How Long Does Sudoku Take? Understanding Puzzle Time Challenges

Sudoku has been a popular puzzle for decades. Over that time, the logic puzzle has evolved from featuring simply in newspapers and puzzle books into an online game that can be played at any time or anywhere.

The ability to play sudoku online using platforms such as 247 Sudoku brings with it some huge advantages. For new players, it provides them with an interactive way to familiarize themselves with the puzzle with helpful graphics to demonstrate that they're completing the puzzle correctly. For more experienced players, online sudoku puzzles enable them to put their skills to the test in a whole new way as they attempt to complete puzzles faster and improve their ranking against other players from across the globe.

Completing logic puzzles, such as sudoku, is an excellent way to give your brain a workout. If you want to test your cognitive abilities further, you may wish to take on some sudoku puzzle time challenges. But you may already be wondering how long should a sudoku puzzle take to complete and what the average completion times are. Keep reading to find out all of this information and more, including some top tips for time management, techniques to help you solve sudoku puzzles faster, and how to deal with difficult sudoku puzzles.

Average Solving Time

Knowing what the average solving time for a sudoku puzzle is can provide a helpful benchmark for you to speed up your own times.

Generally speaking, the average time taken to solve any sudoku puzzle is usually between 10 and 30 minutes. Of course, some sudoku experts who have spent years perfecting the art of fast puzzle solving will be able to solve even the hardest puzzle in less 10 minutes. However, on average, 10 minutes is the time you can expect it to take to solve an easy to medium level sudoku puzzle. A hard or expert level sudoku puzzle takes an average of 30 minutes.

Factors Affecting Time

The average sudoku completion times give a rough estimate of how long you may expect it to take to complete a puzzle. However, it's essential to keep in mind that the actual average solving times will depend on a few different factors. These factors include:

Your Sudoku Expertise and Experience

The number of sudoku puzzles you've completed in the past, and your level of expertise will have a significant impact on how quickly you can complete a sudoku. Some people find they have a natural aptitude for these types of logic puzzle and can solve them pretty quickly from the get-go. However, for most people, it takes a little while to get familiar with the way that sudoku works and how to solve the puzzles quickly.

With this in mind, it's important to remember that if you're new to sudoku, it can be unhelpful to put pressure on yourself to solve puzzles in the fastest time possible. Instead, it's much more useful to give yourself the time you need to complete a puzzle so that you can figure out the best sudoku solving methods that work for you and increase your familiarity with the grid.

The Sudoku Puzzle's Difficulty Level

Sudoku puzzles can vary hugely in terms of difficulty. Simpler puzzles will already have many of the numbers already in place on the grid. The more numbers that are already filled in for you, the lower the difficulty level of the sudoku.

As a more difficult puzzle has fewer numbers already in place, you will need to spend far more time examining the grid and implementing your sudoku strategies to try and solve it. With so many potential answers, it can take significantly longer to figure out number positioning and solve the sudoku.

The Size of the Sudoku Puzzle

The size of the sudoku puzzle that you are working on will also influence how long it takes to solve. While they may vary in difficulty, 3x3 sudoku grids are generally easier and faster to solve than larger grids, such as the 4x4. This is simply because there are far more variables at play, and an increased amount of numbers to include in the grid.

Beginner vs. Advanced Times

As you can imagine, there is a vast difference between the time taken by a complete beginner to solve a sudoku puzzle compared with an advanced, experienced sudoku expert.

On average, a beginner takes between 15 and 20 minutes to solve an easy puzzle. In contrast, an advanced sudoku enthusiast can solve the puzzle in under 5 minutes.

In 2006, Thomas Snyder of the USA broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to complete an easy sudoku, which he solved in just 2 minutes 8.53 seconds. This record was broken in 2018 when sudoku master, Wang Shiyau when she completed a 9x9 sudoku in just 54.44 seconds.

Techniques for Faster Solving

As you can see, there is a vast difference between the time taken to complete an easy puzzle and a difficult one, and how long the same sudokus can take to complete by a beginner versus an advanced sudoku master. If you're concerned that your sudoku skills are more at a beginner level, there's no need to worry. The only thing standing between you and a fast sudoku completion time is technique.

Developing your sudoku technique is well worth the effort. There are some surprisingly simple strategies available that can significantly speed up your gameplay. Here are some helpful techniques to try to encourage faster solving:

• Choose an Area to Focus On - focus your attention on one area of the grid and attempt to solve it.
• Look for Quick Wins - some parts of the grid may be easy to solve right away. Get these completed first, and the rest of the grid should be easier.
• Do a fast scan - scanning each line and grid in a logical order will enable you to quickly see where numbers are missing and can be filled in right away. Scan the surrounding numbers for some easy solutions that will get the grid filled up faster.

