I'm going slightly Sudoku

I'm convinced, utterly and completely, truly, madly, deeply...oh no, wait, that's sad film with Alan Rickman in it. Anyway, I'm utterly decided that Sudoku inventors are scheming to take over the world. It's possible that they're all aliens and they're using us, our brains, to run a program to crack open some mystifying equation that will give them power over the entire universe...oh no, wait, that was the Krillitain in Dr Who battling David Tennant. Whatever, they must be involved in some fiendish plot to take over the world. How else would Sudoku, and Kakuro, and Bridges and Loop-the-Loop have become so damned addictive in such a short space of time? Look at it from my point of view. When I left for my travels in January last year no one, and I really mean NO ONE had heard of Sudoku. I remember my mum saying whilst on the phone to me that she was trying to solve a puzzle and said that it was really addictive and I HAD to try it. I managed to avoid the contagion, as I'm sure this must be a virus of some sort, spreading from person to person. That is, until the last couple of weeks. Mum gets the Guardian and in there they do a Kakuro puzzle every day. After being told a couple of times that she didn't understand them and was much better at Sudoku I decided to try my hand at it. Alas! It was there, that fateful day just before Easter, that I succumbed to their fiendish plot. I did the puzzle. It took a while but I began to see patterns and find the ways that you could solve this, the telltale signs (such as when you need to add up to 10 over 4 spaces, the ONLY possible solution involves 1,2,3 and 4) and methods with which to tax my brain. The Guardian Easter Special Puzzle book was my downfall. And lo! within it's evil pages were other puzzles, like the Bridges one, or Loop-the-Loop. Unlike crosswords which I do like but have failed to become addicted to over the years, these puzzles require only logic, not special knowledge, to overcome them. Yesterday, I finally reached the height of my fever. I attempted a Sudoku puzzle. What can I say, I'm hooked. As I run to find my puzzle book and solve yet more of the pieces of the aliens' fiendish plan I find I have enough will left to shout one final warning. BEWARE!!! These games will take over your life! THEY ARE OUT TO GET US!!!!! Now lets see, I've got a 1, and a 3 so that must be a 7...