gardenduko

It's very pretty, Sticki, and I've copied out the grid on a pad. Am enjoying it so far . . . thank you for taking the trouble!

you're very welcome ~ hope its fun!

im sorry its not very big ~ i didnt know how to make it bigger, but you can copy the image into word and then work from a larger paper copy ~ hope that helps.

that is a cool idea !

;-))

i have thought of a way you could do the answers ~ with grid reference eg:A1= tulip, F1 = salix etc. if you wanted to do it that way ~ i dont mind.

Yes, enjoyed it, and finished it!! :)) The only way I can think of for you to "check" my honesty, is if you ask me to tell you one flower (or three) in a random square . . ? Otherwise, I'll just accept a handful of gold stars. :))) Thanks again Sticki.

im quite sure you are honest ~ i can check if you like but otherwise take a fistful of milkway!!!

i shall obviously have to set you a harder one sheila!! now ive made it that would be easy!

That's very generous, but please may I change the Milkyway for a dark choc Bounty?!! I'm afraid I really don't like milk chocolate (what an ungrateful hussy . . .)

you will have what you are given and be grateful ~ thats what they used to say to me!!!!
of course you can change it ~ i like dark chocolate best too ~ lindt 70% is my favourite.
i also have a HUGE box of thorntons and those sea shell chocolates and im not very keen ~ how do you tell people that???
maybe i should offer them as a prize!!!! but it would cost more to post ~ have to take them to the next garden show and share them all with you.!!

I agree about the sea shell ones, but you can't tell people, can you; just have to give them away to someone else. I was given a bar of "Divine" (Fairtrade) at Christmas, that's 70% too, so I shall be tracking it down . . . Mmmmmmm!

P.S. Thank you for the offer of a harder gardendoku, but Please - not today - there's a jumbo crossword in today's paper waiting for my attention, and an apple crumble to make. :))

i will do the apple crumble for you and you can do the crossword!!!
remind me to send you harder gardenduko when you are not so busy.

think im a bit thick sticki as i dont understand what i have to do lol, and sheila has done it already hahaha

have you ever done sudoku?? its the same principle. there are nine plants [sudoku uses numbers instead] and one of each has to be in a block of 9 squares ~ but you cant have a repeat of any plant in the long row of 9 or in the long column of 9.
its hard to describe without doing a drawing.
does this help?

no i havent played before sticki so i will ask baz who has and if i understand then i will have a go lol, well thought up anyway :o))

yes it will help if he explains sudoku ~ ive sent you a PM

thanx iv replied sticki,

Wow! This was fun Sticki! I could post a photo of the solution if you like - or answer random questions (such - do you like apple crumble with cinnamon in?) Or "what is in the middle square?"

I've done Sudokus before, but having to think in plants, not numbers was a challenge.

I found your quiz from 20th December today as well - I don't often check blogs, but will have to in future.

The choc I don't like is the white stuff - it tastes REALLY WRONG :-( but any other is acceptable - except for the post-Christmas diet, of course!

Thank you very much for making the puzzle. :-)

you are very welcome ~ sheilabub PM'd me with the first line ~ listing the 9 plants across the top, which was a good way of checking ~ you can check these yourself tho ~ either way is fine by me.

white stuff?? not the snow i take it ~ other stuff is just candy ~ it only tastes ok if you eat one square with a square of the dark stuff!!!!

i can do you a pudding sudoku if you prefer ~ i can make sure apple crumble is in the middle!!!

glad you liked it.

beattie can you explain sudoku for those who havent done it before cos i dont think i have made it very clear. its hard to explain without a diagram.

"Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker". V short poem by Ogden Nash, which I never did understand . . . anyone?

I 'could' pm you, but he's summarising the ways to a girl's 'heart' - if we're putting it tastefully! ;-)

hmmm! i see what you mean beattie! how did we get onto this??!!!

It was you mentioning "candy" Sticki . . . and my flippertigibbet mind!!

Thanks Beattie - what an innocent I am. :)))

Just completed this puzzle, very enjoyable, much more fun than numbers! Thanks Sticki, I have just pm'd you :)

oh thanks gee, glad you liked it. its hard to explain tho to anyone who hasnt done sudoku

I sent an explanation earlier today to Sanbaz. As you've asked I'll paste it here for anyone to see - "fair do's", but it's a bit long.

