PRINTING DELAYS — BIG, Super Sudoku & MEGA

Flooding is now affecting Maryborough, Victoria, where our printers are located,  so unfortunately there will be a delay with the dispatch of Subscriber and Newsagent copies of BIG, Super Sudoku & Mega.

We apologise for any inconvenience, however we are very much at the mercy of Mother Nature as is a large percentage of the country.

YouPlay Weekly Cash Prize Draw!

Congratulations to johnmack, who collects $100 in this week’s cash prize draw.

The more you play – the more you can WIN!

Premium Members have the chance to WIN CASH just by playing YouPlay puzzles and games. Even better, every token earned on the site increases the dollar value of the prize! Visit YouPlay.com for your chance to win!

CALkuro Video Tutorial

CALculating mind will appreciate this exciting new challenge from Lovatts. CALkuro (inspired by the Japanese KenKen®), is two parts Sudoku to one part Kakuro. Add half a part of Addoku and a splash of Shapeshifter…

To get started, watch this brief tutorial by Christine Lovatt then head over to YouPlay.com to be among the first to sample and solve the real deal.

»Click here to play CALkuro on YouPlay

Kakuro Video Tutorial

Unique Blocks

Last modified on 2012-12-10 01:23:25 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

UNIQUE BLOCKS are essential tools for solving Kakuro and Killer Sudoku/Addoku puzzles. For example a total of 4 in 2 squares is a UNIQUE BLOCK. It can’t be 2 + 2 because each line of numbers can contain only one of each numeral. So the two squares can have only 1 or 3, though you don’t know in what order the 1 and 3 go until you look at the other sums around them.

This table gives you all the Unique blocks between 2 and 8 cells in length.

TOTAL	SQUARES	POSSIBLE NUMBERS	CAN’T HAVE
3	2	1,2	3,4,5,6,7,8,9
4	2	1,3	2,4,5,6,7,8,9
16	2	7,9	1,2,3,4,5,6,8
17	2	8,9	1,2,3,4,5,6,7
6	3	1,2,3	4,5,6,7,8,9
7	3	1,2,4	3,5,6,7,8,9
23	3	6,8,9	1,2,3,4,5,7
24	3	7,8,9	1,2,3,4,5,6
10	4	1,2,3,4	5,6,7,8,9
11	4	1,2,3,5	4,6,7,8,9
29	4	5,7,8,9	1,2,3,4,6
30	4	6,7,8,9	1,2,3,4,5
15	5	1,2,3,4,5	6,7,8,9
16	5	1,2,3,4,6	5,7,8,9
34	5	4,6,7,8,9	1,2,3,5
35	5	5,6,7,8,9	1,2,3,4
21	6	1,2,3,4,5,6	7,8,9
22	6	1,2,3,4,5,7	6,8,9
38	6	3,5,6,7,8,9	1,2,4
39	6	4,5,6,7,8,9	1,2,3
28	7	1,2,3,4,5,6,7	8,9
29	7	1,2,3,4,5,6,8	7,9
41	7	2,4,5,6,7,8,9	1,3
42	7	3,4,5,6,7,8,9	1,2
36	8	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8	9
37	8	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9	8
38	8	1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9	7
39	8	1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9	6
40	8	1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9	5
41	8	1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9	4
42	8	1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9	3
43	8	1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9	2
44	8	2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9	1

Download a printable PDF version

Hell-bent

Hell-bent for leather?

Have you ever heard someone say that they are hell-bent on doing something? Did you understand they meant they were very determined, but didn’t really know what the phrase literally means?

This saying has been has been popular since the early 19th century and describes someone who is prepared to go “to the gates of hell” to achieve their purpose.

Going hell for leather, comes from the idea of riding very hard, the leather referring to either the horse’s saddle or the rider’s crop.

The first recorded use of  hell for leather was in a story written in 1889 by Rudyard Kipling, who probably either invented the phrase or picked it up from British Army troops in India.

The phrase is thought to refer to the wear and tear inflicted on the saddle by strenuous riding, or to the reckless nature of a ride and the overuse of the crop.

