That sudoku is considered the pursuit of the sensible rather than the hobby of crazed thrillseekers is surely a bit of a given? You would never come across a game called Sensible Sword Swallowing or Sensible Scuba Diving with Sharks.
Which is why this title's name seems like it states the obvious somewhat, being that it is basically a mobile version of the number-crunching puzzle craze. You can't even get lead poisoning from chewing the end of your pencil.
Yes, Sensible Sudoku 2 from Ludimate is another typically sober mobile version of the massively popular number-based brain teaser. Though there is this time the option to brighten up the proceedings with a selection of 14 colourful board skins.
The package features millions of sudoku puzzles and five difficulty settings, which should keep even the most prolific grid wizard in knots of fingers and thumbs for an age.
Sensible Sudoku 2 is out now for Symbian S60 and Windows Smartphone handsets.
Sensible Sudoku 2 arrives on sensible Symbian platform
They now have regular competitions to win Sudoku books produced for The Times. All members are welcome to submit their solution to our challenging Samurai Sudoku for a chance to win. Since the start of this year, we are now the sole provider of Sudoku, Samurai Sudoku, Godoku and Killer Sudoku for The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. Soon, we will have an interactive Killer Sudoku solver (as promised in our books) and a significant presence on the Times Online website with daily interactive Sudoku and competitions.
Samurai Sudoku first batch of Sudoku books for The Times have arrived this month. The first ever Samurai Sudoku book from the Times covers some of the difficulties that you will not find in the newspaper, including a final mind-boggler at number 100 (try completing it within 6 hours!). In Sudoku 6, you will find some super hard Sudoku, with the entire book gradually increasing in difficulty. Our first Killer Sudoku book offers a comprehensive introduction and solving time targets throughout. These books are an improvement from previous books, so have a look!
Sudoku contest for students
CHENNAI: The World of Titan, Purasawalkam, calls Sudoku enthusiasts to participate in a fierce competition.
It is open to schoolchildren from standards IX to XII. Schools can send a maximum of two teams comprising four members each. Participants will be required to solve a combination of four different Sudoku puzzles in the given time limit. To register, call 42042332.
Why Sudoku makes your brain ache
No wonder Sudoku puzzles give your brain a good work-out. Scientists say solving them depends on neural pathways that even the most powerful computers can't replicate.
They say that by studying how people solve the puzzles, we might be able to develop more intelligent and brain-like computers.
In a paper published on the arXiv physics website, Professor John Hopfield of Princeton University explores the unique brain processes we use when playing Sudoku.
This mathematical puzzle involves filling in a grid of 81 squares with varying combinations of the numbers one to nine, something that sounds simple but can be diabolically hard.
To crack Sudoku our brains use a unique set of neural pathways known as associative memory, Hopfield says, which enables us to discover a pattern from a partial clue.
Although computers can store large amounts of information and process it at great speed, they aren't yet capable of sophisticated associative memory.
Hopfield provides an algorithm of associative memory in his paper, which he says could be implemented in silicon chips.
Patterns
We all recognise the basic pattern of counting from one to nine, yet the task of completing a Sudoku puzzle is confounded because of the large number of possible permutations of this pattern.
But every time we put the right number in the right place it provides us with a clue, which reduces the number of permutations.
In this way Sudoku is based on a combination of logic and intelligent guesswork based on our abilities of associative memory, Hopfield says.
"In neural terms, the signals developed ... can produce a strong and reasonably accurate feeling of correctness of the item retrieved," Hopfield says.
"This fact may account for our strong psychological feeling of 'right' or 'wrong' when we retrieve a memory from a minimal clue."
Brains versus computers
Associate Professor Andrew Paplinski is an Australian computer scientist who specialises in neural networks at Monash University in Melbourne.
He says the process described in Hopfield's paper helps us to remember a name from a fragment or recognise a partially obscured face.
He says applying Hopfield's model could lead to more accurate facial recognition computer technology.
Being able to mimic associative memory would give computers "extreme robustness of pattern recognition", Paplinski says.
For example, for a computer to recognise a partially visible face it would first have to recognise that the face is obscured, then that it is a face, and then it would have to find a match.
"To answer all these questions takes an enormous amount of computation," he says.
He says we can do this in a fraction of a second in a slow computer like our brain. So there were would be significant implications if we can figure out how this is done and design computers that can replicate it.