The basic unit is one box which is 3 small squares wide and 3 small squares high, making 9 small squares per box. You could think of them like boxes in a shop with those cardboard dividers in - with 9 bottles in each box.

9 of the boxes are laid out on the floor in a square - 3 boxes in each row.

So you have a big square with 9 bottles in each row and each column, and there are 9 bottles in each box.

The shop sells boxes of assorted drinks - you get 9 different flavours in each box. You have to arrange the bottles so that you only get one bottle of each flavour in each box, and there's only one of each flavour in each column or row as well.
IT CAN BE DONE!

In Sticki's puzzle each section of the boxes contains a different plant, and some of the plants have already been put in the boxes but your task is the same - you need to arrange the remaining plants so that there is only one of each kind in each box, and there is only one of each plant in every row and column.

It would help if you make a sketch copy of Sticki's grid and write on it where the plants are already. Then you can write in the position of the others as you solve them. Make it big enough so that when you're sure you can write nice and bold in the middle of the square, and where you're not sure you can put the possibles in a corner, small but still readable, and cross them out when you've eliminated them. Use shorthand for the plant names - I put "A" for Acer, "Sa" for Salix, and so on.

If we look at where the Forget-Me-Nots are, have a look at the middle row of boxes. You can see where the FMN has to go - there is a FMN in the top of the "middle-right" box and a FMN in the bottom of the "middle-middle" box, so the FMN in the "middle-left" box has to go in the middle row. And there is only one place unoccupied where it can go. Write that into your grid, nice and bold in the middle of the box.

Now you can use that information to work out where the FMN's are in the top left box.

Pencil in the FMN's in the corners of the boxes that you can't solve yet - on the bottom row.

Now you can work out where the Acer is in the bottom row of boxes.....

And so on.

beattie that is fantastic ~ were you or are you a maths teacher??
the other abbreviation you could use is numbers cos i chose the plants that sounded a bit like the numbers:
1 = wood anemone
2 = tulip
3 = thistle
4 = forget me not
5 = firebush
6 = salix
7 = sedum
8 = acer
9 = narcissus
but i dont like numbers!!! thats why i made it into a flower quiz.

Nope, Sticki, never been a teacher of any sort, though people often guess that I was. I put it down to my confident manner... ;-)

My youngest son is teaching English in Vietnam, though, having finished doing the same in China for the previous two years. He's a 'born' teacher - very confident and charismatic, and quick at thinking on his feet.

I never noticed that the names of the plants had any relationship to numbers! I did think that they were an odd selection! :-?

yes they were ~ not plants i would choose to put together at all nor are they my favourites ~ so now you know the reason
i wonder where your son got his talents from!!??
you would have been a good teacher.

Thanks! :-)

Just completed your gardenuko after 2 attempts its so frustrating when you have almost finished then find you have entered one in the wrong place lol so Im congratulaing myself and enjoying a nice big crean cake! you deserve one too for designing it ST what a pity you dont live closer I would have treated you;0)) thanks great fun!

yes i would have enjoyed that PP ~ many thanks for the thought tho! well done you ~ a well deserved cake!
i agree about the frustrating part!

Oh no sudoku!!!....runs off screaming:-0 Back to a subject dear to my heart...I like Green and Blacks:-)) Congratulations on your work Sticki,...prefer crosswords?? hopeful smile:-}

green and blacks ok but really not up to the standard of 70% excellence [in my humble opinion!]
im not good at cross words but i could have a try.
it would be easier if you could paste in things like that ~ photos are difficult to read ~ i will have to think of something.

Isn't that Lindt? Not keen on Lindt, find it a bit plasticky...Green and Blacks 85% Ha! I raised you fifteen...I win ...I win...I win... I like their other flavours too like butterscotch:-)

butterscotch is good but almond is better!
85 too strong for me.
lindt is certainly smooth, never thought of it as plastic ~ i like the 'kick' it has!

I'm a Northener Sticki......I can take it:-)