed harder than later ones! Other than that, I thought this book was excellent.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Good puzzles, but easier then indicated Jan 03, 2007
By Jordan D. Liberman
I enjoyed working the puzzles in this book, but I found them substantially easier then the author did. The estimated times for the puzzles were way longer then I found them to take. Also, in the first part of the book, many of the puzzles included some starting numbers, instead of what I would consider a "pure" killer sudoku, where you start with only cages and sums. Nonetheless, still a fun diversion.
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