sudoku

[snugglekitty]

You know how sometimes you do something just because you want to understand it a little bit?



While mrpet and I were in Michigan, his parents were doing a lot of sudoku puzzles. Apparently, they're big in the Midwest.

I asked his mom to print out some easy ones that we could take on the plane with us. I decided that I wanted to do a few until I felt like I understood something about how to do them, or why people like them, or whatever. They didn't really appeal to me, and I wondered what the interest was.

I did five or so. I started with "very easy" and then moved on to "easy." The last one I finished twenty minutes ago. During the second-to-last one, I had a breakthrough in my understanding of how to look at the puzzles, and then it really was easy. I applied my new ruleset to the next one and went through it in about five minutes. It was neat to feel like I suddenly got it, was looking for patterns in a new way.

I think that makes me done. I'm not sure that these puzzles have anything more to teach me. And I would rather spend my time knitting, or reading, or being with the people I love. But I do plan to tell my mother about them. She likes paper puzzles.

Comments

[dalbino83.livejournal.com]

I love sudoku. Last night, I got my date hooked on them. He was watching over my shoulder while I was doing one, and then all of a sudden, he's over there, pointing to a box and saying "hey, shouldn't that be a 7?" Tee hee!

[sexykneesocks.livejournal.com]

not only are they large in the midwest, they seem to be large in my corner of the engineering world. last week we showed the DE team all about them. it was one of the first conversations that we had that didn't require extensive translation.

hope you both are well...

[dalbino83.livejournal.com]

(I was working on the one in the Metro while we were on the subway. You should try that one sometime.)

[catskillz.livejournal.com]

Those puzzles are addictive! My grandpa got my family hooked on them last December over in England - they were being printed in the Times every day. It's amazing to see how much they've taken off in America. Every time I'm in Barnes and Noble, I pass at least one full table of su doku books.

Weird obsession, yo.

[rantfaery.livejournal.com]

My father-in-law now loves these more than crossword puzzles.
And Joe? My dear Joseph, of course, carries one of these damn things in his pocket like, everywhere. *rolls eyes*
I don't care enough to try to get it. ;-p