Watching the Detectives

The detective surveys the room, takes in the assembled group of expectant, fearful faces. This is the critical point in the proceedings. There is a respectful hush. You wait for him to speak, to reveal all, in his usual circumlocutory way. The detective chooses this moment to fill his pipe. Perhaps he doesn't even smoke, but the moment demands it, so you are not surprised.

This is the pleasure of the dramatic pause, familiar territory for sudoku solvers. The moment can be short or long, depending on the difficulty of the puzzle, but each time the same hopes, fears and doubts flash across your mind. What next? Hmm, can't see anything obvious. Maybe it's something a little more technical. But what? Where do I begin to start? What's my strategy? When should I begin to clutch at straws? Have I gone wrong already? Maybe there is something wrong with the puzzle? Does it have more than one solution? (The answer to these last two points, by the way, is no – certainly if you're referring to the sudoku puzzles in Sudoku magazine. We feature hand-made and hand-checked quality puzzles from Nikoli, the Japanese inventors of sudoku. The puzzles are all perfect.)

How to arrive at the next step is up to you. If you haven't a pipe to fill, you might prefer to leave the room altogether and return later with a fresh mind. Alternatively, you can stubbornly check and re-check each row, column and 3x3 block, until either the puzzle, or you, cracks. You can admit defeat and drop us a line asking for help. You can even (dare I say it), guess! At puzzle championships, when time is of the essence, I've seen people make a strategic guess, based on which option will offer the largest number of following moves. It's often a 50-50 gamble that should probably be left to novices and professionals.

All the puzzles in Sudoku magazine can be solved by logic alone – and however you choose to overcome the inevitable, dramatic pauses, I hope you have fun.

PS If you have mastered the dramatic pause, or are a great guesser, you might be just the person we're looking for. Try out for the UK World Sudoku Championship team – visit www.puzzler.com/WSC/ by 21 February 2010.