New Word Sudoku Puzzle for Thursday, 1/2/2025

B LARGO + FIVE
10x10 Hidden Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and 2x5 rectangle contains these letters exactly once
The hidden word spells down the diagonal

Solution first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

(A reminder that weekday puzzles in 2025 are based on words or phrases containing at least three of the letters in FIVE, a puzzle form I call Missing Letter, Hidden Word Sudoku. Please see my amazon puzzle page www.bit.ly/WordSudokuBooks for puzzle collections of this form that span the entire alphabet.)

 

Solution to Wednesday's Word Sudoku Puzzle

Yesterday's 8x8 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the letters in LAST + FIVE (FESTIVAL).

A new puzzle in a bit.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

New Word Sudoku Puzzle for Wednesday, 1/1/2025

LAST + FIVE
8x8 Hidden Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and 2x4 rectangle contains these letters exactly once
The hidden word spells down the diagonal

Solution first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

2025 posting schedule

Happy New Year!

As I post this explainer, on 1/1/2025, we’re more than halfway through the 17th year of this daily word puzzle blog. For years now, I’ve experimented with annual themes, trying to tie daily puzzles together. This year’s posts continue that effort.

Keep reading to understand the annual theme and the weekly subthemes. They may not be obvious at first glance!

• 2016 was the year of the vowel—almost all daily puzzles above size 6x6 used all of AEIOU.


• 2017 expanded on the idea of including one combination of letters in a bunch of words, using the 3-letter abbreviations for each month (JAN, FEB, MAR, etc.). Almost every weekday Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle contained the three letters of the name of the month when the puzzle posted.


• 2018 I went the opposite way from 2016: Each daily puzzle tried to minimize the number of the five common vowels. You might have noticed: A lot of puzzle words contained ‘y’ used as another vowel.


• 2019 took that effect another step: Every weekday puzzle word contained 'y’.


• 2020 played off the spelling of the year itself. Every puzzle word or phrase in the Monday-through-Friday puzzles of size 6x6 and larger contained the three letters 'twe', spread out in the word; puzzles of length 4x4 and 5x5 contained at least two of those three letters.


• 2021 took the same approach as 2020, playing off the spelling of the year itself, but with even more success. Every puzzle word or phrase in the Monday-through-Friday puzzles contained the three letters 'one', in some order.


• 2022 attempted the same approach as 2021, playing off the spelling of the year itself, but with less success in the 4x4 and 5x5 puzzles. Every puzzle word or phrase in the Monday-through-Friday puzzles contained the three letters 'two'—except many 4x4 and 5x5 puzzles contained only two of those three letters. Oh, well.


• 2023 kept this “year number” theme going, playing off the spelling of the year. Every puzzle word or phrase in the Monday-through-Friday puzzles contained at least three of the four letters thre somewhere in the word.


• 2024 yet again played off the spelling of the year. Every puzzle word or phrase in the Monday-through-Friday puzzles contained at least three of the four letters four somewhere in the word.


• 2025 continues to play off the spelling of the year: Every puzzle word or phrase in the Monday-through-Friday puzzles contains at least three of the four letters five somewhere in the word (I may have relaxed the requirement for some of the 4x4 puzzles).

Here’s the weekly posting schedule, which has been the same for the past few years now: The week starts out easy Monday and reaches fiendish Friday.

• Monday: 4x4 and 6x6 Word Sudoku puzzles


• Tuesday: 9x9 Word Sudoku puzzle


• Wednesday: 8x8 Word Sudoku puzzle


• Thursday: 10x10 Word Sudoku puzzle


• Friday: 5x5 and 7x7 Word Sudoku puzzles As you know, normally Sudoku puzzle sizes are not based on primes; the internal box (rectangle or square) has width and length, and the outside dimension of a puzzle is the product of these two integers. Relaxing the requirement that the internal shapes be rectangular removes this restriction. But that doesn't make prime-size puzzles easy!


• Saturday:A day of bad puns—paraprosdokians. A paraprosdokian is wordplay where the latter part of a statement forces you to reinterpret the first part. The phrase intentionally leads you in one direction—misleads you into thinking one way—and then abruptly changes direction, ending with the unexpected twist. And often, a big groan. Because paraprosdokians come in two parts, I present each part as a separate quote, each revealed by solving its own set of word Sudoku puzzles


• Sunday: (The Challenge) I will continue the Sunday pun theme, telling horrible Dad jokes. Each challenges you to spell out a (truly pun-ishing) quote by solving one or more small (4x4 or 6x6) word Sudoku puzzles. And every other Sunday I'm adding a second punning theme: Murphy's law. Hopefully they won't go too wrong… Finally, every other Sunday you’ll also get a 12x12 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle. Sundays are truly a challenge!

In all, I plan to post more than 800 Word Sudoku puzzles in 2025.

I’ve also produced dozens of books of Word Sudoku puzzles—more are in the works—that test your Word Sudoku skills while hopefully providing you hours of fun, including many “Aha!” moments—and, undoubtedly, rueful groans.

Please visit my amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/davethompsonapr. The puzzles in the books have not appeared in the blog.


This has been a long, long affair: I started Magic Word Square in 2008—almost 14,250 posts ago—to explore the fun of mixing words and anagrams, letters and logic. I hope you enjoy solving these puzzles as much as I do constructing them. As always, I invite your comments—please let me know what you think using the blog comment feature.

