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Sudoku Solver
for Android
Updated 14 June 2025
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Killer Sudoku Solver
Click to edit candidates or enter a solution: Show Candidates

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Auto Clear Show Cage Parity
Clues+Solved: 0/81
Help on Killer Definitions used in this solver for transporting puzzles
Now updated and expanded!
Quick help: Using this Solver

You can pick examples from the list above. Click on Take Step to step through the solution. Unknown squares are filled with 'candidates' - possible solutions.
Any cells that are reduced to one possible candidate are solved.

You can enter a new Killer puzzle using the new 'designer' - click on "Enter new Killer". Once you fill in the clues and set up the cages correctly it can be solved.

Unlike the other solvers you can only edit the main board when solving. The small board only displays the clues.
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Version 2.36.4
See Strategy Overview documentation

Coordinate system: Letter/Number rYcX

1
2
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5
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8
9
Check for Solved Squares   
Show Possibles  
 1: Hidden Singles  
 2: Naked Pairs/Triples  
 3: Hidden Pairs/Triples 
 4: Quads 
 5: Innies and Outies (1 cell)  
 6: Killer Combinations (easy)  
 7: Pointing Pairs  
 8: Box/Line Reduction  
Tough Strategies
 9: X-Wing  
10: Chute Remote Pairs  
11: Simple Colouring  
12: Y-Wing  
13: Rule of Parity  
14: Cage Splitting  
15: Innies/Outies (2+ cells)  
16: Cage/Unit Overlap  
17: Killer Combo's (hard)  
18: Cage Compare  
19: Rectangle Elimination  
20: Swordfish  
21: XYZ Wing  
Diabolical Strategies
22: X-Cycles  
23: XY-Chain  
24: 3D Medusa  
25: Jellyfish  
26: WXYZ Wing  
27: Aligned Pair Exclusion  
Extreme Strategies
28: Grouped X-Cycles  
29: Finned X-Wing  
30: Finned Swordfish  
31: Altern. Inference Chains 
32: Sue-de-Coq  
33: Digit Forcing Chains  
34: Nishio Forcing Chains 
35: Cell Forcing Chains  
36: Unit Forcing Chains  
37: Almost Locked Sets  
38: Death Blossom  
39: Quad Forcing Chains  
"Trial and Error" 
40: Bowman's Bingo 

Welcome to this Killer Sudoku Solver

Killer Sudoku solver has quite a complicated definition and I hope the method I've created to enter a puzzle works for most people. The independent 'Designer' handles the entering of the clues and cages. Keeping this separate and being able to (loosely) validate the entry should allow puzzle solvers a fairly quick way of setting up the puzzle for solving. I hope you agree and I'd love to hear your feedback.


You should also be aware of the Killer Cage Convention.

February 2025: I have adapted the solver to work with Killer puzzles where single (1-cell) cages are blank. However it will display a warning that it expects all cages to add up to 405. Three examples added to the example list.

How to play Killer Sudoku

Killer is based on Sudoku, so ultimately you need to place the numbers 1 to 9 on all the cell so that 1 to 9 is unique in every row, column and box. However, you will have few, if any, completed cells in Killer. Instead, groups of cells form blocks or 'cages' - and the clue is the sum of the solutions to those squares. Each 'cage' is shown by a color or dashed line. A clue of '3' in a two-cell cage means those cells will contain 1 and 2 - but it won't be obvious which way round at the start of the puzzle.

Combinations are key to this puzzle at the outset, but all Sudoku strategies still apply. Killer specific strategies have been highlighted in cyan in the strategy list.


New: Version 2.36.4 (June 25th 2025)
[Load Puzzle] I have been inspired by this Cracking The Cryptic video from a few years ago on solving Killer Sudokus to make the early strategies optional. If Simon here doesn't need a full candidate spread and Sudoku strategies (apart from one Quad) perhaps the solver does not. So now it is possible to turn of Pairs, Triples, Box Line Reduction, all the early Sudoku strategies (keep Quads on). And yes it can plough through.
Under the hood I've increased the hit rate for Cage Unit Overlap.

New: Version 2.36.1 (June 19th 2025)
Added the Grader button. Feel confident this isn't going to be the CPU hog it once was. Added a Killer Cage Convention check and warning.

New: Version 2.35.1 (May 31st 2025)
Improved 'Hints Mode' next to Take Step. Choose between only revealing the next strategy, just the pattern or just the eliminations.

New in version 2.31.4 (11th Feb 2025)
Added Parity Strategy to the solver.


New: Version 1.02 (June 13th 2009)
Killer Sudoku Solver released
Solver created on 30-May-2009.
This page was last modified on 18-Jun-2025
All code and design is copyright and for personal use only and may not be reproduced elsewhere.
Copyright Andrew Stuart @ Syndicated Puzzles, 2005-2025, Privacy
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