A SINGAPOREAN based in the United States has won a national Sudoku contest there, beating 68 contestants in cracking the killer Japanese number puzzles.

The local brainbox, who won top prize in the third annual Sudoku National Championship in Philadelphia last Saturday, is Tammy McLeod, a 32-year-old computer programmer with search engine giant Google.

Apart from the coveted title, she also wins US$10,000 (S$14,000), an iPod Touch and a place to represent the United States at the 2010 World Sudoku Championship to be held again in Philadelphia next April.

Mrs McLeod was formerly from Raffles Girls' School (RGS) and Raffles Junior College (RJC).

The mother of a 14-month-old baby girl, Audrey, she is also an alumni of the gifted programme in Rosyth Primary School and won the smartest Mensa competition in 1995. She has an IQ of 168.

She moved to the United States in 2000 and lives in Los Angeles with her 35-year-old husband, Mr Brent McLeod, a video games designer.

Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.