Artisanal Sudoku, Volume 177

1. Social Butterfly

• Normal sudoku rules apply (fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each), and all clues are standard.

• Dynamic fog: correctly placed digits clear fog from their own cell and possibly other cells.

• Cages: the sum of the digits inside each cage is equal to the small number in the top left corner (if given), and digits cannot repeat within a cage.

• Digits in cells separated by a black dot have a 1:2 ratio.

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 4/10

Play online: SudokuPad | version without fog

New to variant sudoku? Check out these beginner-friendly guides to cages and other popular rulesets.

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2. Rare Bird

• Normal sudoku rules apply (fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each), and all clues are standard.

• Renban lines: purple lines contain a non-repeating set of consecutive digits in any order.

• Quadruple circles: a digit inside a white circle must appear in at least one of the four cells surrounding that circle (a digit that repeats in a circle must appear twice).

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 5/10

Play online: SudokuPad

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3. Eighth Avenue

• Normal sudoku rules apply (fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each), and all clues are standard.

• Cages: the sum of the digits inside each cage is equal to the small number in the top left corner, and digits cannot repeat within a cage.

• Renban lines: purple lines contain a non-repeating set of consecutive digits in any order.

• Very rough difficulty estimates: 8/10, 6/10

Play online: SudokuPad | unshaded

Extra clues: SudokuPad | unshaded

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Some other puzzles I enjoyed this week:

• Just One Cell Classic Sudoku, by Thomas Snyder
  Thomas has been posting the puzzles from the SudokuCon Just One Cell competition—which include contributions from Clover, Philip Newman, and Gliperal—on his website, a few at a time. The one linked above is relatively easy, but some are a lot tougher. Find all the puzzles that have been posted so far here, and some more background here.

• Double Stacks, by Bobo

• Price Tags, by mellowrobinson and sujoyku

• Quads Going On?, by Fenners

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This week’s meta-description:
Featuring the rarest bird of all: an approachable dynamic fog puzzle.

For premium subscribers, hints and two more bonus puzzles are below. This week: the long-awaited (?) return of anti-knight!