Artisanal Sudoku, Volume 195

Taking the rare step of putting an announcement right at the top, because this is a big one: I’ve been working for over a year on an Artisanal Sudoku book, and, incredibly, it’s actually happening.

Artisanal Sudoku: 150 Handcrafted Puzzles That Go Beyond the Ordinary, from Puzzlewright Press, will be published March 3, 2026, and is available for pre-order now:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Bookshop | Target | Walmart

The book features 75 new variant sudokus and 75 favorites from the archive, covering roughly the same range of difficulty you’ll find here, with illustrated tips and hints. I’m really happy with the slate of puzzles—obviously I like the ones that previously appeared here, or I wouldn’t have chosen them, but I’m even more excited about the new ones, many of which—in my humble opinion—are absolute bangers.

I realize March 3 is a long way away, but that’s all the more reason to order it now, so that by the time it arrives you’ll have forgotten, and it’ll be like getting a present from yourself. Besides, pre-orders are important for establishing that a book has a market, boosting it in the algorithm and encouraging the publisher to put more resources into promotion.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say between now and then, and I promise I won’t be too annoying about it, but for now I just want to add: thanks. There are, of course, a million sudoku books out there, and the vast majority of them feature computer-generated classics, and a smaller fraction feature computer-generated variants—but publishers have been largely unwilling to take a chance on hand-crafted variant sudokus like the ones found here. I don’t think I would have gotten this opportunity had I not been able to point out that my puzzles have found an audience through this newsletter. So, to all of you who are part of that audience, thank you so much 🙏

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1. Rockall

• 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.

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

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 2/10

Play online: SudokuPad

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

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2. Chesapeake

• 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, and digits cannot repeat within a cage. All cage sums are given.

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 5/10

Play online: SudokuPad | version without fog

Quick reminder that (unless very clearly stated otherwise) cages in fog puzzles work exactly as you would expect them to in the absence of fog. So, if the top-left corner of a grid looks like this:

The following things about the 25-cage are known:

• it doesn’t include any cells in row one, because if it did the sum would not be in r2c1, it would be in the left-most cage cell in row one

• it definitely includes r2c2, because there is not a cage boundary on the right side of r2c1

• it doesn’t include r3c1, because the cage boundary at the bottom of r2c1 indicates that the adjacent cell is not in the cage

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3. Bunyip

• 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.

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

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

• Digits in cells with a shaded square are even.

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

Play online: SudokuPad

Extra clues: SudokuPad

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Some other puzzles I enjoyed this week:

• 6x6 All Clues are Given No. 2, by Rail Man

• Face / Off, by Tallcat

• Hedge Fun, by vfig

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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:
Announcing the Artisanal Sudoku book! If you like this newsletter but find it utterly useless for balancing a wobbly table or shooing away insects, this is big news.

For premium subscribers, hints and two more bonus puzzles are below. Negative constraint alert!