Will Shortz Presents Devious Sudoku: 200 Very Hard Puzzles,Used

About the AuthorWill Shortz has been the crossword puzzle editor of The New York Times since 1993. He is also the puzzlemaster on NPRs Weekend Edition Sunday and is founder and director of the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. He has edited countless books of crossword puzzles, Sudoku, KenKen, and all manner of brainbusters.Product DescriptionCan you handle it? These sudoku puzzles are mind melting!Includes:200 very hard puzzlesPerfect portable sizeEdited by legendary New York Times crossword editor Will ShortzReviewA puzzling global phenomenon The EconomistThe biggest craze to hit The Times since the first crossword puzzle was published in 1935. The Times of LondonEngland's most addictive newspaper puzzle. New York magazineThe latest craze in games BBC NewsSudoku is dangerous stuff. Forget work and familythink papers hurled across the room and industrialsized blobs of correction fluid. I love it! The Times of LondonSudokus are to the first decade of the 21st century what Rubik's Cube was to the 1970s. The Daily TelegraphBritain has a new addiction. Hunched over newspapers on crowded subway trains, sneaking secret peeks in the office, a puzzlecrazy nation is trying to slot numbers into small checkerboard grids. Associated PressForget crosswords. The Christian Science MonitorFrom the Inside FlapSudoku: One of life's simple pleasuresSudoku has taken America by storm! Puzzled by the wordless crossword puzzle? Try one or two of these simple, easytosolve sudoku and you'll discover what millions of fans already know: There's nothing as fun as sudoku!Features: 100 allnew simple sudoku Edited by legendary New York Times crossword editor and America's puzzlemaster Will Shortz Big grids with lots of space for easy solvingFrom the Back CoverSudoku: One of life's simple pleasuresSudoku has taken America by storm! Puzzled by the wordless crossword puzzle? Try one or two of these simple, easytosolve sudoku and you'll discover what millions of fans already know: There's nothing as fun as sudoku!Features: 100 allnew simple sudoku Edited by legendary New York Times crossword editor and 'America's puzzlemaster' Will Shortz Big grids with lots of space for easy solvingExcerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Will Shortz Presents Devious Sudoku200 Very Hard PuzzlesBy Will Shortz St. Martin's GriffinCopyright 2012 Will ShortzAll right reserved.ISBN: 9781250003980IntroductionThroughout the history of puzzles and games, many of the biggest successes have come as complete surprises, because they've broken all the 'rules.'Parker Bros. famously turned down the rights to the game Monopoly in 1934, because it had '52 design errors.' It was too complicated, they said, it had too many pieces, and it took too long to play. So the inventor, Charles B. Darrow, produced and sold 5,000 handmade copies of Monopoly, they quickly sold out, andonce Parker Bros. finally bought the rightsit became the biggest game hit of 1935.Similarly, the 'experts' initially poohpoohed Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, crossword puzzles, and many other game and puzzle successes over the years.Hardly anyone thought sudoku would be popular when it was introduced in Britain in late 2004 and the U.S. in 2005. The public was not interested in number puzzles, according to conventional wisdom. Yet we all know what happened. In less than a year, sudoku has become one of the most popular puzzles in history. Virtually every newspaper has made room for a daily sudoku, sudoku books have been bestsellers for six straight months, and sudoku tournaments have been held across the country and around the world. The Language Report named 'sudoku' the Word of the Year for 2005.The craze goes on and, to everyone's surprise, shows little sign of abating.What's So Great About Sudoku?The appeal of sudoku comes partly from the simplicity of the rules, which can be state