Thanks,
--Dave

All puzzles and text contained in this blog are copyright © 2008-2025, David H. Thompson. All rights reserved. Please tell your puzzle-loving friends to follow this blog. Thank you!

 

Solution to Tuesday's Word Sudoku Puzzle

Yesterday's 9x9 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the letters in EIGHTS + FOR (GIFT HORSE).

A new puzzle in a few hours.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

New Word Sudoku Puzzle for Tuesday, 12/31/2024

EIGHTS + FOR
9x9 Hidden Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and 3x3 square contains these letters exactly once
The hidden word spells down the diagonal

Solution first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

Solutions to Monday's Word Sudoku Puzzles

Yesterday's 4x4 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the letters in AM + FR (FARM) and the 6x6 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the letters in LEG + FOR (GOLFER).

A new set of puzzles in a few hours.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

New Word Sudoku Puzzles for Monday, 12/30/2024

AM + FR
4x4 Hidden Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and 2x2 square contains these letters exactly once
The hidden word spells out in the shaded cells

LEG + FOR
6x6 Hidden Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and 2x3 rectangle contains these letters exactly once
The hidden word spells down the diagonal

Solutions first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

Solutions to the Sunday Dad Joke Sudoku Puzzles

Yesterday’s Qudoku puzzle sets spelled out a Dad joke.

WHAT DO

New puzzles in a few hours.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

Solutions to the Sunday Contronym Sudoku Puzzles

Yesterday’s Qudoku puzzle set spelled out the contradictory meanings of a contronym.

New puzzles in a few hours.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

New Word Sudoku (Dad Joke Sudoku!) Puzzles for Sunday, 12/29/2024

I have a joke about a broken pencil. It’s pointless.

A Dad joke is a bad, sad attempt at humor…or almost the funniest thing ever. Depends on whether you're a dad, AND on whether you're the one telling the joke…

These Dad jokes in 2024 all pose a question in the first set of puzzles; try to guess the answer before solving the second set.

CARBON
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once

AUGHTS
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once

WIFELY
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once
Copy circled letters to the corresponding numbered cells in the quote grid

What do

FISHED
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once

TACO
4x4 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x2 square and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once
Copy circled letters to the corresponding numbered cells in the quote grid

Solutions first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

(All puzzles and text contained in this blog are copyright © 2008-2024, David H. Thompson. All rights reserved. Please tell your puzzle-loving friends to follow this blog. Thank you!)

 

New Word Sudoku (Contronyms) Puzzles for Sunday, 12/29/2024

I hold up my right to hold up these proceedings.

A contronym is a word that can have opposite or contradictory meanings, depending on context. Every other Sunday in 2024, I'll challenge you to puzzle out the meaning of one or more contronyms.

BEACON
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains these letters exactly once

FLIT
4x4 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x2 square and set of circled cells contains these letters exactly once

SOUR
4x4 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x2 square and set of circled cells contains these letters exactly once
Copy circled letters to the corresponding numbered cells in the quote grid

Solutions first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

(All puzzles and text contained in this blog are copyright © 2008-2024, David H. Thompson. All rights reserved. Please tell your puzzle-loving friends to follow this blog. Thank you!)

 

Solutions to the Saturday Paraprosdokian Sudoku Puzzles

Yesterday’s Qudoku puzzle sets spelled out wordplay known as a paraprosdokian.

The Sunday Challenge in a few hours.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

New Word Sudoku (Paraprosdokian Sudoku!) Puzzles for Saturday, 12/28/2024

Where there’s a will … there’s relatives.

A paraprosdokian is wordplay where the latter part of a statement forces you to reinterpret the first part. The phrase intentionally leads you in one direction—misleads you into thinking one way—and then abruptly changes direction, ending with the unexpected twist. The origin of the word is Greek, meaning "against expectation."

Most of the statements in these weekly blog posts are actual paraprosdokians; you might possibly dispute a few. But since they’re still fun plays on words, I’m sharing them anyway.

Because paraprosdokians come in two parts, I present each part as a separate quote, each revealed by solving its own set of word Sudoku puzzles.

SKI ROW
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once
Copy circled letters to the corresponding numbered cells in the quote grid to spell out the quote

INGOTS
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once

CHAFED
6x6 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once

LURK
4x4 Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column, 2x2 square and set of circled cells contains the letters in the word exactly once
Copy circled letters to the corresponding numbered cells in the quote grid to spell out the quote

Solutions first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

Solutions to Friday's Word Sudoku Puzzles

Yesterday's 5x5 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the letters in DN + FOU (FOUND) and the 7x7 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the letters in VAS + FOUR (FAVOURS).

The Saturday paraprosdokian in a few hours.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

New Word Sudoku Puzzles for Friday, 12/27/2024

DN + FOU
5x5 Hidden Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and enclosed shape contains these letters exactly once
The hidden word spells out in the shaded cells

VAS + FOUR
7x7 Hidden Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and enclosed shape contains these letters exactly once
The hidden word spells out in the shaded cells

Solutions first thing in the morning.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

Solution to Thursday's Word Sudoku Puzzle

Yesterday's 10x10 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the letters in SEA PINK + FOR (FAIR-SPOKEN).

Another set of puzzles in a few hours.

Thanks,
--Dave