Tracking Your Progress

Now that you're familiar with some of the main techniques you can try to speed up your sudoku completion rate, it's time to start tracking your progress. If you plan to track your progress in the hope that you will see your completion times get faster and faster, you need to decide how you will do this in a precise way. You may wish to try the options below:

Use a Stop Watch

Start a stop watch each time you work on a sudoku and ensure that you record the time and date that you completed it. You can then keep an accurate record of your progress.

Set Your Timer

Set a timer to the last recorded time that you completed a sudoku, and then challenge yourself to complete it before the timer runs out. This is an exciting way to challenge yourself.

Play Online

Playing sudoku online gives you a couple of really helpful ways to track your progress. Firstly, you will notice that when you start a new 247 Sudoku game, a timer appears in the game, and precisely measures how long it takes you to complete the game.

If you are feeling particularly competitive, you may choose to use another 247 Sudoku feature, which is the leaderboard. Checking out your ranking on the leaderboard everytime you play enables you to compare your performance against thousands of other players who are also attempting to solve the sudoku in the fastest time.

Tracking your progress is an excellent way to add some extra fun to your sudoku game play and to chart your improvements over time.

Don't forget to stick with the same difficulty level while tracking your progress. This will help you to get more accurate results and a true measure of how your times are improving.

Dealing with Difficult Puzzles

Every now and then, a difficult sudoku puzzle will come along that leaves you scratching your head and wondering how on earth it can be solved. Puzzles like these can seem impossible at the time, and you may even feel like giving up on them.

After working so hard to improve your puzzle solving times, you certainly don't want to give up on all the progress you have made so far. Here are some tips to try out when you're faced with a sudoku puzzle that feels impossible to complete:

Stay Calm

Attempting to solve a sudoku that feels impossible while watching the clock quickly count away the minutes and seconds can make you feel super stressed. Being in panic mode can make it even harder to stay focused and think logically. In this situation, it's helpful to take a deep breath, and to re-focus on what you are trying to achieve. You may even find it helpful to look away from the puzzle for a few moments so that you can return to it with fresh eyes.

Engage Your Techniques

Attempting a difficult puzzle is the perfect time to revisit your sudoku solving techniques. A back to basics approach to your gameplay can help you to follow a strategy that you know has worked for you in the past. Applying this to a difficult puzzle can give you the confidence needed to solve the sudoku more quickly.

Focus on One Area

If a difficult puzzle is making you feel overwhelmed, you may want to focus your attention in a different way. Instead of attempting to solve the entire grid, instead, choose a line or a 3x3 box to focus on. Directing your attention to this smaller area can make it easier for you to see solutions. In turn, solving these smaller areas can provide the perfect foundation for solving the rest of the grid.

Tips for Time Management

Managing your time effectively when working on a sudoku puzzle is crucial when you want to challenge yourself. It's so easy to get overwhelmed by a tricky sudoku and end up wasting precious minutes of your time.

To avoid wasting time, it's helpful to have some time management tactics already in place that you can implement when you need them. Here are some ideas to help you get started:

Set Yourself a 5-Minute Limit

Spending too long attempting to solve one part of the grid that you are stuck on can see your progress halt and your time increase. Give yourself five minutes, and if you've still not made any progress, you can then move onto another area.

Don't Hesitate

When you're up against the clock, you can become so concerned about getting it right first time and not making a mistake that you don't end up committing any numbers to the grid. When you're trying to work quickly, it's important that you don't hesitate, and simply keep working, rather than leaving the grid blank.

Improving Your Speed

Improving your speed is all about finding the right strategy. These ideas should help you to devise a strategy that works for you:

Choose the Right Level

Forcing yourself to play at a high level before you're ready can have a really negative impact on your speed. Instead, try sticking with the same level and ensure your times improve before moving on.

Find Your Perfect Technique

There are many possible techniques that can be used to improve your speed. So, trying them out and establishing which one gives you the best results is essential. Once you've found you winning formula, your times should improve significantly.

Practice Each Day

It's essential to remember that improving your sudoku solving speed isn't something that happens overnight. Spending even five minutes each day solving sudokus can really help you to build up your speed.

Playing sudoku online will help you to increase your speed quickly thanks to its multiple levels of play and daily challenges. As you play, you will be able to see your progress for yourself as you speed up and rise through the rankings.

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