Hardest Sudoku — SE grade 8.8–10.5
SE grade 8.8 to 10.5
By The Hardest Sudoku Team · Last updated
TL;DR
The monster ceiling. No easy entry point and long forcing chains end to end — the home of AI Escargot, Golden Nugget and Platinum Blonde.
What is a SE grade 8.8–10.5 puzzle like?
The monster ceiling. No easy entry point and long forcing chains end to end — the home of AI Escargot, Golden Nugget and Platinum Blonde.
Which techniques does this band need?
Puzzles in this band typically require:
What this band actually requires
We publish 98 puzzles in this band, and a full logical solve takes 78 steps on average. These are measured from our own solver, not estimated.
- · Naked Single — needed by 98 of 98
- · Hidden Single — needed by 98 of 98
- · Claiming (Locked Candidates) — needed by 47 of 98
- · Pointing (Locked Candidates) — needed by 98 of 98
- · Naked Pair — needed by 81 of 98
- · Hidden Pair — needed by 16 of 98
- · X-Wing — needed by 11 of 98
- · XY-Wing — needed by 15 of 98
- · Forcing Chain — needed by 98 of 98
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 →