Attempts to Capture and Tame a Unicorn: (20) Sudoku, Part One

Before the craze hit town, people used to congregate in the tea room mid-morning, lunch and mid-afternoon to talk and to rest from the onslaught of numbers and letters; to escape the monitor's incessant glare.  We would chat about television, music, film and politics sometimes.  Gossip, too, about others around the office or offer snippets of news that would become that gossip.  Admittedly, I was generally a fringe figure in all of this but there was a time when there was a bit more life in the office.

Since the craze hit town people sneak off to make their tea, scared they might bump into someone doing the same puzzle in case they get answers, give them away or find out they aren’t as far along.  Or they bring a flask in, or an alternative drink, and stay put at their workstation.  And you can see them when they should be working, a paper or book hidden in folders, casting furtive glances around hoping no one will notice.  They are slaves, every one, to Sudoku, the Japanese God of Puzzling.  If I could get the same level of worship from that unicorn...

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I built a board for her from the back of an old oak bookcase, etching and then painting the grid on, on one side of the board, leaving room for a unicorn to sit and, on the other side, for the numbers, each having its own space so you could see how many of each were left.  These were big coin-like pieces with the numbers again etched and painted - with ridges like in Downfall or Connect 4 so she could move them about the board - and each had a hole as well so they could be lifted.  Finally, I bought a book (Carol Vorderman’s picture sold me, she’s intelligent, isn’t she?; plus lots of people at work had it, so it must have been a good one) and joined in the craze at work in order to get the hang of it so that I might pass on the madness.

Once ready I took the board in my van, fixed wheels and a rope on it at the edge of the forest and dragged the whole thing to the clearing where I sat down, set up a puzzle, and began to play.

After lunch and having played four (simple) puzzles, the unicorn finally approached and sat opposite me across the board, just as she had when I built the bonfire, but this time right on the spot I had made for her; and she watched, sitting perfectly still.

I completed a fifth (again, an easy one that I had before) puzzle and was part way through the sixth when the unicorn suddenly lowered her head and moved a piece, a number 3, into place.  And soon after an 8 and then a 9, we were on our way.