Sudoku - The Difference between Brett and I

I love word puzzles. Crosswords, cryptograms, letter scrambles, you name it, I love it. And, if I must be so bold, I’m pretty good at them as well. My husband even proposed to me with a scavenger hunt of cryptograms – it was thrilling!
A few months ago, we were all at a BBQ at my sister-in-law’s house. There on the table was a book titled Sudoku.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s sort of like a word puzzle but with numbers. It’s really addictive!”
It wasn’t long before several copies of a puzzle were made and a small competition commenced.
I grabbed a sheet and a pencil and after a brief description of the game, started working furiously.
There are 9 squares total with 9 squares inside each of those. You must number the smaller squares 1-9 but each column and each line must also be numbered 1-9 without any repeat numbers.
Got it. Since some of the numbers are already intermittently dispersed throughout the puzzle, it makes it even easier.
First square. Done.
Second square. Piece of cake.
Third square across – all the lines match up. Great.
I look over Brett’s shoulder. The man doesn’t even have the 1st square completely filled in. I have a moment of pity for the man as he clearly doesn’t fully comprehend the simplicity of the game.
I start my second set of squares. It’s almost embarrassing how quickly and easily I’m moving through this game.
I look around at everyone’s furrowed brow and the small pink flecks of eraser flying across their pages. I hazard to mention that this isn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I see a few eyebrows raise and I’m guessing a few people biting their tongues as well.
Third and final row. First square, done. Second square, done. I look over Brett’s shoulder, he only has 2 squares completed and is scribbling what looks like some sort of code on the side of his page. (Heavy sigh) He is gifted in so many areas, I really shouldn’t begrudge his inability at this. You really have to have a mind that thinks outside the box in order to fully grasp the concept of word games and puzzles. I hope his failure at this doesn’t somehow emasculate him.
Last square, er, wait I can’t put a 3 there because there is already a 3 in the other line. That’s ok, I’ll just back up a bit. I start to erase. There, the 3 goes there, now we’re good, hmmm, hold on, if I put the 5 there, then there will be two 8s in the next row. Back to the eraser.
My brow is now starting to furrow as pink flecks of eraser begin to scatter across my page. I look over Brett’s shoulder now, 5 completed squares. He seems to be going faster now.
Each time I begin to advance, I find another small flaw and end up erasing a few more squares. It’s not long now and my entire sheet is empty save for the pink and gray streaks across my page.
I look around and begin to see a few smirks around the room. “How you comin’ along there Andrea?”
“Oh, fine, fine. Just had to back up a bit but I’m back in the game.”
I now start looking over Brett’s shoulder and begin copying madly. He has 2 squares left and seems to be listing the answers as though he were casually writing a note.
I’m in panic mode. My reputation is on the line. It seems that the only squares that are correct are the ones that I copied from Brett. Each time I step out on my own, the mistakes seem to mount faster and faster.
My paper now looks like a piece of ancient parchment as small holes begin to form from the rub marks of my now non-existent eraser.

“DONE!” Brett bellows. Everyone groans and drops their pencils, all equally devoid of erasers. Someone flips to the back of the answer book to check his answers as Brett offers me his untouched eraser. “It’s ok honey,” he says, “you just have to be able to think geometrically”.