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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, Ju ly 22 ,2 02 1 | 14 Check out the answers on page 12 Like puzzles? Then you'll love sudoku. This mind-bending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test! Here's How ItWorks: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle! Cr oss wo rd & Su do ku CLUES ACROSS 1. Choir singer 5. Yak 8. Detail 12. Hired thug 13. She-sheep 14. Bright star 15. Revered 17. Competed 18. Hearty soups 19. Different 20. Headache cure 25. Pale 28. Self 32. Craps cube 33. Storm winds 34. Have bills 35. Shielded 37. Blizzard stuff 38. Flower 40. Messy type 43. Trench 47. Cab 48. Device for wingtips 51. Baker's box 52. Buddy 53. Sledder's delight 54. Sharp pain 55. Tack on 56. Auctioneer's word CLUES dOWn 1. Eons 2. Did not win 3. Haul 4. Like some streets: hyph. 5. Sparkler 6. Astonish 7. Bunk 8. Coin 9. Work hard 10. 12/24 and 12/31 11. Manufactured 16. Curvy turn 21. Baby grand, e.g. 22. Lazes around 23. Woodwind instruments 24. Outs' opposites 25. Commercials 26. Attack! 27. "____ Alibi" 29. Charged particle 30. Duo number 31. Certain evergreen 33. Toothpaste option 36. Waning 37. Metalworkers 39. "____ to a Nightingale" 40. Terminate 41. Volcanic fluid 42. Farm animals 44. Three musicians 45. Battery 46. Clutched 48. Fitness center 49. Owned 50. Dated Level: Advanced The 740 residential homes sold last month through the Kitchener-Wa- terloo Association of Real- tors set a new monthly high for June and re- presented an increase of more than 10 per cent com- pared to June 2020. "The number of homes sold in the Kitchener-Wa- terloo area these past six months surpasses any pre- vious six months of activity through our MLS System," said Nicole Pohl, president of the local association, as part of the monthly market update. "Since the beginning of the year, we have reported 4,393 home sales in the Kitchener-Waterloo and area, which is remark- able," Pohl added. Total residential sales during the second quarter (April, May, June) were up 83.7 per cent compared to last year. On a year-to-date basis they're up 65.7 per cent. Total residential sales in June included 411 de- tached homes (down 0.2 per cent from June 2020) and 103 condominium units (up 51.5 per cent). Sales also in- cluded 74 semi-detached homes (on par) and 152 townhouses (up 14.3 per cent). In June, the average sale price for all residential properties in the Kitche- ner-Waterloo area was $759,115, a 26.4 per cent in- crease over June 2020 and a 2.6 per cent increase com- pared to May 2021. The average price of a detached home was $919,914, a 31.9 per cent in- crease from June 2020 and an increase of 5.9 per cent compared to May 2021. The benchmark price for a detached home was $820,800, a 32.7 per cent in- crease from June 2020. There were 860 new list- ings added to the MLS Sys- tem in K-W and area last month, a decrease of 6.6 per cent compared to June of last year, and a 5.4 per cent decrease compared to the previous ten-year average for June. "The greatest challenge of the housing market con- tinues to be the limited sup- ply of existing homes to purchase," said Pohl. The total number of homes available for sale in active status at the end of June was 365, a decrease of 43 per cent compared to June of last year, and 73.9 per cent below the previous ten-year average of 1,400 listings for June. The average number of days to sell in June was 11 days. The previous five- year average was 20 days. CONTRIBUTED K-W home sales hit another record in June. Bill Jackson/Metroland HOME MARKET STAYS HOT WITH RECORD SALES IN JUNE AVERAGE PRICE OF A DETACHED HOME IN K-W WAS $919,914