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This is a new product from Focus and this in itself is more than unusual as Focus are normally only republishers.

Installation on a slow notebook took only three minutes and used close to 60MB of hard disc space, however the CD still needs to be in the ROM for running the program. I note that the total contents of the CD-ROM read as 13MB so there must be a lot of compressed files.

The interface is quite clear and there are a total of 15 icons running down the right side of the screen, lay the mouse over any icon and you are told what it does, if the image does not make it obvious. Below this are two times the target and the elapsed, below that a useful little counter showing the number of each number already placed in the grid so in the standard 9x9 grid there would of course end up by each digit reading 9.

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There are four different games available from the main menu Sudoku Classic (9x9) Sudoku Mini (6x6) Sudoku Eight (8x8 grid with 4x2 internal boxes) and finally one for the younger kids Sudoku Junior (4x4). The Junior version has only easy puzzles while the Mini and Eight has easy and medium, finally the Classic has four levels easy, medium, hard and devilish. 

By default if you place a wrong number you are told about any conflict (this can be turned off) and should you wish you can be given the correct number for that square but this of course lowers the number of points you get for successfully finishing the puzzle.

For the traditionalists you can get the basic puzzle printed out so should more than one of you want to try the same puzzle be it computer or newspaper generated you can. This leads me on to what is probably the best feature Sudoku Solver this asks just one question the size of the grid 9x9, 8x8, 6x6 or even the kids 4x4. You then fill in what information you have and tell it to solve it, providing there is enough information then a solution will quickly follow.

This software says it can create billions of unique Sudoku puzzles and I see no reason to disbelieve the claim. Any puzzle created is shown in the list of possible puzzles so there should be no repetition on the larger sizes anyway.

I am told it is also possible to email puzzles to your friends – it does not state if they will still be your friends after you do this – so you could have a whole office or class trying the same puzzle at the same time. What it sends is a .pdf file with two identical grids, maybe this is to allow you to have a clean one for your answer?

This product has only been released this week and I have spend many hours working through puzzles, I normally give up in a short time with the ones in newspapers but knowing I can get a hint satisfies me even if it will mean a lower final score.

As with most Focus products this is £9.99, available from dealers, more details from

http://www.focusmm.co.uk/store/productpages/productinfo/ess597.html