About Sudoku Special
Sudoku puzzles appear in several daily and weekend newspapers. They are included in weekly and monthly magazines. There are a variety of publications on book shelves, some offer cash prizes for correct entries. Apart from some puzzles using a 4x4 grid designed for young people and t.v. shows the usual format is a 9x9 grid of 9 rows 9 columns and 9 blocks of 9 spaces. Solving the puzzle requires filling the spaces with the numbers 1 to 9 inclusive.
Sudoku – Special is different, there are no numbers, only letters but these are not random letters, they are anagrams of other words or names. The 9x9 format restricts the combinations of letters so the grid has been extended to 12x12. The grid contains 12 rows, 12 columns and 12 blocks of 3x4.
Sudoku-Special is the title embracing all the varieties of puzzles that are sub-titled into series. e.g. Sports Series covers football, tennis, athletics and is planned to include the London Olympics in 2012. Emergency Services Series is another example to include the H.M.Coastguard Air Sea Rescue, Air Ambulance, RNLI Lifeboat, Fire Service and Police. It can be seen that many of these services and charities could enjoy an income from sales of the publication. The possibilities are endless.
In the above examples some letters may appear more than once. In H.M.Coastguard the letter ‘A’ is used twice; in RNLI Lifeboat two letters ‘I’ and ‘L’ are used twice. In Air Ambulance the letter ‘A’ appears three times. This can make the puzzle more difficult to solve and has been taken into account during preparation. The objective is to create a demanding puzzle, but not impossible, to solve which will detract from enjoying the task.
Keith Wiles.