Artisanal Sudoku

Artisanal Sudoku

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Artisanal Sudoku
Artisanal Sudoku
Artisanal Sudoku, Volume 184

Artisanal Sudoku, Volume 184

James Sinclair's avatar
James Sinclair
Jul 14, 2025
∙ Paid
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Artisanal Sudoku
Artisanal Sudoku
Artisanal Sudoku, Volume 184
2
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1. Minutia

  • 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 estimate: 4/10

Play online: SudokuPad | unshaded

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


2. Hoja

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

  • Entropic lines: along orange lines, every set of three adjacent cells contains one low digit (1-3), one middle digit (4-6), and one high digit (7-9).

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

  • Digits in cells separated by a (smaller) white dot are consecutive.

  • Very rough difficulty estimate: 6/10

Play online: SudokuPad


3. Circular Logic

  • 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.

  • Thermometers: digits on thermometers increase from the bulb.

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

Play online: SudokuPad | unshaded

Extra clues: SudokuPad | unshaded


Some other puzzles I enjoyed this week:

  • I Literally Can't Even, by Michael Lefkowitz

  • These cells, see cells, by the 3, 4, by Flinty

  • Dutch Flat Mates: Tenable, by Flinty and palpot
    This is a very good puzzle in its own right, but I feel like it’d be awkward not to mention that it was inspired by one of mine which uses a similar ruleset (and is a bit tougher).

Also, thanks to the Now I Know newsletter for some nice comments about Artisanal Sudoku last week. I highly recommend checking out NIK if you haven’t already—it’s always very interesting, even when it’s not about puzzles 😁


Thanks for subscribing to Artisanal Sudoku! Feedback is always appreciated, just leave a comment, reach out on Bluesky, or reply to this email. If you liked these puzzles, you probably know someone else who’d like them too, so please spread the word. If you’re interested in submitting a puzzle, click here for more information. And if you want to try more of my puzzles—many of which are tougher than the ones you’ll find here—check out my page on Logic Masters Deutschland.

This week’s meta-description:
Was kind of hard to believe I hadn’t called a puzzle Circular Logic before now…

For premium subscribers, hints and two more bonus puzzles are below.

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