Timing TBLR Sudoku, 1/1/10 – 1/14/10

I’m noticing that as I do more Sudoku puzzles, I’m developing a greater ability to know what three numbers are missing, when given a sequence of six numbers. For example, if I look at 2 8 4 6 9 5, I can quickly see that 1 3 7 is what’s missing. At this point, you are supposed to say “You have a lot of time on your hands, don’t you?”

Here are the times for the last two weeks

1/14/10 – I solved the 4-star Sudoku in the Star-Tribune, top to bottom and left to right (TBLR), but as I started to do the puzzle, I realized I had not put on my watch that morning, and so was unable to time it.
1/13/10 – 3-star, 41 minutes and 6 seconds. New personal best for a 3-star
1/12/10 – 2-star, 20:24. New personal best for a 2-star
1/11/10 – 1-star, 25:15. My best recorded time on a 1-star is 18:13
1/10/10 – Didn’t do the puzzle
1/09/10 – 6-star, 1:04:00. First time ever to solve a 6-star TBLR, a new personal best
1/08/10 – 5-star, TBLR Fail. I then tried doing it the normal way, and Failed again.
1/07/10 – 4-star, 57:36. My best recorded time on a 4-star is 38:31
1/06/10 – 3-star, TBLR Fail. I did the puzzle successfully the regular way.
1/05/10 – 2-star, 27:27 First time to solve a 2-star TBLR, a new personal best
1/04/10 – 1-star, TBLR Fail. I got impatient and made a guess, which turned out to be wrong
1/03/10 – Didn’t do the puzzle
1/02/10 – Didn’t do the puzzle
1/01/10 – 5-star, 47:32. My best recorded time on a 5-star is 39:58

I’d like to think I’m getting better at this, but I’m not really what the point is, besides being more focused in using my imagination.

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