The News in Brief * / Last Puzzler Answer / New Fortnightly Puzzler

Reiner Knizia Threatened by Sudoku

‘It’s either me or the number puzzle,’ he tells friends

London, England – Late last Saturday at a gathering of London gamers, gaming legend Reiner Knizia admitted feeling threatened by Sudoku, the popular Japanese number puzzle.

Dr. Knizia, creator of more than 200 games, is best known for incorporating the numbers 1 through 9 in many of his designs. Upon hearing about the international success of Sudoku, which also uses the numbers 1 through 9, Knizia was reported to have felt a wave of nausea, after which he fled to the bathroom.

Witnesses reported hearing heavy sobs and the repeated phrase ‘It’s like Lost Cities never happened.’ After several tense minutes, Knizia emerged from the W.C. and announced, “I’ve decided to draw a line right here, right now. It’s either me or the number puzzle.”

Game tester Dieter Hornung was torn. “I don’t see why we have to choose,” said Hornung. “I like Sudoku, and I like Poison. I mean, what’s next, Puerto Rico?”

“Can’t live without Puerto Rico,” he added.

Friend and illustrator Doris Matthäus was concerned for Knizia. “I’ve known Reiner for several years, and he’s never been shaken this badly. Klaus Teuber and Settlers of Catan rocked him a little bit, but nothing before has used numbers so exclusively and without a hint of theme,” said Matthäus. “Sudoku has really invaded his territory.”

Knizia did his best to explain the ultimatum. “This is a war between me and Sudoku,” said Knizia. “I got a PhD in numbers. I understand the elegance of number seven, the elusive nature of number five, the simplicity of number one, the infinitude of number eight. All Sudoku knows is how much it’s getting for syndication.”

Knizia gave his friends nine days to decide. There was a feeling of unease as people left the gaming club, admitted one bystander, yet Knizia seemed confident he had made the right decision.

“Sudoku doesn’t care about you,” he said loudly as gamers left the room, “but I do.”

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* 'The News in Brief' is fictitious. While real people are mentioned, any resemblance to real events, statements, or happenings is purely coincidental.
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Old Puzzler and Answer


Old Puzzler: A friend of mine works for National Instruments or NI for short, so I wrote an NI puzzle for him. Here it is: there is a common road sign in two words, four letters in the first and four letters in the second. Three letters in the first are repeated in the same order in the second, though not consecutively. Were I to remove these repeated letters, the remaining letters would be N and I. What’s the sign?


Answer: NEXT EXIT

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New Fortnightly Puzzler*


I am thinking of a color in 8 letters. Go three letters into the word and stop between the third and fourth letters. From this point to the front of the word, you get a name. From this point to the end of the word, you get a name. Both names are main characters in a famous Science Fiction series. What's the color and what's the series?


* There's no adverb that I know which means every two weeks, so I figured a little cut-and-paste with the English language wouldn't hurt. Thus, I have a new title.