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The Daily Sudoku · Hard · edition № 139

Daily Hard Sudoku (Free Printable, New Every Day)

A fresh hard 9×9 every morning that requires an X-Wing, XY-Wing or Swordfish somewhere, never a guess. Large-format layout with room for pencil marks, answer key small on page two. New edition at 3:01 AM Pacific; every past edition archived.

PUZZLE — № 139FRI · OCT 2, 20269×9Sudoku, daily.Eighty-one squares — and the patient minds that fill them.EASYMEDIUM● HARDEXPERT···97212975756483539491561757243471TIME ___ : ___DEDUCE · ELIMINATE · SOLVE№ 139THE DAILY SUDOKU · APOLLOSTEMPLATES.COM
▶ Play online at PuzzleFuelPast editions →

Edition № 139 · FRI · OCT 2, 2026 · refreshes daily at 3:01 AM PT

Easy lineMedium lineHard lineExpert lineSadistic lineHard archive: every past edition →
What you print

What the daily hard edition looks like on paper

Page one of a real edition from this line. One grid per page, large digits, the date and edition number in the header.

Daily Sudoku hard edition page with a large 9x9 headline, edition number and date, a difficulty tab strip marking Hard and one big grid with sparse givens

The Hard edition, page one

Edition № 111, printed. The answer key sits small on page two.
The hard line

What the daily hard sudoku asks of you

The Hard line is where the pencil comes out. Singles, locked candidates and pairs clear part of the grid, then the grader guarantees one of three patterns is needed: an X-Wing, an XY-Wing or a Swordfish. Nothing beyond those three appears on this line, which is what makes it learnable; a puzzle that needed chains would be issued as Expert instead. Budget thirty to sixty minutes and fill every candidate before hunting.

The big editorial grid is deliberate here: about seven inches square, so nine small candidate digits fit in a cell. The hard sudoku page explains the three patterns and has a 24-puzzle pack for practice, and the pencil-mark grid is scrap paper with the boxes already drawn.

Prefer to solve on screen? Our sister site PuzzleFuel plays today’s Hard edition with notes, a timer and a hint engine.

Questions

Daily hard sudoku questions

Which techniques does the daily hard line use?
X-Wing, XY-Wing and Swordfish, on top of singles, locked candidates and pairs. Every Hard edition needs at least one of the three and none needs a chain; that is the whole definition of the line.
How long should the hard edition take?
Thirty to sixty minutes for a solver who knows the X-Wing family, longer while learning it. If it is taking hours, a pattern is being missed; fill every candidate and hunt one digit at a time across the whole grid.
Is there a hint for today's hard puzzle?
Not on this page, which is print-only. The sister site PuzzleFuel plays the same edition on screen with a hint engine that names the next technique, which is the honest way to check a stuck step without reading the answer.
← The Daily Sudoku·Hard sudoku packs·Pencil-mark grid
Edition № 139 · FRI · OCT 2, 2026 · a new edition every day