Exploring Sudoku

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?

It looks like it is syndicated, I see it in the Dallas paper

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?

I am glad to hear that there are others who have found some Sudoku puzzles that can't be solved by only using logic. I don't care for the guess to solve method either. I guess you could call it extended reasoning but I don't know how someone could keep track of the potential solution without some way of noting your string of "guesses". I put a dot in the square of my first guess and parentheses around the subsequent ones. If I can finish the puzzle then I guessed right. If not, I go back and erase everything in parentheses and choose the other option for the first square. (My first square is always one with two possibilities.) I'm curious if others have a different method. 

It looks like it is syndicated, I see it in the Dallas paper

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?

I had read about them, and now I guess (tee hee) that I am seeing them in the paper.  Dunno.  Thought I had a logical way to solve all of the "non guessing" ones, and that used to work.  So either the puzzle changed, or I am further into the DNR (Do Not Retest) zone.  

I am glad to hear that there are others who have found some Sudoku puzzles that can't be solved by only using logic. I don't care for the guess to solve method either. I guess you could call it extended reasoning but I don't know how someone could keep track of the potential solution without some way of noting your string of "guesses". I put a dot in the square of my first guess and parentheses around the subsequent ones. If I can finish the puzzle then I guessed right. If not, I go back and erase everything in parentheses and choose the other option for the first square. (My first square is always one with two possibilities.) I'm curious if others have a different method. 

It looks like it is syndicated, I see it in the Dallas paper

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?

I am glad to hear that there are others who have found some Sudoku puzzles that can't be solved by only using logic. I don't care for the guess to solve method either. I guess you could call it extended reasoning but I don't know how someone could keep track of the potential solution without some way of noting your string of "guesses". I put a dot in the square of my first guess and parentheses around the subsequent ones. If I can finish the puzzle then I guessed right. If not, I go back and erase everything in parentheses and choose the other option for the first square. (My first square is always one with two possibilities.) I'm curious if others have a different method. 

It looks like it is syndicated, I see it in the Dallas paper

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?

Next time I have one that I feel I need to "guess" an answer, I will message you first and get your strategy. Thinking many steps ahead and having the memory to remember them all is what I call guessing because my memory doesn't work as well as it use to. 

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?

So I just finished the Saturday McMeel; maybe fresh eyes this morning helped me.  I still do not guess (early or late), but instead just reduce the puzzle to pairs of "either or" cells that eventually get resolved; I begin writing the possible values in the corners of the cell (when a value only fits two of a row, square, or column), and when I have a pair of cells with the same two possibilities (in the same square, row, or column) that helps force other numbers into other cells.  No memory involved (see DNR above).

Next time I have one that I feel I need to "guess" an answer, I will message you first and get your strategy. Thinking many steps ahead and having the memory to remember them all is what I call guessing because my memory doesn't work as well as it use to. 

I do the McMeel sudoku in the paper every day.  I have noted that the general level in the last....three months or so seems to have gotten harder.  Whereas I used to be able to do the Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzles 80-90% of the time, now these routinely stump me.  I assume that is because they are now "guessing" puzzles, which is something I do not care to do.

Any others noting the same thing?