Easy printable sudoku
66 easy sudoku sheets in one place: the clue ladder from 50 down to 38, one, two or four grids to a page, large print with numbers 15mm tall, 6x6 boards for a first go, blank grids to copy into, and sheets that carry their own answer under a fold line. Every puzzle here finishes by scanning, with no candidate notes and no guessing.
66 printable sheets ·
Checked and published by 
Nora Quill
One easy sudoku a page, 42 clues
The original set, and still the one most people are after: a single 9x9 grid filling an A4 page at 20mm a square, dug from a complete board down to 42 of the 81 numbers. That clue count is the whole difference between an easy sudoku and a hard one, and at 42 the grid comes apart by scanning: pick a digit, look at a box, cross off the rows and columns that already hold it. The answer is the last page of the file, so nothing is spoiled while you work.
The clue ladder inside easy: 50, 46 and 38
Easy is not one level, it is a range, and the only thing moving is how many of the 81 squares start filled. Fifty clues leaves 31 blanks and is the version to hand somebody who has never finished a sudoku. Forty six is a comfortable evening. Thirty eight is the ceiling of what still comes apart by pure scanning, and it is the honest step to take before the 33 clue medium boards rather than jumping straight at them. Every one of these prints a single grid at 20mm a square.
Two and four sudoku on the same page
One grid a page is a lot of paper when a waiting room, a car journey or a class of thirty needs several. These fit two grids stacked down the sheet at 12mm a square, or four in a block at 9.6mm, all numbered, all the same level and never the same puzzle twice on one page. Nine point six millimetres is still wider than a newspaper sudoku, so nothing has been squeezed to make the count work.
Large print sudoku, numbers 15mm tall
This is not the same sheet enlarged on the photocopier. The margins come in to 10mm, the subtitle line comes off, and the board grows to 190mm with 21.1mm squares, so the printed numerals stand 15.2mm tall against the 12.4mm every other sheet on this site prints. The rules of the grid are drawn heavier too, which is the part that matters when the paper is held at a distance or read under a lamp. Five boards, from 50 clues down to 38.
Six by six boards, the step before a full 9x9
A different board, not an easier 9x9: thirty six squares, the numbers 1 to 6, and boxes three wide and two tall instead of the square 3x3. Everything else is the same rule, which is exactly why it works as a first real sudoku for a child of six or seven, or for anybody who wants one that finishes in five minutes. The squares print 25mm across, larger than anything on the 9x9 sheets, and the ladder here runs from 24 clues down to 16.
Sheets for a first sudoku, and blank grids
The puzzle is the ordinary one; what changes is the rest of the paper. One sheet prints the three rules across the top for somebody who has never been shown them. One puts a completely finished grid beside the rules as a worked example, so a teacher does not have to draw one on the board. Two carry a name and date line so a set comes back identifiable. And two carry nothing at all: empty 9x9 lattices for copying a newspaper puzzle into or for setting your own.
Sheets that check themselves
On these the answer is printed on the same page, in a 52mm grid at the foot, behind a dotted line you fold under before you start. You check your own work at the end without a second file and without the solution sitting in front of you the whole time. They are the only sheets here whose PDF has no answer page, because the answer is already on them.
What "easy" means here, and how it is checked
The only thing that makes one sudoku harder than another is how many of the 81 squares start filled in. Nothing else about the rules changes. On this page that number runs from 50 down to 38, and every board in that range comes apart with a single technique: pick a digit, look at a box, cross off every row and column that already holds that digit, and see which square is left.
That is a claim, so it is tested rather than asserted. Before a sheet is published the site solves it twice: once with a full search, to confirm there is exactly one answer and not two, and once with a solver that is only allowed to place a number when a square has one candidate left or when a digit has one place left in a row, column or box. If the second solver stalls anywhere, the board is thrown away and a different one is generated. That is why nothing here needs pencil marks in the margins, and why running out of ideas on one of these means there is a deduction you have not spotted yet, never that you have to guess.
