Sudoku

A fresh sudoku puzzle appears every day in two strengths, free to play with no account and nothing to download, and both are built and checked by computer rather than picked from a book, so every single one meets the same promise: exactly one solution, reachable without ever guessing.

Easy gives you around 40 starting numbers out of 81, and is machine-checked to be solvable by simple looking alone — no advanced technique required, ever. Medium gives you fewer starting numbers, around 32, so the same simple methods still work but you’ll need a little more patience and a second technique along the way.

What is the difference between the easy and medium daily sudoku?

The easy puzzle starts you with roughly 40 of the 81 squares already filled in, which leaves enough of the grid visible that a beginner method called simple looking — look along the row, down the column and around the box, and see which number is missing — carries you all the way to a finished grid. Medium starts you with around 32 squares filled in instead, which is still a full, fair sudoku, just with more empty space to reason your way across.

Neither difficulty ever asks you to guess, and both always have exactly one correct solution — every grid is checked by computer before it is published. The gap between them is really a gap in how much is given away at the start, not a difference in the rules or in how fair the puzzle is. If you are new to sudoku, a week or two on easy before trying medium is a sensible way in.

Do I ever need to guess in your sudoku?

No, never — and if you find yourself wanting to, it is a sign to look elsewhere on the grid rather than a sign the puzzle demands it. Every grid we publish is checked by computer before it goes live to confirm it has exactly one solution, so there is never a version of the puzzle where two different fillings both work.

On easy grids specifically, that solution is also reachable using only two simple techniques, which means a slip is almost always a mistake to find and correct, not a sign you need to start guessing numbers. Guessing is also how one wrong number quietly poisons half the grid, turning a nice sit-down into a rubbing-out session.

What techniques actually solve an easy sudoku?

Two will see you through an easy grid. The first is a single candidate in a cell: pick an empty square, look along its row, down its column and around its three-by-three box, and note which numbers you can already see. If eight different numbers are visible from that square, the ninth is the answer.

The second is a single place in a row, column or box: instead of asking what fits in a square, pick a number and ask where in this row, column or box it could possibly go. If every other square is already ruled out by a matching number nearby, that number belongs in the one square left. Between those two questions — what fits here, and where does it go — easy grids open up from corner to corner without anything cleverer ever being required. Our gentle beginner’s guide walks through both methods slowly, with pictures, for anyone who has never solved a sudoku before.

How do I print a copy of the daily sudoku?

Use the Print button above the grid for today’s puzzle, which gives you a clean, large-print page without the website’s menus and buttons around it. For a whole week at once, the free printable pack includes seven large-print sudoku puzzles with a full set of solutions at the back, which suits a stack by the armchair better than printing one page at a time.

Both the on-screen and printed grids use the same large, clear digits, so there is no squinting either way — just a choice between tapping and writing. If you would rather check an answer than print one, the answers archive keeps every finished sudoku grid since launch, sorted by day, alongside that day’s other puzzles.

Why is there no timer on your sudoku?

Because a timer turns a quiet pastime into a race, and racing is not the point here. Sudoku is genuinely enjoyable at whatever pace suits you: two minutes snatched before the kettle boils, or forty minutes in an armchair with the puzzle in your lap and nowhere else to be.

The only thing on offer is the Check my progress button, which marks any square that does not match the finished grid whenever you choose to look, and takes nothing away if you would rather not check at all. Our guide to building a gentle daily puzzle routine has more on making a small, timer-free habit like this one stick.