Daily Str8ts

About Daily Str8ts

Str8ts is a number puzzle in the sudoku family, published by Syndicated Puzzles and credited on the site to Jeff Widderich and Andrew Stuart. The Daily Str8ts page has run since 2008 and gives one numbered puzzle a day, by Andrew Stuart, with a star difficulty rating.

The grid is 9 by 9, with white and black cells. You fill the white cells with the digits 1 to 9 so that no digit repeats in a row or column. Unbroken runs of white cells, called compartments, must form a straight: a set of consecutive numbers in any order, such as 4, 6, 5, 7. Black cells split the compartments, and a number printed in a black cell cannot appear elsewhere in its row or column.

The browser player has a number pad or keyboard entry, notes, undo and redo, a check button, a timer and a link to yesterday's solution. If you get stuck you can send the grid to the Str8ts solver for a hint. Supporters can play all four grades each day and open seven weeks of the archive. The site also has a Daily Mini Str8ts, a Daily Asymmetrical and a Weekly Extreme Str8ts.

It suits sudoku players looking for a fresh daily number puzzle with its own set of strategies.

How to play Daily Str8ts

1. Open the Daily Str8ts page; today's numbered grid loads in the player.
2. Fill each white cell with a digit from 1 to 9, never repeating a digit in a row or column.
3. Make every compartment of white cells a straight of consecutive numbers, in any order.
4. Remember that digits shown in black cells cannot be used again in their row or column.

Tips

• Long compartments limit the possible ranges: a 7-cell straight must include 3 to 7.
• Use notes to track candidates, as in sudoku.
• Check the strategy pages on str8ts.com when a grid gets hard.

Questions