Thanks to all of you who have added your comments.
A puzzle that Bronwyn and I like doing is called
SUGURU (the Japanese seem to have had a hand in making these sort of puzzles). We first came across one in a newspaper and really enjoyed doing it. This game should not be confused with Sudoku, which has numbers 1 to 9.
Here is a SUGURU puzzle.
Suguru puzzles are quite different from Sudoku, so read these rules carefully. You'll see that the grid is subdivided into containers or cages (marked by the heavy lines), each of which is 1 to 5 cells in size. You need to fill each container with different digits, counting up from 1.
A single square has one digit, so it has a
1 in it.
A 2-square container contains the numbers
1 and
2.
A 3-square container contains the numbers
1,
2 and
3.
A 4-square container contains the numbers
1,
2,
3 and
4.
A 5-square container contains the numbers
1,
2,
3,
4 and
5.
The Rules are:
Adjacent (touching) cells may never contain the same number, and this includes diagonally adjacent cells.
That's it!
So, looking at the single square, bottom right, .. that must have a
1 in it.
Looking at the
2, the three squares around it (above and to the left) can't be a 2. So the
2 in that container must be under the
1.
Next, the L shape, top left, must contain the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 (but we don't know where 2, 3 and 4 are). But the cell which is diagonal to the one is abutted by all these numbered cells. So the cell diagonally to the
1 must be a
5.
So at this stage we have got this:
Next, look at the
3. The two cells directly above that can't be a 3. So one of the other two vertical cells in that container must be the 3 .. but we don't know which. So the cell next to those two (the one to the right of the 5 we had put in) can't be the 3. So the
3 must be in the cell below the 5. Then the last remaining number for that container, the
4, must be in the cell next to the 5.
In the top left 'L' container the
4 cannot be above the 4 we have just put in (don't forget that it can't be diagonally to it either), so it must be under the
1.
We now have this:
Next. Look at the right top 'L' container that has the 5 and the 4 in it. The
1 can't be below the 4 because it would be next to the
1 in the corner. so it must be one of the two cells above the 4 .. but we don't know which. So the cell next to those two (the one under the 5) cannot be the 1 as it abuts both those squares. But looking at the other numbers round that cell, it can't be 2, 4 or 5 either. So that cell must be the
3. Then in turn, that sorts out the remaining 2 and 3 in the top row, with the
2 on the right and the
3 on the left. Going back to the 3 we have just put in (under the 5), the
3 can't be either of the cells next to it (to the right of it), so the
3 must be below the 4 (and above the 1 in the bottom right hand corner).
You can also put in another number not connected with what I have explained above. Take a look at the cell diagonally up from the
1 in the bottom right hand corner. This can't be
1; it can't be
2 (it's next to it); it can't be
3 (there is already a 3 in that container); and it can't be
4 (it's next to it). So that must be a
5.
We now have this:
Next, from the
5 we have just put in. The 5 can't be either of the squares adjacent to it so the
5 must be over to the left (above the 3 on the bottom). Then the
4 must be to the right of that as the other cell has 4s adjacent to it. Then in that container, the last remaining number is a
1.
Earlier on we had said that the
1 must be one of those two cells above the 4 in the right hand container, so it must now be in the top right corner. And the
2 must be under it (being the last number left).
I'm sure you can finish it off now and end up with the solution for this Suguru, which is:
I mentioned this puzzle to Den, and he found this website, which contains about 400 books of these puzzles, of varying difficulty. You can download and PRINT them. Check out what you're printing as they give you the solutions as well, which I didn't want. I printed the pages individually so I could turn the paper over and print the back of the sheet as well as the front.
Do a right-click to open this up in a New Tabhttps://krazydad.com/suguru/The puzzle I put up above is from the KrazyDad Home Page.
As these puzzles go, this is actually a fairly difficult one! Hence my difficulty in explaining how to do it (this explanation is my own .. there isn't an explanation on how to do it on the KrazyDad page).
Hugh
PS .. Comment from me .. an ex Maths TeacherWhen children (or grandchildren) have to work at home and can't be at school with their teacher explaining things to them, just bear in mind that something like the above is what they have to cope with . It is much easier to explain something to somebody face to face than to have to put it into words. So if they are doing 'on-line' lessons, just be patient with them. The secret is to do one step at a time, and to assimilate what has been said.