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Feedback and Questions

I've received a lot of interesting comments and questions from Sudoku fans over the last few years and this page is where I try to answer them. I'm also directing Str8ts feedback here. Please feel free to drop me a note on the side of the page. Or you can email me directly at .


Post a Comment or Question here...
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Any Sudoku you want to publish here for easy loading into the solver - 81 characters, use '.' or '0' for unknowns.

public - comment/question will be added to feedback column
private - email comment/question directly to Andrew Stuart, don't display here

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If you are writing to alert me of a problem (thank-you!) please include a url to the page in question.
Can get fixes in quicker if I know immediately where to go.
Many thanks to all the people who have helped improve the solvers and strategies with their feedback!

Friday 31-May-2024

... by: Kate McCullough, Maryland USA

Why the change in the format of the jigsaw printable version of the puzzles? It’s totally unusable as there is no space to write the candidates. Am I missing something?

I really enjoy your puzzles and am grateful for your website , but this change is very disconcerting as I am now having to hand copy the puzzles. Not a big deal in the general scheme of things, but still an annoyance.

Thank you for your help.

Kate

Andrew Stuart writes:
My bad. Was deleting a bunch of old stuff to keep things same. Jigsaw was linking to an old style sheet.
Check now!

Tuesday 28-May-2024

... by: Roger, California

KenKen solver stopped working: all browsers, all OSes. Ver 2.16. Ctrl+F5 no help. Click on "Take a Step" does nothing. Click on "Grader" gives

Problem grading this puzzle.
cl=36, sp=0, as=-nan(ind), w= 0.0

Please advise...thanks

Andrew Stuart writes:
Yep I broke it yesterday. Publish in haste, repent at leisure. Try now, CRTL+F5

Monday 27-May-2024

... by: Glen, MN

Recently you changed the color of the tries from Bold Red to Red. This completely changes the strategy of the game. Please return to normal Bold Red.

Andrew Stuart writes:
Hi Glen. Need more info - not sure what you are referring to. Leave an email so I can respond directly

Saturday 25-May-2024

... by: Stephen Fairchild, United Kingdom

Load Sudoku:

On classic Sudoku hidden singles does not trigger the broken grid error message when two (or presumably more) values are selected for the same cell.

With the supplied broken 17 clue grid both 5 and 9 are highlighted for F9 then the 9 is promoted without regard to the 5.

Andrew Stuart writes:
Okay I’ve put in a trap for this. [CRTL]+[F5]
Situation I’m certain should only occur if the puzzle is broken (multiple solutions)

Thursday 23-May-2024

... by: Martin, Germany

Load Sudoku:

The first board is classified as unsolvable, however, the second board, with more clues, is solvable according to the solver. All strategies are used. Is this intended, because there is not a unique solution or is this a bug?
Here are the boards:
100000000020000000003000000000400000000050000000006000000000700000000080000000009
145000000726000000893000000000412000000753000000896000000000712000000483000000569
Regards
Martin

Andrew Stuart writes:
The solver only works logically if there is a unique solution since there is no logical way to choose one over the other if there are multiple solutions. Solution Count is there to check you have a valid puzzle.

Tuesday 21-May-2024

... by: Mary, Canada

I just tried to restart the Daily Kakuro and the restart button doesn't work.
Love your puzzles!!! - Thanks. Mary

Andrew Stuart writes:
Fixed! Found the problem. Refresh until you see v2.03. Thanks for the report

Sunday 19-May-2024

... by: BdR, Netherlands

A local newspaper has a prize Kenken puzzle every week, and I was unable to solve it by hand. I wanted to check with this solver because I feel like I'm overlooking some method or approach (to be clear, I wasn't going to cheat and send in an automated-solution). However, when I press "step" after 2 steps it gives the error message "Some cages are larger than 6 cells. 7 is not legal for a valid KenKen 6x6 puzzle" even though it should be solvable.
LINK

In the same paper from previous week, this Kenken puzzle is also unsolvable somehow, the auto-solver finds the same top-left digits but I don't know which step to do next LINK
cheers,
Bas

Andrew Stuart writes:
Yes I don't know what to do with cages that > 6 cells. I consider them a different type of puzzles. I might look at the code and see if I can adapt it. Does make the puzzle a lot more difficult

The KenKen solver lags behind the Sudoku solver when it comes to the most difficult puzzles. Still some strategies to be discovered. The problem is too many candidates at the start. Very few Sudoku strategies work with so many

Saturday 18-May-2024

... by: Kaz, Netherlands

i am unable to edit candidates in the color sudoku, pressing enter does nothing, pressing outside of the cell, returns everything as it was before (other cells too)

Andrew Stuart writes:
Not sure what you are experiencing. Do the other solvers work? Colour Sudoku works for me. Maybe uncheck the "auto-clear" tickbox? Write with an email so I can contact you directly.

Friday 17-May-2024

... by: blortch1, Hawaii

I suggest moving APE into the Extreme Strategies section. APE appears to require a computer - unless one has an unlimited amount of time in their life - to detect where it could be used.

Andrew Stuart writes:
Might swap with Grouped X-Cycles but then no APE might appear. Will have to do quite a bit of testing but I understand your assessment

Tuesday 16-Apr-2024

... by: Aubrey de Grey, United States

I'm finding that I can't turn off Death Blossom - puzzles use it even when it's unticked. I've seen this three times now - I don't think it's a refresh issue.

Andrew Stuart writes:
Yes this was a feature rather than a bug. When I look for the previous strategy "Almost Locked Sets" I get a "Death Blossom" result for free. However I can see that is confusing with the checkboxes so I now null the result if DB is checked off
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2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006
Thank-you everyone for all your questions and contributions.