Q 01/05

In classic Sudoku, what size is the grid?

A) 8×8

B) 9×9

C) 10×10

D) 6×6

Answer · why

B) 9×9

Each row, column and 3×3 box must contain every digit from 1 to 9 exactly once.

Q 02/05

Under what name did the modern puzzle first appear in Dell Magazines in 1979?

A) Digit Box

B) Nine Square

C) Number Place

D) Grid Logic

Answer · why

C) Number Place

Japan still generally calls it Number Place, or Nanpure for short, because Sudoku is a registered trademark there.

Q 03/05

Which retired Indiana architect most likely designed the modern Sudoku?

A) Will Shortz

B) Martin Gardner

C) Sam Loyd

D) Howard Garns

Answer · why

D) Howard Garns

He was 74 and freelancing as a puzzle constructor; he died in 1989, long before the craze.

Q 04/05

How was Garns identified as the anonymous creator of the 1979 Dell puzzle?

A) His name was in the contributors list only in issues that ran it

B) He signed the first puzzle with his initials

C) His widow found the drafts after his death

D) Dell's editor named him in a 2005 interview

Answer · why

A) His name was in the contributors list only in issues that ran it

New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz spotted the pattern.

Q 05/05

Garns's colleagues at which Indianapolis firm recalled him drawing the puzzle at work?

A) Burnham & Root

B) Daggett

C) Vonnegut & Bohn

D) Rubush & Hunter

Answer · why

B) Daggett

A draftsman remembered him covering the grid up and saying it was "a game"; it was a secret.