Expert Sudoku Puzzles

A puzzle is rated Expert here when its hardest required technique is X-Wing or Swordfish — verified by a solver, not guessed from a star rating. 25,010 of the 65,284 puzzles in our library are rated Expert. How our difficulty ratings work.

Expert puzzles require the fish patterns — X-Wing and Swordfish — where a candidate locked into matching rows and columns eliminates it across the rest of the grid. These are the hardest puzzles in our library and assume every earlier technique is second nature.

Play expert puzzles

  1. Expert puzzle #1 — 26 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Naked Pair, Omission, Naked Triplet, X-Wing
  2. Expert puzzle #2 — 26 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Omission, X-Wing, Swordfish
  3. Expert puzzle #3 — 24 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Omission, Naked Triplet, Hidden Pair, X-Wing
  4. Expert puzzle #4 — 24 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Naked Pair, X-Wing, Swordfish
  5. Expert puzzle #5 — 24 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Naked Pair, Omission, Hidden Triplet, X-Wing
  6. Expert puzzle #6 — 23 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Naked Pair, Omission, Naked Triplet, Hidden Pair, Swordfish
  7. Expert puzzle #7 — 23 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Omission, Naked Triplet, Hidden Triplet, X-Wing
  8. Expert puzzle #8 — 27 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Naked Pair, Naked Triplet, Swordfish
  9. Expert puzzle #9 — 25 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Omission, X-Wing
  10. Expert puzzle #10 — 25 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Omission, Naked Triplet, Hidden Triplet, Swordfish
  11. Expert puzzle #11 — 23 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Omission, Naked Triplet, Hidden Pair, X-Wing
  12. Expert puzzle #12 — 23 givens · needs Naked Single, Hidden Single, Naked Pair, Omission, Naked Triplet, Swordfish
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Expert Sudoku FAQ

What makes a Sudoku puzzle expert?
On Precision Sudoku, difficulty is defined by the hardest technique a puzzle actually requires, verified by a solver — not by a vague star rating. A puzzle is rated Expert when the hardest move it needs is X-Wing or Swordfish.
How many expert Sudoku puzzles are there on Precision Sudoku?
25,010 of the 65,284 verified puzzles in the Precision Sudoku library are rated Expert, meaning their hardest required technique is X-Wing or Swordfish.
What techniques do I need to solve an expert Sudoku?
Expert puzzles require the fish patterns — X-Wing and Swordfish — where a candidate locked into matching rows and columns eliminates it across the rest of the grid. These are the hardest puzzles in our library and assume every earlier technique is second nature.