su doku
n.— «“You won’t find Su Doku in a Japanese dictionary,” said puzzle creator Wayne Gould in The Times of London. “It’s a coined word, made up by a Japanese publisher.…As I understand it ‘Su’ stands for number, and ‘Doku’ has some notion of singularity or bachelorhood about it, emphasizing perhaps that there is only one of each number in each unit (row/column/box).”» —“Su Doku Q&A” News-Sentinel (Fort Wane, Ind.) Apr. 4, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Language is always evolving, and that’s also true for American Sign Language. A century ago, the sign for “telephone” was one fist below your mouth and the other at your ear, as if you’re holding an old-fashioned candlestick...
Whether it’s a Rubik’s cube or a round of Wordle, why do so many of us find puzzles irresistible? A new book celebrates the allure and psychological benefits of brain teasers. Plus, powerful language for talking about the chronic...