Sudoku: from a novice to a master!

Well, just a feel good thing, like NTV7’s ‘feel good’ slogan which they translate as ‘kum kok mei hou’.

Incidentally, this phone shop supervisor avoids her name ‘Mei Hou’ thinking it is ‘uncool’ for her generation. Well, it is difficult for parents to choose name and expect it to be cool in 20 years time! I think, her name translates to ‘good in the end (as in life)’ which must be really good to the parents.

Since I had my difficulty with Sudoku, I have been doing The Star’s (from Daily Telegraph, UK) every day and each time could not finish it.

Though I did not think it was nice earlier, I actually ask the young lady to photocopy two of the day’s Sudoku, one for her husband and another for another girl’s boy friend. I said, ‘I just want to know the standard of Sudoku because I have difficulty completing even one.’ At least, let me know what they think of The Star’s being a regular player. It so happened, she had with her, a copy of Sin Chew papers which has its Sudoku puzzle done by her husband. I copied on to my newspapers, where there was some space, even in between words, so that I can try it out at home.

Well, it was a good start that I managed to complete it! This proved to me that the standard of Sudoku in Sin Chew is lower than The Star. Anyway, with a bit of effort, a few trial and error attempts, I managed to complete my first of The Star’s.

I was actually disappointed that the young lady did not do as promised, even though I had reminded her on the day she forgot about it. It is either she is just not one to keep in mind such frivolous exercise, or she could be evasive because of the fact that her husband could not complete The Star’s! Same with the girl who is supposed to bring a completed copy from her boyfriend.

As it happened, a visitor of my blog, Anuradha (presumably from India) gave me a link to play Sudoku online. With my new found confidence, I tried it and found it much easier than The Star’s. I completed one, then six in a row and saw my name up on the list of solvers. Since, I had the time, I thought why not make it to the top, which at that time was occupied by Tong with 14 completed. I was expecting it to be tough progressively but I managed to exceed Tong’s 14 and for the time being, I am master of Sudoku in this particular site! www.bobsindia.com/bobyweb/sudoku;

I think it is good to try out tougher puzzles (provided one has the inclination to treat as a challenge) so that the practice would improve one's ability more than just doing the easier ones. This reminds me of Cheng's insistence on taking the Japanese language exam Stage 2, skipping 4 and 3, much to the horror of her teacher. But her host Nittasan's wife helped her to go through workbooks in the belief that it would improve her Japanese faster even if she did not pass. But she did!
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