Sudoku addict

I have a problem. I've developed a sudoku addiction.

I guess it all started a few weeks ago. I listen to BBC radio over the internet, inparticular topical comedy shows like "It's Been a Bad Week" and "The Now Show". Around election time they made jokes about a new craze in Britain's newspapers; Sudoku. It's a kind of number puzzle that apparently came from Japan. I haven't seen any number puzzles in Japanese newspapers so I discounted the origins as a cheap attempt to give some puzzle credibility and left it at that.

That was until last week when I read pixelsurgeon and saw a link to SudokuSolution, which is a blog that posts the solutions to the Guardian's sudoku puzzles. It had a link to the Guardian's online sudoku puzzles and that was when I should have stopped.

But I didn't. I found a puzzle, copied out the grid and before I knew it I was solving the puzzle. I hadn't read any hint or tips of how to solve a sudoku puzzle, just the basic instructions:

place the numbers from 1 to 9 in each row, in each column and each 3x3 box.

After twenty minutes, I had finished Number 20 (Easy) and went back to lesson planning.

Then the weekend came and I found out Kate had an entire book of sudoku puzzles that she had been given at Christmas. So we set about trying to solve one together. I also had an internet connection at The Keio Plaza so I was able to get more puzzles. This week at work I've had a puzzle just incase I get bored. I even did one before I went to bed last night. The thing is, sudoku totally appeals to me; there's a certain elegance about sudoku, the puzzles each have a solution so they can always be solved, you can stop and start working on a puzzle as needed and it's all symbols instead of words which suits my way of thinking. I can't stop working on a puzzle when I start one and can stop thinking about teh next one when I have completed it. I must be addicted.

And here's me thinking I'm not quite as much of a geek as I thought I was.