Sudoku techniques

Six moves solve almost every sudoku you will ever meet. They are listed here in the order you meet them, and each page carries a real grid where the move fires — not a drawing, but a position our generator produced and our solver checked.

1. Hidden single Easy Scan the boxes. No pencil marks needed.
2. Naked single Medium Pencil marks start to pay off.
3. Naked pair Hard Needs a pair or a locked digit.
4. Pointing pair Hard Needs a pair or a locked digit.
5. Box/line reduction Hard Needs a pair or a locked digit.
6. Naked triple Expert Goes past the standard techniques. Take your time.

Why a technique page and not a solver

There is no shortage of sites that will solve a sudoku for you, and none of them make you any better at it. The most popular request from people who love these puzzles is the opposite: a hint that explains itself. So our in-game hint names the technique and the row, column or box to use it in before it ever names a cell, and that first step is free. These pages are the long version of the same thing.

Ready to try one? Pick a level: easy, medium, hard, expert. Or take today's daily grid, which everybody gets on the same day.