Power of sudoku

And I thought I was addicted to it....apparently the jury in Australia found it more challenging than what they were SUPPOSED to be doing...

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We were playing Sudoku, jury confess
Thu, Jun 12, 2008
AFP

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: A judge was forced to abandon a three-month drugs trial after jurors admitted they had been doing Sudoku puzzles.

Sydney District Court Judge Peter Zahra aborted proceedings on Tuesday after the jury foreman admitted she and four others had been playing the game to "keep my mind busy".

Their number was up after one of the defendants noticed the foreman writing vertically instead of horizontally.

Lawyers had presumed the scribbling they could see jurors doing was simply note-taking.

"We actually all thought they were quite a diligent jury," defence lawyer Robyn Hakelis told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

A new panel is expected to be sworn in within weeks.

In Sudoku, 81 squares must be filled with the numbers 1 to 9 so there are nine complete sets in each row, column and square. --AFP