Easy Sudoku
Play it here or print a sheet. Solvable with the two simplest techniques and nothing else — no guessing, and never more than one answer.
Print a sheet of 6
Six gentle puzzles and their answers, on separate sheets so a puzzle cannot be spoiled by the page it is on.
The puzzles
Puzzle 1 — Gentle 1 9 2 8 6 8 4 8 6 5 8 9 7 6 1 3 3 6 2 1 9 5 8 6 5 2 8 7 4 Puzzle 2 — Gentle 1 2 3 4 7 5 9 4 2 9 8 1 4 7 6 7 5 6 4 6 9 2 7 8 1 Puzzle 3 — Gentle 6 4 1 9 1 3 7 6 7 4 1 9 6 7 7 9 3 8 1 2 3 6 3 4 7 1 9 2 8 Puzzle 4 — Gentle 8 1 6 2 7 4 2 1 7 3 8 4 9 3 6 1 4 8 2 5 9 7 4 8 9 1 5 Puzzle 5 — Gentle 5 2 4 9 7 5 3 8 7 4 6 7 1 3 1 2 5 8 5 2 3 1 8 9 6 3 8 1 4 3 Puzzle 6 — Gentle 8 2 4 8 5 3 5 7 9 3 5 1 4 9 6 4 9 2 7 1 3 4 7 1 3 1 9 5 2 3
The answers
Puzzle 1 — Gentle (answer) 5 1 9 4 7 2 8 6 3 6 2 3 1 5 8 4 7 9 7 4 8 3 6 9 2 1 5 2 8 1 9 4 3 6 5 7 4 6 5 2 1 7 9 3 8 3 9 7 5 8 6 1 2 4 1 3 6 7 9 4 5 8 2 8 7 4 6 2 5 3 9 1 9 5 2 8 3 1 7 4 6 Puzzle 2 — Gentle (answer) 6 7 5 3 8 1 4 9 2 3 4 2 6 7 9 5 1 8 1 9 8 4 2 5 3 7 6 4 5 3 7 6 2 9 8 1 2 8 1 9 4 3 7 6 5 9 6 7 5 1 8 2 3 4 7 1 9 2 5 6 8 4 3 5 3 6 8 9 4 1 2 7 8 2 4 1 3 7 6 5 9 Puzzle 3 — Gentle (answer) 6 4 7 1 2 5 8 3 9 9 1 5 8 4 3 2 6 7 8 2 3 6 9 7 4 5 1 5 3 1 9 6 4 7 8 2 4 8 6 2 7 1 5 9 3 2 7 9 5 3 8 1 4 6 7 5 2 3 8 6 9 1 4 3 9 8 4 1 2 6 7 5 1 6 4 7 5 9 3 2 8 Puzzle 4 — Gentle (answer) 8 3 4 1 7 6 5 2 9 1 7 6 2 5 9 8 3 4 5 9 2 3 8 4 1 7 6 3 5 7 6 1 8 4 9 2 9 4 8 5 3 2 6 1 7 2 6 1 4 9 7 3 5 8 6 2 5 7 4 3 9 8 1 7 1 9 8 6 5 2 4 3 4 8 3 9 2 1 7 6 5 Puzzle 5 — Gentle (answer) 5 8 7 4 9 6 2 3 1 3 4 9 7 2 1 6 5 8 1 2 6 3 5 8 7 4 9 6 5 2 9 3 7 1 8 4 4 9 3 1 8 2 5 7 6 7 1 8 5 6 4 3 9 2 2 3 1 8 7 9 4 6 5 9 6 5 2 4 3 8 1 7 8 7 4 6 1 5 9 2 3 Puzzle 6 — Gentle (answer) 4 6 5 1 9 3 8 2 7 2 7 9 4 6 8 3 5 1 8 3 1 5 2 7 6 9 4 3 5 7 8 1 4 2 6 9 1 2 6 3 5 9 4 7 8 9 8 4 2 7 6 5 1 3 5 4 2 7 8 1 9 3 6 6 1 8 9 3 5 7 4 2 7 9 3 6 4 2 1 8 5
What "easy" actually means here
An easy puzzle on this site is one that a solver can finish using singles alone. There are two kinds and they are worth naming, because knowing which one you are looking for is most of the skill at this level.
A naked single is a square where only one digit will fit — everything else in its row, its column or its box is already taken. You find them by looking at one square and eliminating.
A hidden single is the other direction: a digit that fits in only one square of a row, a column or a box, even though that square could also hold other digits. You find them by looking at one digit across a whole unit. Beginners often miss hidden singles entirely and conclude a puzzle is stuck when it is not.
Why easy is not the same as "lots of clues"
It is tempting to assume that more starting numbers means an easier puzzle, and some generators are built on that assumption — sudoku.com describes its own levels that way, by how many numbers are already shown.
It does not hold. A puzzle with thirty clues can require a technique this page does not use, and a puzzle with twenty-four can fall to singles all the way down. What decides difficulty is which reasoning the puzzle forces, not how much of the grid it hands you.
So the easy puzzles here are graded by running a solver that works the way a person does and checking that it never needed anything harder than a single. The clue count is printed as a matter of interest and is not what the label means.
Working through one
Scan boxes before rows. A box is nine squares in one glance, and at this level most of the early placements are hidden singles inside a box, which are the fastest to spot.
When a box stops yielding, take one digit and check every row and column for it in turn. Sweeping by digit rather than by square is what turns a stuck grid into a moving one, and it is a habit worth building before the harder levels need it.
If you genuinely cannot place anything, on this site that means you have missed one — not that a guess is required. Every puzzle here is checked before printing to confirm that logic alone finishes it.
Common questions
What makes a Sudoku easy?
That it can be solved with singles alone: a square where only one digit fits, or a digit that fits only one square in a row, column or box. Nothing on this page needs anything else.
Do easy Sudoku puzzles have more numbers to start?
Usually, but that is not what makes them easy and it is not how they are graded here. A thirty-clue puzzle can need a technique a twenty-four-clue one does not.
Can I get stuck on an easy puzzle?
You can get stuck, but the puzzle is never at fault — every one is checked to confirm it is solvable by reasoning alone. If nothing will place, sweep digit by digit through each row and column rather than square by square.