Hardest Sudoku — SE grade 5.0–6.4
SE grade 5.0 to 6.4
By The Hardest Sudoku Team · Last updated
TL;DR
Harder than the everyday app puzzle. Basic fish (X-Wing) and consistent candidate elimination across rows and columns become the bread and butter.
What is a SE grade 5.0–6.4 puzzle like?
Harder than the everyday app puzzle. Basic fish (X-Wing) and consistent candidate elimination across rows and columns become the bread and butter.
Which techniques does this band need?
Puzzles in this band typically require:
What this band actually requires
We publish 9 puzzles in this band, and a full logical solve takes 65 steps on average. These are measured from our own solver, not estimated.
- · Naked Single — needed by 9 of 9
- · Hidden Single — needed by 9 of 9
- · Claiming (Locked Candidates) — needed by 4 of 9
- · Pointing (Locked Candidates) — needed by 9 of 9
- · Naked Pair — needed by 8 of 9
- · X-Wing — needed by 1 of 9
- · Forcing Chain — needed by 8 of 9
Technique counts come from running our step-by-step solver over every published puzzle in the band.
Puzzles in this band
Where does this sit on the scale?
See the full ladder on the SE grade page. The hardest puzzles — the monsters — live at the top of the scale; meet them on What is the hardest Sudoku?
Play puzzles at this grade →