Letter to the Editor: Still puzzled

Elaine Laux – Senior, Political Science and Criminal Justice

Jess Kerr – Senior, Entrepreneurship and Marketing

We appreciate a good joke. You may even say we love good jokes. But the joke that is Flyer News’ Sudoku puzzles is neither funny nor cute. We speak on behalf of all Sudoku-loving Flyers when we say THE INSANITY MUST STOP.

It all started a few weeks back when we picked up fresh copies of Flyer News and flipped straight to the Sudoku puzzle to do our biweekly race. Although the puzzle was ranked “brutal,” that did not deter us; we are seasoned Sudoku veterans and have solved the most intellectually challenging puzzles known to man. We thought this Flyer News puzzle would be no different; however, we were sorely mistaken. After hours of agony, we had both failed to make any headway on the “brutal” puzzle. We dubbed it unsolvable and tried to move on with our lives.

Fast forward to the first Flyer News issue post-winter break, just as we were regaining some sort of normalcy in our lives, the Jan. 27 issue was published. We looked at the “medium” ranked puzzle and figured it would be a piece of cake. WRONG. It was a piece of rotten garbage. After staring at this puzzle for over 45 minutes and only getting two numbers, our worst fears had returned. We had come across another unsolvable puzzle.

The way these puzzles are ranked is not correct. It wreaks havoc on Sudoku-lovers’ lives and causes anxiety across campus. One minute you think that you will master this Sudoku puzzle during your 30-minute lunch break at work, and then next thing you know, you are at the end of your three-hour night class with only four numbers placed, wondering if you are just going crazy or if you really have lost your world-renowned Sudoku abilities.

While we try to recover from yet another devastating Sudoku attempt, we urge the Flyer News team to re-evaluate the way they rank puzzles. One more unsolvable puzzle, and I fear the worst for the sanity of our fellow students.

Editor’s note: The difficulty of this issue’s sudoku puzzle on pg. 3 has been adapted for the writers’ needs.