Letters From The Editor: We are bringing back sudoku - Los Angeles Times
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Letters From The Editor: We are bringing back sudoku

By John Canalis
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It seemed like a good way for the newspaper to save a little money: Drop sudoku from the Daily Pilot and refer readers to the similar puzzle in the Los Angeles Times.

It wasn’t.

I’ve never received so many complaints on a single issue since becoming editor. The only thing that came close was in my last job, when we dropped a few comic strips (there were no chuckles that day).

So I am reversing the decision. Sudoku will return as quickly as I can get it back in print.

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There are a few steps to take, namely renewing our contract with the company that syndicates the puzzles and working with The Times folks who plan and print the Daily Pilot. They work days in advance and need to carve out space in back pages for the daily puzzle.

I don’t have an exact date, but the folks helping me on this say that sudoku should be back in print by the weekend.

So why did I mess with the puzzle? My logic was this: Our readers get The Times. The Times has sudoku. Why would readers need redundant puzzles in The Times and in the Pilot?

One reader said he liked doing the version in the Pilot and his wife did the one in The Times. They needed two in their household to maintain marital bliss.

Another caller said that without two puzzles for him and his wife, he had to copy the puzzle by hand so they each had one.

Others said they liked having the answers published the same day — a feature found in the Pilot version but not in The Times — just in case they needed a little “help.â€

Others said the puzzle in The Times was too hard — or too easy.

Some readers just said they wanted it in the Pilot because that’s the newspaper they start their day with and removing the puzzle messed up their morning routine. That was good enough for me.

A couple of opinions on the issue appear in Tuesday’s Mailbag. Those are just a small sampling of the overall sentiment.

But as usual, the readers are right. So here’s the answer to the Pilot sudoku puzzle: It’s coming back.

JOHN CANALIS is editor of the Daily Pilot, Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot and the Huntington Beach Independent. He can be reached at (714) 966-4607 and [email protected].

John Canalis

John Canalis works with editorial and finance to execute the editorial budget and serves as a liaison with the business side to develop and fine-tune initiatives that generate new revenue. He coordinates with senior management, Human Resources and the L.A. Times Guild on labor-related and personnel issues. He is a member of the management bargaining team and has oversight over implementation of the collective bargaining agreement. Canalis previously served as executive editor of Times Community News. He came to The Times in 2010 from the Long Beach Press-Telegram, where he worked in multiple roles, including as business/city editor, assistant city editor, assistant editorial pages editor, columnist and county government reporter. A lifelong Southern California resident, Canalis has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Cal State Long Beach and an MBA from Pepperdine University.
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