Artisanal Sudoku, Volume 93

Big news! Artisanal Sudoku is branching out. Beginning next week, up to one puzzle per week will be made by another setter. All contributors will be paid and credited. If you’re interested in submitting a puzzle (whether you have one already or just want more information), please reach out to me on Discord or reply to this email.

I have a few criteria in mind for submitted puzzles—they’ll have to be a good fit in terms of style, accessibility, and difficulty—but the most important criterion, by far, is the answer to this question: Is this puzzle a significant improvement over the one I would publish if I wasn’t taking submissions?

In other words, it’s not that I’ll be setting fewer puzzles, it’s that I’ll be able to set aside the ones that feel not quite good enough and publish something much better instead. It’s a recipe for both higher quality and greater variety, with the nice side benefit of bringing more attention to setters who deserve it. If it’s not clear, I’m really excited about this. Thanks in particular to premium subscribers for making it possible.

Ok, on to this week’s puzzles. (Be sure to read the rules carefully for #3, especially the part in bold.)

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1. Loopy