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Before you contact us please read the FAQ below - your question is almost certainly answered there. If you really do have something new to ask or have any issue with this web site, please use the form at the bottom of the page. Using the form means we can come back to you much more quickly and helps us prevent unwanted spam being sent to us and bogus (phishing) emails to you using our addresses.
Frequently Asked Questions
My solution is different to yours - are there multiple solutions to Sudoku puzzles? We guarantee, 100 per cent, that there is only one solution to all our sudoku, jigsaw sudoku and killer sudoku. Transcription errors when you copy the puzzle to a worksheet or spreadsheet program will almost invariably give you a sudoku with more than one answer. It takes only one missed or incorrect "given" to make it a completely different puzzle. That's the most common mistake. We don't make this claim of unique solutions for puzzles from other publishers.
Is there a logical way to solve all sudoku?
Yes - for all the sudoku we publish in newspapers and the internet - and here on this web site. With the harder puzzles the route can be obscure (to say the least), but finding strategies is half the fun. Puzzles where the only way forward is to guess are known as 'bifurcating' and we filter them out. We don't know if they genuinely require a guess or if we lack a strategy ourselves. Even at this mature stage of our sudoku compilation about five per cent of the puzzles generated are bifurcating and these are not used. If you want a real challenge you can see an example list we call the Unsolvables.
Can you correct my competition submission?
Our policy is not to correct anyone's submission, even if you find a minor typo, especially with clues. We are planning an alternative submission process which will show the clues and make this task easier. Nor can we 'correct' a blank entry. You'll be warned if your submission is blank. Any errors we introduce from changes to the site we will, of course, correct and you are welcome to point these out.
How can I get into the Expert's List?
Anyone can get into the Experts, Triathlon or Sextathon lists since we are counting the most recent 350 days, so you can start any time. |
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Your on-line sudoku 'Helper' can't solve a sudoku. What gives?
The helper has only a few of the advanced strategies, but our methods to create sudoku include all known strategies, so the helper will come to a point in some puzzles where - like you - it doesn't know what to do next. However, you will now know that you have reached a point in the puzzle where one of the higher strategies is required to solve it. The helper is not a full-blown solver, but more of a learning tool. Andrew Stuart runs a version of the Helper that includes many more solving schemes and information about all the known strategies.
Why did you change the Time Zone to Eastern Standard Time
We acknowledge this has changed quite a few people's routine, but we are still delivering one sudoku every 24 hours. We changed the competition submission cut-off time to EST since it didn't effect Europe (from 12am to 5am) and it allowed us to avoid GMT which was generating a good deal of correspondance. |
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