how to solve Sudoku

At first glance, a Sudoku puzzle looks as if it should be so easy - just a plain grid with a few single-digit numbers, isn't it? But that's what's so fiendish, because it's not simple at all!

Once you've got the knack, most Sudoku puzzles are easy to solve - given enough time. The secret to solving any Sudoku is logic and patience.

The first step is to memorize the most important rule of all:

Never, ever guess!

Beginners often look at the grid and can't see how to get started - so they guess a number, "just to get going".  That's the worst thing you can do, and almost guarantees you won't solve the puzzle. So remember:

Never, ever guess!

The video on the right explains why guessing is such a bad idea.

The awful thing about guessing a number in Sudoku is that it often seems like you've got away with it - you can carry on with the puzzle and everything seems to be going smoothly. Unfortunately, it's possible to make a mistake in Sudoku and it won't be obvious until you try to plug in the very last number! So you see, guessing can lead to an awful lot of wasted effort.

Although it may not seem like it at first, you can work out every single square of the puzzle using logic. It's a slow process, because the compiler will usually set up the puzzle so only two or three numbers can be identified in the "first pass". However, once you've inserted those numbers, they will give you some more clues, and you can go over the puzzle again - and again and again - finding new numbers each time until the grid is complete.

I must confess, I was going to write a whole article on the basic rules of Sudoku - but the video below explains them far better than I could do it in words, so please watch and listen carefully!

I hope you've gathered by now that Sudoku takes patience!

Because there are so many things to check when solving a Sudoku - rows, columns, boxes, squares - it can be hard to remember it all at first, and therefore hard to get started.

By far the best way to learn is to work through a series of graded puzzles.

That's how I learned - after struggling unsuccessfully on my own, I bought Carol Vorderman's Master Sudoku book to amuse myself on a holiday, and found myself breezing through it! The easy puzzles are designed so you only have to remember one or two rules, then once you've got used to those, you add another technique,and another.

Be warned - all Sudoku puzzles are not graded equal! The "challenging" puzzles in my Sunday newspaper are well within my ability, but the "medium" puzzles in our free city newsheet often defeat me. The same goes for books about Sudoku - most seem to be written by Sudoku fiends who've forgotten what "easy" means!

And a final warning - I was never much interested in puzzles until I learned how to solve Sudoku. Now I'm unstoppable - as well as Sudoku, I do the Kenken and Target puzzles, and I'm even learning how to do cryptic crosswords!