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#685, February 14 - February 20, 2026:
The Weekly 'Unsolvable' Sudoku Puzzle

by Andrew Stuart

WARNING: This is the Weekly 'Unsolvable' Sudoku, rated above 'Extreme'.
This is currently unsolvable by my solver, except perhaps with trial and error strategies.
Using the solver will not help you. (much).

Archive

Each week a new 'unsolvable' will be published and the previous will be accessible here from this archive section. If you like very tough puzzles, these are for you.
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Supporter Members have access to all these puzzles going back to number 1.

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Monday 16-Feb-2026

... by: Serban

# 685 A6=7 Basics 25

1. B4=2 & B5=5 solve

@ Tomas
1. if A9=3 => UP 77 F3=G7=J18=0
2. if A8=3 => UP 27

Monday 16-Feb-2026

... by: Frans Goosens

#685

Combination 2-digits cells

A1=5 No solution, Undo calculation
A1=9 Wrong, Undo calculation
A1=5 No solution, Fixed
A2=1 ( B3=6 ) Solved,

Total solving time is : 35 sec.
Number of logical steps is : 4675

Sunday 15-Feb-2026

... by: Tomas

#685
After Basics, to 25 numbers,
A9=3 leads to contradiction => A8=3.
Solved

Sunday 15-Feb-2026

... by: Serban

# 685 A6=7 Basics 25
1.Column 1 n=3 e=6 Nc=19 Ns=17 =>
1a. E1=7 solve
1b. A1=5 & F1=2 solve

2. Number 9 n=2 e=7 N=30 Nc=65 Ns=9 =>
2a. A9=G1=9 solve
2b. A9=9 & F3=4 solve
2c. A9=9 & F1=2 solve

Saturday 14-Feb-2026

... by: Dieter

#685 - initially populated cells: 24 = 29,6 %
No solver used, solver = brain.
basics: A6=7
populated cells: 25 = 30,9 %
Strategy: numbers 6,7,4,5,8 occur most frequently, combine two cells.
combinations of C1 = (4,5,6,9) and D4 = (1,2,4,6,9)
after basic checks 2 matrices left: C1/D4 = 4/4 and 4/6
C1/D4 = 4/4 solves with B8=8

Optimization:
C1=4 & B8=8 solve.

Saturday 14-Feb-2026

... by: Yves

B4=2 or C7=2 or E1=7 or G3=7 or G5=8
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