Sudoku solution – Los Angeles Times 23 May 2026 Expert level sudoku

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:03][music] [music] >> Hello fellow Sudoku ins. Welcome to Zen in the Arts of the Guardian Sudoku puzzle. It's Saturday the 23rd of May 2026.

[00:00:16]I hope you are keeping well and enjoying life.

[00:00:20]Uh I love living in uh Bangkok and I used to live in London. If I didn't live in a capital city, I think I would like to live by the sea.

[00:00:28]It used to be my dream. It really used to be my dream. It was my dream before I got permanent anosmia. That means where I I lost my sense of smell and it's never come back. Because I used to get this feeling that when I was at the seaside, you know, the salty air that you could breathe in and it used to relax me and make me feel wonderful. It doesn't didn't really matter which seaside I was at. It just about any seaside made me feel wonderful.

[00:00:52]I don't get that anymore. I don't get that feeling because I lost my sense of smell and I can't smell the salt air.

[00:00:57]So, it just makes no actual difference in terms in that way to me. I like the aesthetics of the seaside, of course, especially in a country like Thailand which has beautiful beaches and whatever.

[00:01:09]Um Uh we know countries like the Maldives uh are dangerously low-lying and uh because of climate change things uh are likely to be very dangerous for certain islands around the world, actually. But, it's not just Uh actually, it's almost every country that's facing this problem because of coastal erosion. I mean, apart from the fact that sea levels are rising, there's the coastal erosion, of course, caused by various tide changes and uh various uh sea com- um sea uh I've forgotten the word, but um movements, anyway. Movements of uh various sea uh seas uh across the globe. Uh but, the Guardian has a long article today about uh how this is uh the UK and how homes and roads and railways are in danger.

[00:02:05]And there doesn't seem to be enough planning to deal with it or there may not be enough foresight to deal with the problems as it gets worse as the problem gets worse and worse.

[00:02:17]It's a long article, so I can't summarize it.

[00:02:20]You can check it out yourself for yourself. There's a free advert for the Guardian. I do use the Guardian's name in my channel, >> [laughter] >> so I ought to promote them a little bit from time to time.

[00:02:31]All right.

[00:02:32]Now, firmly on land here in Bangkok, let's play the Los Angeles Times expert level Sudoku puzzle. And we're going to start with digit eight here.

[00:02:44]I do wish I do miss that sea smell that I used to be able to that I I really loved.

[00:02:50]I had it since I was a kid.

[00:02:52]I just this immediate relaxation that I got.

[00:02:57]Used to get when visiting the seaside.

[00:03:01]I think maybe it brings back happy memories from when I was a kid as well for long summer holidays and things like that in the seaside.

[00:03:15]We have two blocking across here and two blocking up giving us a two in that square.

[00:03:51]We have nine blocking across this way, so nine must be in one of these squares here blocking back that way.

[00:03:58]Nine are blocking across there and nine blocking up here.

[00:04:19]Ah, and I see 281.

[00:04:22]Three numbers in this block that are not in this column, so this is going to be 281 down here, right?

[00:04:31]Right?

[00:04:32]Yes.

[00:04:35]And then this will not be 281, so it's going to be four and seven and we can say uh not much.

[00:04:46]Ah, yeah, we can because four remains four can't be in the because we know this is a pair of four and seven only.

[00:04:51]Four is not here.

[00:04:53]Four must be in that square.

[00:04:55]And then this is going to be a six.

[00:05:23]Two blocking like this.

[00:05:28]And we end up with five seven in those squares there.

[00:05:37]>> [sighs] >> What did I say before? Four and seven in those squares, I said, didn't I? So, this has to be five and three.

[00:05:56]Yeah.

[00:06:13]There's another triple one, seven and nine here blocking up there. That puts one, seven and nine into those three squares there. I have no idea why it's so much easier for me to spot triples in the LA Times than the New York Times or is often easier, anyway. One, seven and nine in those squares there.

[00:06:31]And this is not one, seven or nine. It's two, four, so there we go. And eight, so that's we've got two and four together.

[00:06:38]That's got to be the eight.

[00:06:40]I hear the sound of a squealing kitten somewhere outside.

[00:06:50]Uh no.

[00:06:53]>> [panting] >> Squeal, squeal, kitten.

[00:06:56]Uh what did I just say? One, seven and nine there. So, we've got two blocking here, so that's the two and this is the four.

[00:07:04]Difficult to concentrate when kittens are squealing.

[00:07:27]What's the time? No, it's still it's only half past three in the afternoon. They've still got an hour and a half before the woman comes to feed them.

