Artisanal Sudoku, Volume 233

1. Abdominal

• Normal sudoku rules apply (fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each), and all clues are standard.

• Cages: the sum of the digits inside each cage is equal to the small number in the top left corner, and digits cannot repeat within a cage.

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 2/10

Play online: SudokuPad | unshaded

New to variant sudoku? Check out these beginner-friendly guides to cages and other popular rulesets.

Check out last week’s third puzzle, Forty-Four, on Cracking the Cryptic!

2. Emerald City

• Normal sudoku rules apply (fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each), and all clues are standard.

• German whispers: along green lines, digits differ from their neighbors by at least 5.

• Digits in cells separated by a white dot are consecutive.

• Digits in cells separated by a black dot have a 1:2 ratio.

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 5/10

Play online: SudokuPad

The Artisanal Sudoku book is available now! Order from Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart, or your retailer of choice. If you’ve already bought a copy, please leave a rating and review to help others find it. Thanks!

3. Sincronizada

• Normal sudoku rules apply (fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each), and all clues are standard.

• Arrows: the sum of the digits along an arrow is equal to the digit in the connected circle, and these digits can repeat if allowed by other rules.

• Palindromes: (thicker) gray lines are palindromes, which contain the same sequence of digits in either direction.

• Quadruple circles: a digit inside a white circle appears in one of the four cells surrounding that circle.

• Very rough difficulty estimates: 8/10, 6/10

Play online: SudokuPad

Extra clues: SudokuPad

Prime Week Bonus Puzzle!

This puzzle, called Hazard Pay, was inspired by various similar puzzles by Michael Lefkowitz.

• Normal 6x6 sudoku rules apply (fill each row, column, and box with the digits 1-6 once each).

• A digit on an arrow indicates the number of different digits that appear at least once in the direction of the arrow (not including the cell with the arrow).
  For clarity: the digit on the arrow is not included in the count, but that digit is counted if it appears again in at least one of the cells seen by the arrow, e.g. if the digit in r2c1 is 3, placing 1-2-2-3 along the diagonal from r3c2 to r6c5 would be a possible fill.

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 5/10

Play online: SudokuPad

Some other puzzles I enjoyed this week:

• Dabbed Facade, by Scojo

• Splatter Code, by Vythic

• Pick-up Sticks (Purple), by Marty Sears

• SVS #472 - Magic Japanese summer, by Richard
  note: does not have solution checking

Thanks for subscribing to Artisanal Sudoku! Feedback is always appreciated, just leave a comment, reach out on Bluesky, or reply to this email. If you liked these puzzles, you probably know someone else who’d like them too, so please spread the word. If you’re interested in submitting a puzzle, click here for more information. And if you want to try more of my puzzles—many of which are tougher than the ones you’ll find here—check out my page on Logic Masters Deutschland.

This week’s meta-description:
One of the fun things about the prime bonus puzzles is that (I like to assume) they’re always a surprise. Like, did you know off the top of your head that 233 is prime? I certainly didn’t.

For premium subscribers, hints and two more bonus puzzles are below. This week: the return of your favorite type of outside-the-grid clues!*
*Assuming your favorite outside-the-grid clues are X-sums.