Kangaroo court

A kangaroo court is not a legal proceeding in the Australian outback, nor does it involve hopping marsupials.

It refers to a criminal proceeding that is conducted for show, where the defendant is undoubtedly going to be found guilty.

The earliest use of the term was recorded not in Australia as you might expect, but in Mississippi, around 1850. The term ‘mustang court’ is also found from that time, so it seems likely to have something to do with the wildness of the animals concerned.

The term kangaroo court was unknown in Australia until it was introduced there from America.

It is sometimes assumed that the phrase describes how the defendant will be bounced from the court to the gallows.

The term may have also have arisen from the way a kangaroo court defies the law, just as the kangaroo’s appearance and the way it bounds along seem to defy the laws of nature.

Grog

Old Grogram was the nickname of British Admiral Edward Vernon.

He acquired this name because of the grogram coat he always wore.

In 1740 Admiral Vernon started serving a mix of rum and water to sailors in the Royal Navy instead of the neat rum handed out previously.

This became known as grog.

This grog ration was discontinued in 1970.

The derivative groggy originally meant drunk but has come to mean dizzy or unsteady as well.

Hat trick

Have you ever achieved the same thing three times only to be told you have completed a hat trick, when what you were doing had nothing to do with hats?

A hat trick comes from the game of cricket and dates back to the late 1800s.

Hat trick described the feat of a bowler to take three wickets off three successive balls.

This was considered to entitle the bowler to be presented by his club with a new hat or some equivalent gift for this outstanding effort.

While a bowler may not now receive a hat, the achievement is still usually honoured by some trophy.

By 1909, hat trick was being applied to similar achievements in other sports, and today it’s not uncommon to hear the phrase in a non-sport context, a singer who wins three awards, a movie star with three hit movies or a car salesman selling his third car for the day.

Marco Polo

Most people have heard of the explorer Marco Polo but do you know much about him?

This Italian traveller journeyed to the Far East with his merchant father Nicolo and uncle Maffeo in 1271, when he was 17 years old.

They crossed Persia to the Chinese border, went on through the Hindu Kush and the Pamir mountains and across the Gobi desert by camel caravan to the court of Kublai Khan.

This journey took three and a half years, but Marco Polo joined the service of Kublai Khan and remained there for the next 17 years. His father and uncle also stayed on as military advisers.

During his years working as a diplomat for Kublai Khan, Marco travelled extensively throughout Mongolia, China, Tibet, Burma, Siberia and as far south as Indonesia.

Eventually in 1292 the Polos left China as they were unsure of their security in a changing empire under an aging Kublai Khan.

They arrived home in 1295, very rich men, from trading the jewels they had smuggled out of China with them.

Marco Polo went on to serve as a captain in the Venetian fleet and was taken prisoner by the Genoese in 1298. During the next year he dictated the story of his travels to fellow prisoner Rusticello of Pisa.

The Travels of Marco Polo are perhaps the world’s greatest travel tales. The travels he detailed provided a great source of information about the places and people of China and the Far East for other explorers. He is said to have inspired Christopher Columbus to set sail in 1492.

Marco Polo married and had three daughters. He lived in Venice until he died at the age of 70.

Nero - Roman Emperor

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus lived from AD 37-68. He was the fifth emperor of Rome and the last of the Julio-Claudian line.

Nero became emperor at the age of 17 and initially very popular, he eased his way in, gaining a reputation for moderation in his dealings. However this all changed and in 59 AD he had his mother put to death. In 62 AD he divorced (and later executed) his wife, Octavia and married his mistress. He became more and more known for his cruelty, executing many noted Romans who he saw as a threat to his power.

Known as a lover of singing, acting, chariot-racing and debauchery he was most famously reputed to have played the fiddle while Rome burned in the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. The fire, which he is accused of having arranged (if not personally lit), destroyed half of the city.

While there were not any fiddles as we know them at that time he could well have been playing a lyre, an ancient stringed instrument often played with a bow.

In 68 AD the Praetorian Guards and several legions rose against Nero. He fled Rome and committed suicide on June 9 of that year.