Question on candidates and technique

bjdbrad

First my question. Is there a way to manually enter candidates instead of having the computer automatically enter them.

The problem solving section of the website says how much of an advantage it is to have the computer enter them but doesn't that take allot away from the game?

I have to be missing something in this game because it just seems to easy when I let the computer enter the candidates. I don't think the answer is going to more difficult puzzles, I think I am missing something some aspect of the game. For any of you kind kind people out there who will read me struggling through this question thank you very much, I hope my terminology(or lack thereof) allows you to follow my question.

Here goes,

The first thing I do is scan vertically the cells with matching numbers in two of the three cells and hope to be able to place a number in the third cell in this manner. Then I go with the same process only horizontally.

Next I check each column and row for the numbers 1-9 and hopefully pick up a few more numbers.

Next I check for the numbers 1-9 within each individual cell.

After this process I start over from the beginning and hope the new numbers added will give me more numbers.

After that method is exhausted I have the computer pick out the candidates for the remaining blanks.

The problem is that when I have the computer pick out the candidates I just go through and fill in the blanks that have only one number in them and fill them in until its full.

No more logic just fill in the blanks.

Am I simply playing to easy games? I find that hard to believe because I am very new at this game having played only about four or five games so far. Or is picking out the candidates manually a part of the game itself leading to my question about manually putting in the candidates.

In the solving area of the website it says to let the computer fill in the candidates so you can just have fun using logic to solve the puzzle but I have no logic left its just fill in the blanks with only one number available to choose like I said.

I hope you have been able to follow my question, I don't get to use any of the techniques I learned about, singles, hidden singles, locked candidates etc etc.

I hope the answer isn't just that I need to play harder games or I will feel pretty stupid.......AGAIN...........lol.........but I want to make sure I am not missing something important in the basic gameplay itself.

Well I think I managed to keep my question less than a book.....maybe a short story huh....??

Thanks in advance to anyone who muddled their way through my question and has a comment......as long as the comment is PG or better.

Brad

Found a good signature for my befuddled question.....

"When You Earnestly Believe You Can Compensate For A Lack Of Skill By Doubling Your Efforts, There's No End To What You Can't Do."

Carcul · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:55 am Post subject:

Hi Bjdbrad, welcome to this forum.

bjdbrad · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:10 am Post subject:

Ok I will give it a try thanks alot.

I think maybe you didnt understand my initial question, when you are playing on the computer can you enter the candidates manually? I agree thats a big part of the game, another place to make a mistake, knowing the computer is perfect takes away alot of the fun. Maybe on the hard ones I would feel differently.

I will get back to you on this thread when I try your puzzle.

Brad

Carcul · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:47 pm Post subject:

daj95376 · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:58 pm Post subject:

bjdbrad,

In response to your question on entering candidates manually, I know that Simple Sudoku doesn't directly allow this to happen. However, there is a work around.

Place the givens/clues in their cells and let SS perform its normal operation of assigning candidates to the remaining cells. Now, assuming that the clues define a valid Sudoku puzzle with one solution, SS will let you start solving the puzzle -- including manually remove candidates from cells.

This should accomplish your intended goal. Good luck.

bjdbrad · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:37 pm Post subject:

Ruud · Site Admin

In SudoCue, you can choose to have all markers (candidates) on or off at the start of each game. Maybe that's the type of option you want.

Ruud.

daj95376 · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:10 pm Post subject:

bjdbrad · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:18 pm Post subject:

I suddenly suspect that terminology is where you and I misconnected.

The word candidates is used to refer to the possible values left in the empty cells of a puzzle. Givens/clues are used to refer to the initial values supplied with a puzzle.

It appears to me that you are asking about how to assign initial values to an empty puzzle. If so, then that's trivial and you just need to read the Help package of whichever program you're using.[/quote]

I don't doubt I am using the wrong terminology here is the best I can explain it. When I start a new game, under options I pick "show candidates" and it fills in all the possible numbers that can go into a blank space. I want to know if I can do that myself manually instead of having the computer do it for me.

Brad

daj95376 · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:06 am Post subject:

bjdbrad · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:27 am Post subject:

Brad[/quote]

Yes! Here's the steps.

[/quote]

Lol.......ok thats what I will do, I was hoping I could play the puzzles online and somehow enter the candidates one at a time instead of having the computer enter them all at once but I guess I will have to print them off to do them that way. Thank you very much for helping me.

Brad

Carcul · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:12 am Post subject:

bjdbrad · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 10:47 am Post subject:

Thank you so much

lacboyle · Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:41 pm Post subject:

I just registered and would like to corroborate with the opinion of bjdbrad.
I think that Simple Sudoku is a great program. I play it often but I think that it would be much more interesting if we could enter candidates manually without the assistance of the computer. This is something possible with the following software http://www.les-mordus.com/index-logiciels.html . This is also a great software but it is not free.

Melissa · Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 3:13 pm Post subject:

YAY it's solved.