Daily Sudoku for October 1, 2026

The daily sudoku challenge for Thursday, October 1, 2026 — a free medium 9×9 puzzle with a verified unique solution. Thursday's medium grid rewards systematic players — hunt for pairs and pointing patterns.

Starting grid

Daily Challenge

Mistakes: 0 Time: 00:00

Puzzle Facts

Difficulty: Medium · Clues: 33 of 81 cells (48 to solve)
Clues per digit: 1 ×4, 2 ×2, 3 ×1, 4 ×5, 5 ×5, 6 ×4, 7 ×6, 8 ×4, 9 ×2
Digit 7 is the most clued with 6 appearances.
Warm-up hint: the 3rd row has the most clues (5) — a good place to start.
Watch the 1st column: only 3 of its nine cells are clued, so it holds 6 of the puzzle's open questions.
Box note: the 4th 3×3 box is the emptiest with just 2 clues — it will demand the most cross-hatching.

Puzzle snapshot for the 274th day of the year.

Technique focus for this grid

Mark bivalue cells as you scan. Cells with exactly two candidates are the hinges of every advanced technique. Lightly circling them early gives you a map of where pairs, wings, and chains will appear later.

Clue map

Prefer solving on paper? Transcribe today's grid from this list:

Row 1: c6 = 5, c7 = 6, c9 = 7
Row 2: c2 = 6, c5 = 7, c8 = 9, c9 = 8
Row 3: c1 = 3, c3 = 8, c6 = 4, c7 = 1, c8 = 5
Row 4: c4 = 5, c5 = 4
Row 5: c2 = 1, c3 = 4, c5 = 8, c7 = 5, c8 = 7
Row 6: c5 = 2, c6 = 1
Row 7: c2 = 9, c3 = 1, c4 = 4, c7 = 7, c9 = 6
Row 8: c1 = 7, c2 = 8, c5 = 5, c8 = 2
Row 9: c1 = 4, c3 = 6, c4 = 7

Everyone who played on this date solved the same puzzle: it is generated deterministically from the date itself, and the starting grid above shows exactly what appeared on the board that day. Your in-progress game saves automatically in your browser.

Other Recent Daily Puzzles

Looking for today's grid? Play the current daily sudoku challenge, or generate unlimited puzzles on play sudoku online. Prefer paper? Grab a set from the printable sudoku library. New to the game? Start with the rules of sudoku.