Lists Game
Microsoft Sudoku (Windows)
tracking their Microsoft Sudoku achievements.
Click here to track your progress.

Speed Demon achievement in Microsoft Sudoku (Windows)

Speed Demon

Complete a puzzle in less than 1 minute

Speed Demon0
Hide ads

How to unlock the Speed Demon achievement

  • SashamorningSashamorning
    01 Jul 2014 03 Jul 2014 03 Jul 2014
    I've found what I consider to be the absolute fastest way to do this, possibly as low as 30 seconds or less, and you don't need a solver or a screenshot. You can do everything in-game. Use the guide on the left, third button down. It'll actually take a few seconds to turn that on and press the first number... and you'll STILL get your times way down.

    When the guide is turned on, all of the possible spots that a number can go are automatically highlighted. It'll be obvious which ones are the actual places to put a number. The more you do it, the faster you'll get.

    External image

    In this one, I've hit the guide button and then 1 at the bottom. Those squares are highlighted. Note the circled one is the only one in the row. A 1 goes there. A second 1 goes in the first column, 6th row, then after that row is cleared, 8th column, 5th row, and so forth. Follow it through the board, and when you can't find any other obvious spaces, move to 2, then down the list.

    External image

    (Not the same puzzle) ...and that wasn't even my best time. I got 0:25 on Number Puzzle.
    External image


    Expert will take longer, and even then my best time was 1:12. So this can go very quickly without the need to go outside for a solver, and the game has the helper built in.

    toast

    Guide not helping? View 4 more guides for this achievement.

    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    DelithI found this solution by myself and came here to post it only to see Sasha beat me to it by over a year. It works perfectly and shaved off 30 seconds from my best time (which I did do before figuring out this way while grinding the 100 games). +1
    Posted by Delith on 11 Nov 15 at 16:26
    Sashamorningtoast
    Posted by Sashamorning on 11 Nov 15 at 16:41
    EpicMountThanks, 57 seconds first attempt :)
    Posted by EpicMount on 05 Mar 20 at 00:43
  • Have you got any tips or tricks to unlock this achievement?
    Add a guide to share them with the community.

    Add a guide
  • RadicalSniper99RadicalSniper99
    27 Jun 2014 27 Jun 2014 02 Jul 2014
    As an alternate to Tenreth's solution which would work, I found that you can use the tools in the game to complete it as well.

    -Use Very Easy
    -Turn on All Notes
    -Fill in Single Cells and others than you can easily get from the notes given (notes do not change while you play)
    -Erase all notes
    -Turn on All Notes Again: This time the notes will reflect the next ones you can go after

    Repeat the cycle 2 times or so and you will finish the puzzle really quickly. First time I did it in 1:02 and then the second time in 0:56. It might take a little effort, but not too long to complete with minimal practice.

    Borgenator indicated that also using the 3 tools in addition to the 3 hints would help and possibly speed up the process even further (down to about 30 - 45 seconds). This will earn the user the Helping Hand achievement as well in the one match.

    While going for the 100 games completed achievement, I found that using only the Guides tool, I was able to get my time consistently in the 36 second range.
    Showing all 3 comments.
    BorgenatorI wanted to add that I also found this very easy to do with the in-game tools.
    My method:
    1.Turn on the three tools provided: Block Duplicates, Show Incorrect, and Show Guides.
    2. Click on each number at the bottom, and you should see the purple guide boxes pop up.
    3. Fill in the squares, remembering to change if you get one that shows up as incorrect (a large red X over the individual number square)

    This should only take about 30-45 seconds and you can easily get it on your first try if you understand the game's mechanics. Also, if you use the three hints as well, by clicking in a box and then clicking hint, this will get you the Helping Hand achievement.
    Posted by Borgenator on 27 Jun 14 at 06:28
    Borgenator, this is how I just did it too. Took 30 seconds.
    Posted on 27 Jun 14 at 14:35
    NiccciNGreat stuff, first attempt 0:58.
    Posted by NiccciN on 21 Aug 15 at 13:17
  • TenrethTenreth
    26 Jun 2014 26 Jun 2014 26 Jun 2014
    Just start one game (make sure you'll play very easy to make it even easier and faster for yourself!), make a screenshot, pause the game, paste the screenshot into a paint program of your choice, now use a sudoku solver and then just put the numbers in.
    You can pause the game in the upper right corner and when solving it, snap your solution on one side of the screen while playing on the other half.

    A pretty good solver can be found here: http://www.sudoku-solutions.com/
There are 2 other guides for this achievement
Do you have a question about this achievement? Please post it in the Microsoft Sudoku (Windows) Forum