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Daily Challenge

One Certain Sudoku Number

Use a row and a column to find one certain number on a 4x4 Sudoku board, with a hint and complete checked solution.

Difficulty: Easy

Puzzle prompt

Find the number at D3: column D, row 3, highlighted with a question mark. This is a small 4x4 Sudoku: every row, column, and thick-bordered 2x2 box must contain 1, 2, 3, and 4 exactly once. Keep the printed clues fixed.

Four-by-four Sudoku with zero meaning blank. Rows: 1 0 3 0; 0 4 0 2; 0 1 4 0; 4 0 0 1. Find D3, the last cell in row 3.

Find just D3 first. You can finish the other cells afterward.

Hint

Row 3 already contains 1 and 4, leaving 2 or 3 for D3. Check column D: can both candidates still fit?

Answer and explanation

D3 is 3. Row 3 is missing 2 and 3, but column D already contains a 2 at D2. That rules out 2. The lower-right box contains 4 and 1, so 3 is allowed there too.

The complete board has one solution. Rows from top to bottom are:

  1. 1, 2, 3, 4
  2. 3, 4, 1, 2
  3. 2, 1, 4, 3
  4. 4, 3, 2, 1

Check each column and 2x2 box as well as the rows. Every group contains each digit once, and every starting clue is unchanged.

Play next

See another worked board in Your First Sudoku Move. For a quick number-order warmup, try Daily Number Puzzle. For a full-size daily Sudoku with a Key9 twist, play DaySudoku, a related external puzzle site. Explore other styles in Puzzlepia Games.