Comments on: I have a couple of questions about Sudoku.

Question: I have a couple of questions about Sudoku.

obiwanwasabi — Sun, 12 Dec 2004 21:18:21 -0800

I have a couple of questions about Sudoku. [mi]

Firstly, is there any freeware out there (windows, not Palm) that will generate Sudoku puzzles? US$15 is a bit steep for a trivial distraction.

Secondly, is there an algorithm for generating these puzzles yourself? I assume that you can't just throw down a handful of numbers into a grid and have it turn out as a solveable Sudoku puzzle, so I guess it'd have to be an algorithm that generated a 'solved' puzzle and then took out most of the numbers. I guess there's also an algorithm for working out which numbers to remove and which to leave depending on how difficult you want the puzzle to be.

By: zelphi

zelphi — Sun, 12 Dec 2004 21:22:56 -0800

I'm not sure if there's a freeware version of this, but here's a set of instructions on how to generate puzzles.

By: obiwanwasabi

obiwanwasabi — Sun, 12 Dec 2004 21:56:03 -0800

Now that 7s are completed, let's have a coffee break.

Crikey! Thanks for that, zelphi.

This post in rec.puzzles discusses an app called "Single Number" by Yoshimitso Kanai. Apparently it has a 'book mode' of 50 specially-crafted puzzles, each of which must be solved before the next can be opened. I can find a Palm version of this app - does anybody know if the 50 puzzles are available elsewhere, or ina Windows app? Guess I can always run a Palm emulator...