Sudoku Cross
Sudoku Cross is a lesser known sudoku variation with five (!) overlapping sudoku grids:
Sudokus with overlapping grids may be confusing at first. Once you understand how they are constructed, they can be solved just like regular sudokus.
In the image you can see five large squares, a red one in the center (1), two green squares on top (2) and bottom (5), and two yellow ones the left (3) and right (4). These are the main sudoku grids.
There are quite a few overlapping areas, which are shown as blue squares. The dark blue squares are part of two of the grids (e.g. green and red). The light blue squares are part of three overlapping grids! All of these are part of the red grid as well.
Solving Sudoku Cross
The first time you start solving a Sudoku Cross, you my want to mark the different grids with a colored pencil, to help you see the “line of sight” or the “neighbors” of each clue.
In this example you see a clue that is part of the yellow grid (4) at the right, and outside the red grid (1).
The “6” can only be ‘seen’ by cells in the yellow grid (4). The blue arrows show which cells are direct ‘neighbors’ of the “6”. These cells cannot contain the “6”.
(Note: we didn’t indicate the small 3×3 region that surrounds the “6”. The usual Sudoku rules apply here.
In this example you can see the “5” that’s part of the red grid (1) and the top green grid (2). The “5” has direct neighbors in both grids.
The “5” is not part of the yellow grid at the left (3).
In this example, the “8” is part of three different grids: the red grid (1), the top green grid (2) and the right yellow grid (4).
That means that an “8” cannot appear in the same row in the red grid (1) or the yellow grid (4), and an “8” cannot appear in the same column in the top green grid (2) or the red grid (1).
When you solve this sudoku, you’ll apply the “9” as a clue to the red grid (1), the top green grid (2) and the right yellow grid (4).
The final example is a clue that’s only part of the red grid (1): The “9” at the center.
The 9 numbers at the center of the red grid are not shared with any of the other grids.
Create Sudoku Cross Puzzles
Sudoku Cross is part of our Sudoku Multidokus 2 module in Puzzle Maker Pro.
You can test drive this module in our Free Demo version of Puzzle Maker Pro.
An overview of all modules and sudoku types can be found on the Sudoku Products page.
