OK, Sudoku mavens....
 

I'm stuck here. Can anyone see a move?

I love a good sudoku, and have come across more than one that was unfinishable.
According to my cheater program it is finishable, but it still may require a guess which I don't like. As I'm sure you are aware, thats not supposed to happen.

post the original and I'll see what I can do.

I ve been working on it but I don't see anything yet either.

I'd like to see the original too

Original should be the bold numbers.

I'll be of no help...this is the only sudoku I've ever been able to complete...

http://xkcd.com/74/

that's an awful lot but maybe I'm not reading it right -the nold and not bold are not terribly distinct to me.

no matter. I really want to play Pirates (just watched Pirates of the carribean 3), so may pack it in in a minute

I can't tell which are bold at all, guess I need a new monitor

third row eighth column is 7

...because it can either be 6 or 7, if it's 6 then r3c3 is 5, r3c6 is 8, r3c4 is 1, r1c4 is 4, r1 c8 is 9 which leaves no possibility for r7c8 (6 or 9)

baby steps

SPOILER rest of solution follows, I think



that means r7c8 is 6
r7c6 is 5, r7c4 is 9

r8c4 is 7, r6c4 is 4

r1c4 is 1, r1c7 is 9, r1c8 is 4, r9c8 is 9, r9c7 is 7, r9c3 is 4, r8c3 is 9, oh hell, i think it's done, wait a mo and I'll post the lot or at least what i got in grid form

8 7 3 * 1 6 2 * 9 4 5
9 1 5 * 3 7 4 * 6 8 2
4 2 6 * 5 9 8 * 1 7 3
****************
5 9 7 * 8 2 3 * 4 1 6
2 4 1 * 6 5 9 * 8 3 7
3 6 8 * 4 1 7 * 5 2 9
****************
7 8 2 * 9 4 5 * 3 6 1
1 3 9 * 7 8 6 * 2 5 4
6 5 4 * 2 3 1 * 7 9 8




did i fuck up?

I thought you did, but closed the window I was working in and punted - sorry.
You're solution seems valid to me.

Ran it through again - You're a winner!!!!

:D I so rock. I knew that brain would come in handy one day.

*happy dance*

Very clever! I often just throw up my hands at this point.. it's too close to guessing. But my experience is once you're at this point, you usually only have to figure out one number and the rest of it will fall apart.

The original numbers are supposed to be bold. The difference doesn't show much though. Here is the original:

FYI this is from Numberz, a PalmOS Sudoku application. It is rated as "insane"--I usually do Expert, but they are right next to each other and I apparently clicked the wrong button this time!

I sat and looked at this one for about 10 min. before I finally hit the 'CHECK' -- it's rated IMPOSSIBLE (NFK!):sniff:

I've been using Astraware's Sudoku. You can download additional games from Astraware's site. They even have packs that are rated by difficulty level ... so if all you do are the most difficult ones (that's what I usually do) you can download just that kind rather than the full assortment. I think that the gameplay is a lot better on that version. I also have Sudokumaster, but I don't like the interface as much.

Solution to Puzzle in Post #16
 

I think this is the answer for your puzzle, barefoot...


3 4 6 * 9 8 1 * 7 5 2
8 5 1 * 2 6 7 * 4 9 3
7 9 2 * 5 3 4 * 8 6 1
*****************
2 8 9 * 3 1 6 * 5 4 7
6 3 5 * 4 7 9 * 1 2 8
1 7 4 * 8 2 5 * 9 3 6
*****************
5 6 3 * 7 4 8 * 2 1 9
9 1 7 * 6 5 2 * 3 8 4
4 2 8 * 1 9 3 * 6 7 5

looks good to me!, but would be wrong according to the 'official' solution:

3 4 6 * 9 8 1 * 7 5 2
8 5 1 * 2 6 7 * 4 9 3
7 9 2 * 5 3 4 * 8 6 1
*****************
2 8 9 * 3 1 6 * 5 4 7
6 3 5 * 4 7 9 * 1 2 8
1 7 4 * 8 2 5 * 9 3 6
*****************
5 6 3 * 7 4 8 * 2 1 9
9 1 7 * 6 5 2 * 3 8 4
4 2 8 * 1 9 3 * 6 7 5

Is that the official solution you've posted? If the 8 is wrong, something else has to be wrong, because otherwise there's nowhere for the 8 to go. :confused:

yes: the 'gray' squares are the givens, the white filled-in correctly, the red are empty or incorrect.

