Expert sudoku.

You'll need X-wing, Y-wing, or coloring to finish. Cross-hatching alone won't get past 50%.

19-22 givens·Average solve: 20-45 minutes·Free, no signup

What expert sudoku is like

Expert puzzles are designed to force you into the named techniques. The grid sets up at least one structure — an X-wing, a Y-wing, an XY-chain — that you have to spot and apply before the rest opens up. Without those, you'll be staring at a half-solved grid for 20 minutes. With them, the puzzle starts to feel less like work and more like a craft.

Techniques you’ll use

→Everything from Hard, plus:
→X-wing: a digit that appears as a candidate in exactly two cells in two different rows, forming a rectangle, eliminates that digit from the connecting columns
→Y-wing (also called XY-wing): a pattern of three cells where the candidate logic forces an elimination two cells away
→Simple coloring / chains: chasing a candidate through a chain of strong links and applying inferences along the way

When to play it

Best for a focused session — coffee, no notifications, you actually want to learn. Sunday afternoons are made for Expert puzzles.

Difficulty context: Roughly three times the time of Hard, with a steeper failure rate. Most casual solvers bail on Expert; the ones who don't end up loving it.

All difficulties