KILLER / 001
Killer Sudoku
Classic Sudoku rules, plus one twist: each dashed cage adds up to its small number. No repeated digits inside a cage. How to play Killer Sudoku ↗
Difficulty ⓘ
Guided uses cages of up to 3 cells; Classic cages allows up to 4. These are practice styles, not a universal difficulty rating.
Preparing your puzzle…
How to play Killer Sudoku
Three familiar rules, one new clue
Fill every row, column and 3×3 box with 1–9 once each. A dashed cage is a connected group of cells: its digits must add to the small total in its corner, without repeating. A cage can cross a box boundary. A one-cell cage gives its digit directly.
Start with a small sum
A two-cell cage totalling 4 must contain 1 and 3, not 2 and 2. Their order is not yet known. If the first cell shares a column with an existing 1, it must be 3, and the second must be 1. Always check all the Sudoku constraints.
Use the remainder
A three-cell cage totals 16. If two of its cells are 4 and 7, the last is 16 − 4 − 7 = 5. Our hints explain this subtraction before you choose to apply it.