Playing sudoku daily, how to get better?

Mental Calculation, Mathematics, and Puzzles
1

So I’ve been doing Sudoku in the morning for a number of years now. I really don’t know how to play, other then I want something to exercise my mind with.

I’m using this website:

I’m doing the easy/medium games and at first it took me awhile to solve, now I can solve within 5 to 7 minutes, however I feel like I still don’t know the rules fully or solid strategies on how to solve correctly so I can move up the difficulty level.

Let me know if anyone has any advise on how to get better.

thanks

2

Practice is key, you will find a lot of strategies by trying them. Some builders also focus on certain stragies more. The New York Times puzzles for example have pointing pairs quite some times, but you can never be fully sure on what you need.

Watching Cracking the Cryptic on Youtube has helped me discover a lot of strategies, though most of them I have rarely used because of how diverse the puzzles are

Also do puzzles that are actually “too hard” for you. Take your time and when you get stuck, use pencil marks to discover a step and look at how you could have discovered that sooner

2 Likes
4

Great info. I’ll already checked out NYT Sudoku and will start to watch Cracking the Cryptic. When I watch videos like these, I really have to focus.

thanks

5

They always include a link to the puzzle, so you can do it yourself. That way you can try to do the puzzle, and watch the video for a bit to see the next step when you get stuck.

6

For Sudoku, try focusing on different strategies each day, like scanning rows and columns or using pencil marks for potential numbers. Over time, you’ll start spotting patterns more quickly. Also, mix in some different puzzle types to keep things fresh. The more you play, the better you’ll get!