When I'm doing a puzzle that contains zeroes, I always use the bold feature to highlight the zeroes, but ONLY the zeroes. That way, I can see the pattern of the zeroes and I find this helps me a lot.

Yes, I do the same.....but with all those possible zeroes in the last puzzle it took quite a few tries before I found one that was the best possible solution and then tried working around it for the other numbers........one age had a -3 and there were (I think) 3 or 4 possible solutions each of which was tried and then the zero combinations were added and after all the trial /error arrangements, one solution showed up.........again, I thought this was one tough bonus puzzle!!!

Another tough bonus puzzle: 2 cages with 4 "0" in each; 1 cage with 3 "O"; and 2 cages with 2 "0" = a total of 15 zeroes out of 36 cells .........did solve it but it sure felt like a long frustrating time
is what I felt like doing when I saw this bonus puzzle pop up.....uuuugggghhhhh!!!!

And another -2 to +3 and this one took 90 minutes and 3 tries . How I hate these ones...for me they have to be the worst puzzles that I am capable of solving uuuggghhh !....plus it had to happen on a Monday, for which a lot of time and patience is required !!

And, again the puzzle popped up again.....a lot of zeroes again but ran into a cage that was 3 cells and marked (x3-) and the 3 was , I thought already used.....took only 17.5 minutes this time as there were a lot of numbers used differently in some cages and still be correct.....I believe I might have "lucked out" on this one:)........so I solved this one and yet I struggle with every 0 to 7 puzzle (which is my next puzzle) ......41.75 minutes !!!
And again: 49.6 minutes......why am I so "lucky" as to getting these

Good thing I had very little to do today (we are snowed in) and also had a moment of perseverance because it took a total of 3.45 hours( ) to get the -2 to 3 bonus puzzle I was awarded today (3 different tries)......I think my brain needs a no-brainer (big sigh) movie now like Star Wars or one of the Jesse Stone movies which I like to watch to relax

When I am sick, my ability to concentrate is not good. I hope you are feeling better than a few days a go.

Thank you, eclipsegirl.......it seemed that the screen was not making much sense when I first got the puzzle, so your reason is probably the answer.........because for some reason I have not felt like opening my Christmas presents yet !

Hey beaker - I just wanted to send some get well wishes your way. Happy (almost) new year and the best in 2022.

skeeter84

Thanks skeeter 84.......woke up at 10:00 AM after sleeping 10 hours, had breakfast and still felt tired so went back to bed and just woke up and still feel like I am about to go to sleep again.....good thing I am seeing my doc tomorrow .....now to stay awake to complete today's puzzles ( I have heard that people of my age and older seem to sleep more, but today has been absurd !!)