When you become addicted to Sudoku, it can be extremely time-consuming. In the summer students sometimes spend 12 hours a day at it. They play online. They time themselves against previous players. They join a discussion group so they can talk about Sudoku Puzzles when they aren’t busy playing them.

And then they may encounter that certain Sudoku at that next to impossible skill level that just seems impossible to conquer. It has been days. It consumes your time. It becomes personal in that Sudoku is the Dragon and you are theDragonslayer.

No matter how sharp your sword may be - Sudoku will not fall.

About 2AM you wake up to find yourself sitting in front of the computer screen with a tiny bit of drool running down your lower lip. Yes! You were exhausted to the point of collapse. You raise your eyes to find Sudoku still sitting on your screen - unsolved.

Fortification needed. You make a sandwich and soda run to the kitchen. When you return - you dig in your heels and continue your virtual attack. It is times like this that you surrender to the realization that there is only one method that will work for this particular Sudoku - it is -

THE BACKTRACKING AND THE LABYRINTH TECHNIQUE

The good news is - it will work. The bad news is - you can never determine after how many days or weeks it will work. You guessed it, what you have to do is work through any and all possible alternatives. This is no small task. A pen and paper is usually advisable. Just as George W. blunders his way through billions and billions of dollars - you must work your way through billions and billions of possibilities.

One other thing - if you are over the age of 30 - it may be too late in life to begin with any assurance that you will have enough time to finish…