Timing TBLR Sudoku, 1/15/2010 – 1/28/2010

It seems to be working out to write one of these posts every two weeks, instead of once a week as originally planned.

For those who are just tuning in, this is one of a series of posts where I show how long it takes for me to do a Sudoku puzzle with the additional restriction of having to fill in the numbers in top-to-bottom, left-to-right order. Hence the name TBLR Sudoku.

My strategy has given higher priority to looking for six numbers in every row, column and 3 x 3 box before I start my regular scan. Furthermore, whenever I get six numbers in a row, column, or 3 x 3 box, I interrupt my scan and see if I can finish that row, column or box. If I can’t, then it’s a sign I need to do more scanning.

Here are the times from the last two weeks:

1/28/10 – 4-Star Sudoku in the Star-Tribune, done filling in the numbers top-to-bottom, left-to-right, in 33:47, a new personal best for a 4-Star, an improvement of almost 5 minutes on the previous personal best.
1/27/10 – 3-Star, 41:25
1/26/10 – 2-Star, 27:19
1/25/10 – 1-Star, I was interrupted by some friends, and I didn’t want to say “Can’t you see I’m doing a puzzle?!?” No time recorded for this day.
1/24/10 – Didn’t do the puzzle
1/23/10 – 6-Star, 53:38, a new personal best for a 6-Star, an improvement of over 8 minutes on the previous personal best
1/22/10 – 5-Star, 40:08
1/21/10 – 4-Star, 1:00:44
1/20/10 – 3-Star, 31:46, a new personal best for a 3-Star, an improvement of almost 10 minutes on the previous personal best
1/19/10 – 2-Star, 26:34
1/18/10 – 1-Star, 26:48
1/17/10 – Didn’t do the puzzle
1/16/10 – Didn’t do the puzzle
1/15/10 – 5-Star, Fail after 90 minutes

The personal bests are as follows:

1-Star: 18:13, 11/23/09
2-Star: 20:24, 1/12/10
3-Star: 31:46, 1/20/10
4-Star: 33:37, 1/28/10
5-Star: 39:58, 12/11/09
6-Star: 53:38, 1/23/10

The interesting thing about doing these puzzles this way is learning how to not suffer when I don’t have enough information to fill in a square, to realize I need to just keep looking.

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