The Quiet Grid, Issue 1: The Answer, and Who Wrote In

Last Monday we left a row with one empty square:

6   7   3   2   8   1   _   9   4

The missing digit is 5. Count what is there, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and the only number absent is 5. A full house: eight neighbors present, one seat left, no debate.

If you saw it in a second, good. That second is the feeling Sudoku is built on, and every technique you will ever learn is just a more elaborate way of arriving at it.

Who wrote in

Replies are already arriving about where puzzle time lives, and we will share the first few, with permission, in Issue 2.

Issue 2 arrives Monday, September 28, with a slightly sneakier square. Until then, one more thing from us: the sound of a pencil on good paper is free, and it is available to you tonight.