Slapped Wrist

I've been told off by catfunt for writing about sudoku so much. I promise I won't do it again.

The Hitchcockian World of Sudoku

Last night I was surrounded. A man standing in the rain on the platform engrossed in 'Mini Pocket Sudoku'. It's not right. The train arrived. The only seat left was a middle slot between two people as it happened doing bloody Sudoku - one of which was doing 'Devilish' level - looked really complicated and above all - boring. To make matters worse - and this is where I suddenly had 'The Birds' moment - a huge fat lady huffed and puffed her way on to the train at the next stop and sat opposite me. She reached into her bag and pulled out a print out of The Times daily Sudoku challenge. She finished it in a thrice and then, her appetite for the fiendish numbers not sated she pulled out a whole book of the stuff. She looked really smug as she turned to page 64 and began 'Killer Sudoku Advanced'. I tried to take a photo of her on my phone but the battery was low. Very frustrating.

I was surrounded. I turned up my ipod to full volume which uncannily was playing 'Scary Monsters' by Bowie - quite befitting in the circumstances. I tried to ignore the feverish scribblers scratching here and there over their little pages of numbers. Maybe they should ban Sudoku as well as smoking on London Transport. Goodness, what would they all do with themselves?

Sod-u-ku!

Love it or loathe it - Sudoku has taken the world by storm. Everyone that hates Sudoku and the loathsome people who feel the need to scribble their way through Champion Hardcore Sudoku for Experts Volume Three on the train in the mornings should read this.
It's bloody funny and it really made me laugh. And anyway, does the word Su-doku actually mean anything? Yes - surprisingly it means 'single number' or 'number place'.

Even more annoyingly, the literary powers that be at Oxford have recently announced the word 'sudoku' to be the 'Word of the Year'. It has got it's own special Very Annoying Award. I initially thought Sudoku looked quite interesting but after approx 18 secs of staring at it - I just couldn't be bothered. On second thoughts - I have never been a fan of logical puzzles. I just don't see the point. We used to have logic tests at school and I'd fail miserably as most of my answers were either ludicrous guesses or 'who cares?'. Well exactly - who cares and why does it matter that if Sue is taller than Charlie who is Peter's best friend - how many apples can they bob before lunchtime? On that note I shall retire for the evening ready to dodge more Sudoku Train Encounters of the Most Boring Kind tomorrow morning.

Sayonara folks.