I'm not seeing any colored squares, barefoot... I'm seeing an exact duplicate of what Chocolatl posted, with one random 8 bolded.

I was referring to the 'official' solution in #16 where:
3 4 6 * 9 8 1 * 7 5 2
8 5 1 * 2 6 7 * 4 9 3
7 9 2 * 5 3 4 * 8 6 1
*****************
2 - 8 * 3 1 6 * 5 4 7
6 3 5 * 4 7 9 * 1 2 8
1 7 4 * 8 2 5 * 9 3 6
*****************
5 6 3 * 7 4 8 * 2 1 9
9 1 7 * 6 5 2 * 3 8 4
4 2 8 * 1 9 3 * 6 7 5

The bolded 8 above is indicated as correct.

Are you sure that it's officially "correct"? Is it checking it against the final solution, or is it just checking for blatant errors (like two 8s in the same column)?
I'm not trying to be confrontational, I'm just confused because I'd always thought that sudoku puzzles only had one solution each. I worked my solution out using the original numbers, and it works, so I'm just curious to see what the final official solution is if it's different from the one I got.

I just assumed it was the final, but you may be right. I've gotten others that indicate errors but I can't find the problem. So may be it's the program?

eek... I guess there are multiple solutions!

Multiple solutions!? Gah. Well, there's the problem. :)
I checked your solution to that last one and couldn't find any problems with it either. I tried to solve it myself, working from the originals, but I ended up stuck with quite a few that I couldn't figure out without guessing. I compared them with your answers, and they're all the same -- except all the red numbers from yours are the blanks on mine.

I guess you just found a different solution that wasn't what the computer was expecting. Good job, anyway!

SD,

You need Sudoku Gridmaster for DS now that you have some on the way. I have it. Over 400 puzzles. Addicting! Love it!

I hate to poke my dumbass nose in this, but are there some basic rules? I did one from Sunday paper mag section awhile back and solution said was wrong. Across and down I couldn't find an error.
I bought an el-chepo from bigbox, but lost interest after paper said was wrong. Yeah. I'm with stupid.

Buster, it's supposed to be the numbers 1-9 in each row, 1-9 in each column, and then also 1-9 in each little 9 square cube. Other than that there aren't really any rules for the basic format, as long as the numbers don't repeat themselves.

Thanks. Wait till Sunday and I'll try another one, by your rules. Maybe I'l not riding with the game yet. And has been a spell since I gave it a try. A crazy welder friend of mine came by and paid me for printing cards for him, and left a fifth of white label George Dickel. So to hell with the game. :lol2:

Let me give my redneck understanding of this game. There's 9 Sqs with 9 numbers in each. The # that you add, can't match any # in Sq or vertical, horizontal in other Sqs. True? If not please PM me, because I know I'm stupid, lets not let other folks in on it.
BTW. If above is 1/2 assed correct, why was I wrong before???

Sounds about right. Not sure why yours was wrong, unless it was one of those crazy "multiple solution" ones like the ones barefoot serpent and I were looking at earlier.

:thankyou: Was hoping for a good answer that fit my mind set. I don't have a hell of a lot of formal education. Things that I'm interested in keep me busy. Now! Moving on! Did I tell about the free whiskey? Ok. No! I'm not going to ask that's the latest thing you did to your tv, video. Good night.

this is the online sudoku thing I've been using (avoid the ones marked Impossible... ;) )

I've used this one, but I'm not good enough to complete the really difficult ones - yet.

Dailysudoku.com