[00:07:36]Generous woman.

[00:07:38]I asked how much it cost for her for cat food. It's just an unbelievable sum.

[00:07:44]And know she gets the money.

[00:07:58]Okay, I think we've got several twos uh on this row here.

[00:08:05]Yes, indeed, we've got enough for us to place a two in that square there.

[00:08:29]>> [clears throat] >> See what we can see.

[00:08:42]I've had a lazy day today. I've done absolutely nothing. So, sitting at home watching TV. It is 35° outside, feels like 41.

[00:08:53]Uh could have gone swimming, but couldn't find the energy to get up and go.

[00:08:58]I suppose I could still go. It's still 35° outside now.

[00:09:02]Maybe I will.

[00:10:05]>> I'm pretty sure we've got a pair here.

[00:10:06]Yes, two and eight. There it is. Two and eight, two and eight there.

[00:10:10]So, that's a pair of two and eight in those squares.

[00:10:13]So, what do we know now? We know that the ones have to be in those squares there. So, one blocking up that will give me the one in that square there.

[00:10:22]One blocking across, one blocking down, there's one.

[00:10:26]One across here, one across there, one up there. There is our one.

[00:10:32]One up here, up there, across there gives us digit one there.

[00:10:37]And four blocking up here and up there means that's a four.

[00:10:45]Three blocking up here gives us three and nine finishes that little section.

[00:10:52]Uh now, our three blocks across here and up there, so that's the three. This then This was four and seven, wasn't it? This was three and five, so that's a five and we get the three down there.

[00:11:14]Four blocking across, there's the four, there's the seven.

[00:11:18]Seven across there, there's the seven, and here is the five.

[00:11:24]All right, top section complete.

[00:11:29]What else do we know?

[00:11:32]Oh, this two and Oh, okay, let's just check this first.

[00:11:35]Uh seven and nine and down here one, four five, I think.

[00:11:44]One and four there, okay.

[00:11:58]No completed digits yet.

[00:12:40]Hi.

[00:12:43]Sorry about that.

[00:12:45]Mouse slipped up to the top corner and uh revealed my screen. Hopefully, I'll edit that out if I can remember. I'll probably forget though.

[00:12:52]Hope there was nothing secret on the screen there.

[00:13:11]Okie dokie, nine blocking this square here and now we see nine across here, so nine in one of those squares blocking here.

[00:13:18]So, that means that there has to be the nine. The last two digits for this row are going to be three and seven.

[00:13:27]And we got three blocking there.

[00:13:29]We got seven blocking there.

[00:14:35]Looking for five in this column.

[00:15:32]>> Okay, missing digits in this column 5 8 and 9. We've got 5 and 9 together, so that's our 8.

[00:15:38]8 blocks up here that gives me an 8 in that square there.

[00:15:43]And 8 across here and in this column we need 8 and we need 2 to finish that column I don't remember now.

[00:15:52]2's blocking like this.

[00:15:56]And both 2 and 8 are finished.

[00:16:10]5 blocks this square here, so that's a 5. Last number down here is a 3.

[00:16:17]3 blocks down here and across there, there's our 3.

[00:16:38]4 blocks here.

[00:16:42]This is a 7.

[00:16:44]7 across, that's 7 there. This is 9.

[00:16:49]9 blocking that way, there's a 9.

[00:16:51]Missing digit here 5.

[00:16:55]And Let's see, what are we looking for in this little We've just got these little strips of three here, so let's just go through them. We're looking for 6 7 9 here. Any clues on that? 6 7 9 different columns, that's no good. In this column here we're looking for 4 5 6, I think.

[00:17:15]And 4 and 6 are conveniently together, so should be the five. So then we'll take the fives across here like this.

[00:17:22]See, there you go, five.

[00:17:26]Uh and then we'll come back and look at this or then maybe this one here. This is one and four, so four across there.

[00:17:34]There's the four, there's the one.

[00:17:37]And one this way, one that way, one down there.

[00:17:43]And four blocking like this.

[00:17:54]Six blocking down there.

[00:17:57]Six across and across.

[00:18:02]Seven blocking this square.

[00:18:04]Across.

[00:18:06]And just nine to finish the game, so uh a pretty straightforward game there.

[00:18:10]Nothing too taxing for a hot weekend here. It's a very sweltering weekend of doing nothing though. Lazy weekend, lazy bones weekend.

[00:18:21]Uh not that I've got much to do in the week, but a little bit of something now.

[00:18:25]Okay.

[00:18:26]Thanks for joining me. Take care.

[00:18:27]Bye-bye.