Sudoku

Normal Sudoku rules apply, each puzzle says. What does that mean?

Every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9 once each.

Those are the rules of sudoku. 81 cells, 81 digits.

All But One

There’s a given digit for you, and for you, and for you, and… that’s it! I’m all out of given digits. It should be obvious that the puzzle has the digits 2-9, and–oh! Right. Hmm, the puzzle has all the digits, 1-9, I’m just not sure where that other one went. It’s okay, the puzzle is fine. This is fine.

Pretty Maids All in a Row

And the storybook comes to a close / Gone are the ribbons and bows // Things to remember, places to go / Pretty maids all in a row //

Double-Wide

Can I interest you in a fine manufactured home? It’s so wide! Almost, but not quite, twice as wide as a single-wide. In fact, it’s 1.67 times as wide, and 1.33 times as tall as a normal 9x9 Sudoku.

NO KINGS

Around this grid, we’ve embraced revolution, rejecting monarchy. No commonwealth, no unitary authority at all. So no digit repeats within a chess King’s move. Of course, normal Sudoku rules already eliminate repeated digits in orthogonally-adjacent cells, so really an Anti-King constraint only eliminates repeated digits in diagonal neighbors. Wacky kings!

Thither and Yon

Hither be a puzzle with Between Lines, nice long ones. Digits may run from one end to the other, and yet cannot escape, trapped between the circles at each end.

Three-in-a-Row Quadro

Three of these things belong together / three of these things are kind of the same // Can you guess which one of these doesn’t belong here? / Now it’s time to play our game // It’s time to play our game

I Will Follow You Into the Dark

If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied / Illuminate the NOs on their Vacancy signs // If there’s no one beside you when your soul embarks / Then I’ll follow you into the dark // - with much gratitude to Ben Gibbard

Quadrophobia

It’s less common in the world of Sudoku, but many pencil puzzles have a “2x2” rule, although most of those involve “shaded” and “unshaded” cells. We don’t do shading in Sudoku-land, so it’s Odds and Evens instead. You can shade or color it if you like, so long as you break up every 2x2 set of cells.

Pink Houses

Ain’t that a renban line / for you and me // Ain’t that a renban line / something to see // Ain’t that a renban line / the puzzle is free // Little pink houses for you and me (with apologies to Mr. Mellencamp)

Crystal Palace

Crystalline shards and sharp angles, it’s like a Fortress of Solitude in this puzzle.