I spotted this in today’s BBC News:
Puzzle addicts from more than 20 countries are gathering in the Italian city of Lucca to compete in the first World Sudoku Championships.
it says later on, about the puzzles
[Wayne Gould] offered them free for publication in a London newspaper and readers became hooked almost immediately.
When I get up in the morning I regularly hear the printer in our office printing today’s Sudoku puzzle. When I have happened to be using my wife’s Apple laptop I’ve noticed that she has the Sudoku Dashboard Widget loaded and ready to go. I wonder if she’s been bitten by the Sudoku bug?