Play medium Sudoku online
Fewer clues, and units you have to read as a whole.
Already have a game running at this grade? The same link picks it back up where you left it.
What a medium grid is like
Medium removes roughly a quarter of the clues Easy gives you, and adds one idea: locked candidates. You will meet squares where no single row or column settles the answer, but the fact that a digit can only sit in one band of a box rules it out everywhere else. This is the grade where pencil marks start to earn their keep, and where most players settle in once the rules are second nature.
| Clues kept | 32–38 of 81 |
|---|---|
| Hardest technique needed | Hidden singles and locked candidates |
| Hints per game | 4 |
| Mistakes allowed | 3 |
| Solutions | Exactly one, always |
A grade is two constraints, checked together. Clue count alone is a poor signal — a 30-clue grid can be trivial — so the generator also solves every candidate puzzle with a technique ladder and re-digs anything that comes out easier or harder than this grade promises.
How to approach it
Start the same way — scan by digit — and expect it to run out sooner. When it does, look for a unit where a digit has only one square left rather than a square with only one digit left. Those are hidden singles, and they are the backbone of this grade.
This is where notes start paying for themselves. Fill them in for one box at a time rather than the whole grid; a box with a pair of squares sharing the same two candidates immediately frees the rest of that box.
Try another grade
- Easy Sudoku — Plenty of clues, and every square findable on its own.
- Hard Sudoku — Sparse. Expect to rule things out before anything falls.
- Expert Sudoku — Very sparse. Long chains, and notes close to essential.
- Daily Challenge — one puzzle a day, the same grid for everyone.
New to the game? How to play covers the first few moves, the rules explain why there is always exactly one answer, and the strategy guide works through every technique named above.