The clue ladder: 50, 46, 42 and 38
Easy is a range, not a single level, and the ladder is worth using deliberately.
- 50 clues leaves 31 squares to fill. This is the one to hand somebody who has never finished a sudoku, or to put in front of a child who has just learned the rules. It falls over almost as fast as you can write.
- 46 clues is a comfortable quarter of an hour. Enough of the board is missing to feel like a puzzle, not enough to stall.
- 42 clues is the classic set at the top of the page, roughly half the grid, and the size most people mean by "easy sudoku".
- 38 clues is the ceiling of what still finishes by scanning alone. It is the honest step to take before the 33 clue medium boards, instead of jumping straight at them and bouncing.
Each card also carries two measurements taken from that specific board: how many blank squares already accept only one digit, which is your opening, and how few clues the barest row was left with, which is the row to leave until last. Those are measured on the grid rather than estimated, so two boards with the same clue count still read differently.
How many grids you want on one page
One puzzle to a sheet is right when the grid is the point and you want 20mm squares to write in. It is a lot of paper when a waiting room, a long car journey or a class of thirty needs several. The two up sheets stack two grids down the page at 12mm a square; the four up sheets fit four in a block at 9.6mm, which is still wider than a newspaper sudoku. Every grid on a multi puzzle sheet is numbered, they are all the same level, and no sheet ever repeats a puzzle.
Large print, and what actually gets bigger
The large print sheets are not the ordinary page enlarged on a photocopier, which only makes the paper bigger. The margins come in from 15mm to 10mm, the subtitle line is dropped, and the board grows to 190mm across with 21.1mm squares. The result is numerals printed 15.2mm tall against the 12.4mm on every other sheet on this site, and grid rules drawn noticeably heavier. That combination is what matters if the page is being read under a lamp, at a distance, or by someone who has stopped enjoying a standard puzzle book.
The 6x6 board
A 6x6 sudoku is a different board, not a watered down 9x9: thirty six squares, the numbers 1 to 6, and boxes three wide and two tall instead of square 3x3 blocks. Every rule is otherwise identical, which is exactly what makes it a good first real sudoku for a child of six or seven, and a good five minute puzzle for anybody else. The squares print 25mm across, larger than anything on the 9x9 sheets. If even that is too much, the 4x4 sudoku page goes down to sixteen squares and versions played with pictures instead of numbers.
Sheets that teach, and blank grids
Four sheets on this page change the paper rather than the puzzle. One prints the three rules across the top for somebody who has never been shown them. One puts a complete finished grid next to the rules as a worked example, so a teacher does not have to draw one on the board first. Two carry a name and date line, so a class set comes back identifiable.
Two more carry no puzzle at all: empty 9x9 lattices, one to a page or four to a page. They are there for copying a newspaper puzzle into so the original stays clean, for setting a puzzle for somebody else, or for a second attempt at a grid you have already made a mess of in pen.
Checking your answer
Most sheets here carry the answer on the last page of their PDF, so the solution sits behind the puzzle rather than in front of you. The self check sheets do it the other way round: the answer is printed on the same page in a 52mm grid at the foot, behind a dotted line you fold under before you start. One sheet, one print, and no second file to find at the end. Those are the only sheets on this page whose PDF has no answer page, because they do not need one.
When to move up
If the 38 clue boards are going down without a pause, the medium boards at around 33 clues on the main sudoku page are the next step. That is where noting candidates in the corners starts to earn its keep. The hard set at 26 clues is a longer jump again, and it still never requires a guess.
Printing
Choose 100 percent or "actual size" rather than "fit to page", so the squares stay the size they were designed at. The margin is already built into every file, so an A4 page prints on US Letter without losing anything, including the large print sheets with their narrower 10mm border. Black and white at normal quality is all any of these need.
How to use these sheets
- Pick a sheet and press Print. The file is a PDF sized for A4 and Letter paper.
- Print it in black and white at normal quality. None of these sheets need colour ink except the colour by number pages.
- Keep the answer page for yourself, or print it too if you want to check the work later.