Artisanal Sudoku, Volume 185

1. Hot Plate

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

• Thermometers: digits on thermometers increase from the bulb.

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

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 4/10

Play online: SudokuPad

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

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2. Asheville

• 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.

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

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 5/10

Play online: SudokuPad | unshaded

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3. Top Knot

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

• German whispers: along green lines, digits differ from their neighbors by at least 5.

• 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 one of the four cells surrounding that circle.

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

• Very rough difficulty estimates: 7/10, 5/10

Play online: SudokuPad

Extra clues: SudokuPad

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Some other puzzles I enjoyed this week:

• Sagitta Speakeasy, by Katie Splendor

• German triplets, by Adrian

• Beyond, by MaizeGator

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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:
This feels like a slate where there’s going to be a lot of quibbling over difficulty estimates and whether the puzzles should be re-ordered. Well, quibbling is welcome (if not necessarily encouraged)!

For premium subscribers, hints and two more bonus puzzles are below. This week: the long-awaited return of double arrows!