finish this (bleepin) sudoku... EDIT: finished by Mr. Sluggo, SJ's sudoku king

I'm not normally a big sudoku fan. But for whatever reason, I've been working them fairly regularly here recently out of this book I got a long time ago as a stocking stuffer.

Anyway, I'm convinced this particular Sudoku cannot be solved without simply guessing. You pick one of the squares where only two numbers could be (for example, the fifth row needs a 7 and 9), plug one of them in and work from there until you either finish or get stuck. And if you get stuck, you go back and plug in the other choice.

I got so frustrated with the seeming lack of logic at this point behind this one that I got online and entered it into some programs that solve sudokus, but I couldn't find one that offered a good explanation of how it got to the answer it got, so for all I know those programs could just guess, too.

So I leave it to SJ to solve it, and give me a logical reason as to how it was done. I'm sure somebody here is a sudoku master. Let's see the masters at work...

020 007 009
080 003 004
160 084 000
602 008 735
008 532 641
005 700 090
806 000 907
200 000 406
000 070 020

 

Re: finish this (bleepin) sudoku

well, looking at the line 008 532 641, the second column has to be a seven, because there's a seven in every other row where it could go. So that means the first one is a nine. So that makes the puzzle look like this:

020 007 009
080 003 004
160 084 000
602 008 735
978 532 641
005 700 090
806 000 907
000 070 020

 

Re: finish this (bleepin) sudoku

But who's to say it's not 798 532 641 instead of 978 532 641? There are no 7s in the first three columns to make that judgment. (And actually, looking at the answer in the back of the book, it is 798 532 641)

 

Re: finish this (bleepin) sudoku

Yikes. What the hell was I thinking? Guess it's been too long since I tackled a sudoku. Sorry about that.

 

Re: finish this (bleepin) sudoku

Rusty, you only have 8 horizontal rows. Don't you need 9?

 

Re: finish this (bleepin) sudoku

Oops, good call.

020 007 009
080 003 004
160 084 000
602 008 735
008 532 641
005 700 090
806 000 907
200 000 406
000 070 020

 

Re: finish this (bleepin) sudoku

You do not choose the Matrix. Thee Matrix chooses you.

 

Re: finish this (bleepin) sudoku

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.

And I just double-checked to make sure I didn't screw it up while typing, and it's perfectly accurate. The answer so far fits with the final answer in the back of my book (I've given up trying to work it myself). I just can't figure out how to go any further.

 

Re: finish this (bleepin) sudoku

Is that the original puzzle? Or is that what you've been able to do with it so far?

 

Re: finish this (bleepin) sudoku

That's what I've done with it so far, although like I said, everything is correct so far. (I've looked at the answer, because I've given up trying to solve it.)