There’s not much in life that’s more entertaining than reading the Mail’s sometimes ridiculous claims. Look, for example, here:

The Daily Mail was the first national newspaper to bring Sudoku to this country

Well, no it wasn’t. It’s not true. It’s plainly false. The Times first published Su Doku. Then the Mail picked it up, decided it’s readers couldn’t cope with a ‘foreign’ name, and called it Numbercrunch. The Times was first.

while the Mail on Sunday went one further with the introduction of Super Sudoku

The first Super Su Doku was published in the Indy. Not the Mail.

You might think that this is a minor correction… but the Mail splashed over half its front page that it was first. And it wasn’t. Besides which, as entertaining as Su Doku is as a puzzle, there really isn’t all that much to say about it, and its becoming quite frustrating to not be able to open a paper without some special feature or other about a number puzzle.

And just as I was about to hit ‘Publish’, it appears that Janine Gibson from The Grauniad has written along similar lines. Choice quotes:

Kudos, by the way, to Sun Doku which launched on Tuesday and distinguished itself immediately by being a puzzle that someone else has already half completed. The Guardian launched its own version on Monday, sprinting for the high ground with “the original Japanese puzzles hand-crafted by its inventors” and gently putting the boot in to the computer versions run by other papers. The others responded with suitable outrage. “We were first,” said the Times. “We’ve got four!” shouted the Independent. Sighs from baffled readers everywhere.

[T]he first Sudoku puzzle hit the UK press in the Times six months ago. The Daily Mail launched one shortly thereafter, though it was called Codebreaker and everyone else ignored it. In fact the Mail was in danger of being written out of the collective history of the Sudoku Phenomenon as it emerged day by day last week, until it devoted half of its front page to a bold “we was first” claim. It’s possible the Mail may now be regretting eschewing the Japanese name, which we can only assume it did in case its readers got upset by the idea of it being foreign.

And, I think, a perfect one to finish on:

I propose a truce. We’ve all got one now, let’s just leave it alone. Do the puzzle, don’t do the puzzle, just don’t talk about it.

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This post has been cited by The Sudoku Experience: http://sudoku.infoforliving.com/2005/05/daily-mail-claims-su-doku.html

» This comment was received at 20:01 on 28 May 05

Well, I love these puzzles and there is the world’s best 16 x 16 and 9 x 9 create/solve/print program on eBay - I’ve got it and love it.

Just search on eBay for “sudoku” and you will find a whole load, but there’s one there that is miles above the rest of them - and it is cheaper!

I’m hooooooked !

Chris.

» This comment was received at 11:16 on 09 June 05

Is there a program for the solution to the SUPER SUDOKU 12×16

I have the program for 9×9 and the program to solve 16×16

Any help would be appreciated.

Mike

» This comment was received at 00:48 on 13 June 05

Hello Mike,

Yes, I also loved them so much that, after solving a couple, I thought it would be even more fun to write a program to solve, create and print them. You can now buy my program on eBay.

Just enter eBay.co.uk or ebay.com and search for “sudoku” without the quotes. There are about four, but by far the best program on there (mine !!!) is the one with the red gallery image saying “Create/Solve/Print/16×16/9×9. It is only £2.99 and you can save and all sorts of things.

To see that it is the best, check out the others too.

Alternatively, you could go straight to eBay item number: 8198566586 but that will only be there for the next 9 days. After that you will have to do a search again.

Good luck - and let me know that it is you if you buy it!!

Christopher (no relation to Chris above - just coincidence)

» This comment was received at 08:51 on 13 June 05

We are totally hooked on your Su Doku and now buy the Daily Mail every day. But can anyone solve this problem: July 28th’s Su Doku Mini seems to have TWO Solutions! The one you published and the one I found. Mine is 643152/152643/526314/314526/461235/235461 I noticed that each line is the reverse of another. I can’t see any mistakes but with my eyesight I need a second opinion. PLEASE email me and put me and Rab out of our suspense!

» This comment was received at 11:59 on 30 July 05

We are totally hooked on your Su Doku

Well thanks, but I’ve never compiled a Su Doku puzzle in my life. I think you might very well be looking for this page of the Daily Mail website. This site has no connection with the Mail at all (thank goodness).

Certainly, the Mail have printed badly formed Su Dokus before, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this was just another. But good luck with finding out for sure.

» This comment was received at 14:19 on 30 July 05

If you like sudokus, look at PrintSudoku.com. Free online Printing Sudoku’s in pdf. 6 new every day.

» This comment was received at 14:09 on 03 August 05

This post has been referenced by another on this site:
sjhoward.co.uk » The Sudoku craze rumbles on

[...] The number puzzles Sudoku, first brought to Britain by The Times earlier this year, spawned something of a craze. A craze I covered in some detail. So it feels right to do some kind of six-months-on follow-up. [...]

» This pingback was received at 22:54 on 20 December 05

Was the Super Sudoku X puzzle published on Saturday March 3rd 2007 in the Weekend Magazine correct ? Every time we get near a solution something goes wrong - We don’t usually have any trouble like this ! I can only assume that the puzzle as set had some sort of error ?

» This comment was received at 23:27 on 05 March 07

I’m sorry, but I have absolutely no idea!

» This comment was received at 08:37 on 06 March 07

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