New York Times Sudoku Hard Solution for May 13, 2026: Walkthrough

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:02]Okay, so this is New York Times Sudoku for May 13th, 2026.

[00:00:09]This is my walk-through and you can play this Sudoku from the link in the description.

[00:00:16]Okay, let's get it going.

[00:00:19]Uh first thing first, Okay, there's a 5 7 double here because row six has five and seven which have not been placed in box four.

[00:00:30]They block these cells, so these would be used by five and seven.

[00:00:37]And here's five, so this is seven and this will be five.

[00:00:43]And now these will be 1 4 8.

[00:00:47]And here's one and the eight, so this cell is four.

[00:00:55]Uh these are 2 3 6 9.

[00:01:00]Okay.

[00:01:01]And here's 1 2 4 9.

[00:01:20]Right, now looking at row seven, I can place nine on row seven and that is because um I need to look at column nine first for that.

[00:01:35]Here's nine and here's nine, so these cannot be nine.

[00:01:40]So nine in nine on column nine will be in one of these.

[00:01:48]And then because both of these cells are in the same box, in box nine, other cells in this box cannot use nine because nine will be here.

[00:02:01]That means this cell cannot be nine.

[00:02:06]And here's nine, which blocks this cell.

[00:02:09]Nine and the nine block these.

[00:02:12]So, nine can only go here on row seven.

[00:02:16]And that gives me nine in box five.

[00:02:31]In the Oh, and this seven blocks these. This seven blocks here. That gives me seven here.

[00:02:41]One, two, three, eight.

[00:02:51]Two, three, six.

[00:02:53]One, four, six, seven.

[00:03:02]Ah, okay, I can place three on column one. This three blocks here.

[00:03:08]Three and the three block these cells, gives me three here. [snorts] And the three and the three gives me three here.

[00:03:28]Six and the six gives me six here.

[00:03:32]And now I can place two uh here.

[00:03:41]These are one and eight. These will be four and nine.

[00:03:45]Ah.

[00:03:46]One, eight double means this will be two.

[00:03:54]And row four is missing one, three, eight.

[00:04:00]And this cell is blocked by three and eight.

[00:04:04]So, this would be one.

[00:04:07]Here's eight, so this would be three and this would be eight.

[00:04:33]Okay, now I can place five on row two.

[00:04:40]And again, uh this time I will look at column one.

[00:04:49]Here's five, which blocks this cell, so five will be here or here.

[00:04:53]So, I cannot use five in other cells in box one, so these cannot be five.

[00:04:59]And here's five, which blocks this cell.

[00:05:01]Five and the five here block these, so I can place five here.

[00:05:08]Now, this is a one, two, four, eight.

[00:05:20]two, four, six seven, eight two, four, six, seven, eight Ah, okay. I can place one on row seven.

[00:06:08]One here blocks this cell. This one blocks these.

[00:06:12]So, one will be here.

[00:06:15]And these are one and the eight. So, one means this will be eight and this will be one.

[00:06:22]One and the one gives me one here.

[00:06:29]Uh No. Four blocks these. So, this will be four.

[00:06:37]And that these are 2 4 9.

[00:06:40]And this cell is blocked by four and the nine.

[00:06:44]So, this will be two.

[00:06:48]Now, I will have to use four in one of these two cells. So, this cannot be four. And this four blocks here.

[00:06:57]So, I can place four here on row seven.

[00:07:07]And one one and the one gives me one here.

[00:07:16]Two and the two gives me two here.

[00:07:33]Oh, these are 3 6 7.

[00:07:38]Oh, I should look at column six, which is missing three and a eight.

[00:07:43]Eight here gives me three and a eight.

[00:07:47]And a three three and three gives me three here.

[00:08:14]Okay, this is six, seven, eight.

[00:08:20]Oh, of course. This eight blocks here, so here's eight and this will be two.

[00:08:25]Two two and a two gives me two here.

[00:08:32]Two two and a two gives me two here.

[00:08:47]One, five, seven, eight.

[00:08:54]Ooh. Um five, six, seven.

[00:09:06]Okay, five and a five gives me five here. [snorts] Um this is six, seven, nine.

[00:09:18]Uh seven blocks this, so I can place seven here. The last number of row seven is six.

[00:09:26]And four nine double means this will be seven.

[00:09:30]And the seven seven gives me seven here. And the last number of column five is six.

[00:09:39]Which blocks this cell, gives me six and the nine. That gives me four and the nine.

[00:09:46]Four blocks this cell, gives me four and the five.

[00:09:50]Uh these are five and the six.

[00:09:55]And here's six, so this would be five.

[00:09:57]This would be six.

[00:09:59]Six and the six gives me six here.

[00:10:04]Uh these are four and the five.

[00:10:06]Five gives me four and the five. Four blocks this cell, gives me four and the nine. Which blocks this cell, gives me nine and the seven.

[00:10:16]Seven and the seven gives me seven here, and this would be eight.

[00:10:22]One eight one and the four.

[00:10:27]Okay.

[00:10:29]Uh yeah, here it is. Thank you very much for watching, and if you like the video, please subscribe and have a good one.