Substack is all about great writing, right? Well, not this one. This one’s about sudoku. So let’s get to it.
Here’s one that shouldn’t be too difficult:
Fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each.
The sum of the digits inside each cage is equal to the small number in the top left corner. Digits cannot repeat within a cage.
Play online: SudokuPad | unshaded | F-Puzzles | unshaded
This one’s a little tougher:
Fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each.
The sum of the digits inside each cage is equal to the small number in the top left corner. Digits cannot repeat within a cage.
On thermometers (the gray lines) digits must increase from the bulb.
Play online: SudokuPad | unshaded | F-Puzzles | unshaded
If you really want a challenge, try this one:
Fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each.
Each marked diagonal line must also contain the digits 1-9 once each.
The sum of the digits inside each cage is equal to the small number in the top left corner. Digits cannot repeat within a cage.
Digits in cells separated by a white dot must be consecutive.
Play online: SudokuPad | unshaded | F-Puzzles | unshaded
Oh, you’re still scrolling? Sorry, that’s all the sudokus for now. I’ll have some fresh ones ready soon. Until then, I might as well answer a few questions you’re probably asking…
What the heck is an artisanal sudoku?
Well, it’s a term I made up, and it just means hand-crafted. The vast majority of sudokus you’ll encounter in books, newspapers, apps, etc. are computer-generated. Computers can make perfectly cromulent, if unimaginative, puzzles—especially at the lower end of the difficulty spectrum—and they can create puzzles that are so difficult as to be practically unsolvable unless you can, well, think like a computer.
That is, computers are pretty good at making puzzles that are either too easy or too hard, but they’re terrible at making puzzles that hit the sweet spot of interesting, engaging, and challenging-but-not-impossible. The sort of puzzle that you can revisit a month or a year later and actually remember solving. Humans can make these puzzles, because humans, for the most part, understand how humans think.
Ok, so what is Artisanal Sudoku?
Artisanal Sudoku is a newsletter that delivers several brand new hand-crafted sudokus each week. Subscribers to the free edition receive three new puzzles every Monday. In the near future, subject to change based on interest and feedback, a subscribers-only edition will be introduced, featuring:
Five new puzzles per week (the three from that week’s free edition, and two more available to subscribers only),
Hints for each puzzle, along with general tips and commentary on occasion, and
Full access to the archive.
At least at first, the puzzles will be primarily “killer” sudokus, in which some cells are in cages with a small number in the top left corner showing the sum of the digits in the cage. This is my favorite variety, although I don’t care for the name—it implies an inherent difficulty that simply isn’t there, while also needlessly invoking violence—but you’ll see other varieties on occasion, and many of the more difficult puzzles incorporate multiple rulesets.
Who are you, and what’s so great about your sudokus?
I’m James Sinclair. I’m a lawyer in Tallahassee, Florida, where I live with my wife and our dog and cat, who are named after a Dolly Parton song and a Burt Reynolds character, respectively. I play a lot of disc golf and I spend a lot of time watching the Atlanta Falcons blow second-half leads, usually not concurrently.
I won’t try too hard to sell my ability as a sudoku designer (just try a few and see what you think!), but I’ll mention that I’ve published some of my toughest puzzles on a site called Logic Masters Deutschland, where they’ve consistently drawn very good ratings. I’ve also had several puzzles featured on Cracking the Cryptic, the premier sudoku channel on YouTube.
But, as nice and welcoming as those places have been, they’re communities of people who are really into sudoku. Artisanal Sudoku is a newsletter for a much larger, underserved community: people who enjoy sudoku, perhaps more in concept than in practice. People who’ve bought a book or downloaded an app and found the easy puzzles too easy, or the hard puzzles too hard, or both, and eventually moved on to something more interesting. I would like very much for Artisanal Sudoku to become that more interesting thing.
Will every post be like this, with the rambling prose and clumsy attempts at humor?
Nope! Sorry, but I learned during my brief run as a blogger that, while I may stumble my way into a half-decent essay from time to time, I’m utterly incapable of putting out quality written content on a regular basis. Sudokus, though? Those I can do. I just designed another one while you were reading this paragraph.
In other words, the puzzles are the point here. I may tack on a paragraph or two if a puzzle has an interesting anecdote associated with it, or if there’s a cool trick I want to highlight, but the sudoku itself will always be right up top. I hate those endless-backstory recipe blogs as much as everyone else.
So, that’s it, that’s the sales pitch. Please subscribe, share, comment, etc. Thanks in advance!