Sudoku solution – Los Angeles Times 20 May 2026 Expert level sudoku

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:03][music] [music] >> Hello fellow Sudoku fans. Welcome to Zen in the Art of the Guardian Sudoku puzzle. It's Wednesday the 20th of May 2026. I hope you are keeping well.

[00:00:18]And [clears throat] um what's going on?

[00:00:22]Uh uh there are many reasons why I much prefer using a computer to a mobile phone app.

[00:00:29]Um partly because of familiarity, I guess. I mean, I've been using computers for more than how many years? 40, 50 years, maybe?

[00:00:37]Uh so, uh I'm very used to using the keyboard and of course a mouse, which came afterwards, but uh you know, uh for 40 years, I've been using mice.

[00:00:49]And um when it comes to an app, uh I often find it a bit difficult to uh hit the uh right position on the screen.

[00:01:00]You know, my fingers are just too not quite small enough to uh fit on the one key or something like that. And also, you just you just the way the whole mode of operation.

[00:01:10]And occasionally, you have like if you especially if you're using an Android. I have an iPhone and an Android. On an Android, sometimes you get the you have to hit the back button, but you can't see it because it's all white and the screen is all white and there is no you can't actually see where it is and stuff like that. Various reasons why I dislike using them, but unfortunately, companies want to force us into their way of doing things.

[00:01:33]Um when I logged into my bank account for my company today, uh I wasn't able to do anything because it said you have to uh um do it on the app or at least uh scan uh for the QR code on from the app, I guess, to prove I was in.

[00:01:49]Uh it wouldn't let me do that. It wouldn't let [clears throat] me log in and it said, "Have you scanned your face yet?" And the answer was, "No, I haven't." So, I had to go off to the bank for a face scan and uh update on various things and stuff like that.

[00:02:05]Which I thought, well, okay, well, that's all right. I can do that as long as I can get back on. But then after I did all of that, they said, "And it's going to take 4 days for you for everything to be updated." Oh my god.

[00:02:19]So much for modern technology, huh?

[00:02:23]Take 4 days before I can really get to use my company bank account properly again. But anyway, uh sorry, creditors. Uh >> [laughter] >> You'll just have to wait a little bit longer.

[00:02:35]Um what else is going on? A forced change, which uh seems to be good. Good headline, but when you check on the details, I think rather less ambitious.

[00:02:45]Uh the headline is Brazil's drive to ditch ultra-processed foods from hospital menus. Sounds like a good thing, doesn't it?

[00:02:52]And uh talks about how, you know, um staff should be buying fresh food and cooking, etc., etc., as opposed to buying uh you know, pre-processed food, ultra-processed food, uh which of course should be going on all the time.

[00:03:07]Uh but when you get down into the nitty-gritty of it, the uh Oh, no, I've I don't know if I can find it now.

[00:03:15]Uh but let me go back to the article and see if I can find where the detail was because it was not very impressive, I thought. Something about 30%. Let me just try and scroll down and find Where were you? You've disappeared.

[00:03:30]Somewhere along down into the article.

[00:03:33]Anyway, I think it was 30% within 2 years was the target. 30% of hospitals will not be using ultra-processed food in 2 years.

[00:03:44]And that I think is a very meager target, isn't it? That's Oh, here it is.

[00:03:48]30% Yes, it was. I was correct. 2 years, 30% of our hospitals will no longer use ultra-processed food. That's pretty meager.

[00:03:56]Come on, Brazil. You can do better than that.

[00:03:59]Have a much better target.

[00:04:01]It reminds me of of something though from many years ago when I actually was here in Thailand, I was working in the most expensive hospital in in the country. I was doing some work in there and um I got to use the uh staff canteen and the staff canteen was fantastic. It was really great food. It was subsidized. It was cheaper than anywhere outside and Thailand has some cheap places outside and it was subsidized and the cook was superb and it was a There was a huge selection. I loved that canteen.

[00:04:34]Um unfortunately, I had to stay in uh that hospital as a patient as well.

[00:04:39]And uh >> [laughter] >> the menu they brought me, the international menu, which was like 10 times the price, uh I had to choose the food from and I I think I had an insurance policy at that time and I chose the food from the uh policy and it was horrible. It was really vile. Now, the kitchens I happen to know were There were two large kitchens. One was the staff canteen and one was for the the hospital patients and also a massive kitchen. But, the food There was no comparison in food. I couldn't even eat the the hospital food.

[00:05:10]I said, "What the hell is going on? How comes the staff food is so brilliant and hospital food is so terrible?"

[00:05:16]It was It was one of those uh kind of uh stereotypes about hospital food or whatever, but it was It was true.

[00:05:23]It really was inedible.

[00:05:29]Six is blocked down here. Uh better introduce the game, hadn't I? Los Angeles Times expert level puzzle.

[00:05:42]Regular for the channel. If you're new to the channel, hello. Please subscribe.

[00:05:45]Thank you very much.

[00:05:53]I can see something. I see two and nine blocking this square. I see two and nine blocking this square.

[00:05:59]Huh, what happened there? Sorry.

[00:06:01]Two and nine blocking here. So, we've got two squares there with two and nine.

[00:06:04]So, we've got nine blocking here. So, that's going to be the two, and that's going to be the nine.

[00:06:11]And >> [clears throat] >> Excuse me.

[00:06:13]Four and six are are left for that column. So, six blocking across here will give us six there, four there.

[00:06:47]>> [snorts] >> Uh one and three block that square there.

[00:06:59]It puts one and three into Okay, so one then is going to be here.

[00:07:02]And three is going to be there. And the last digit for that column is eight, I think.

[00:07:12]Five there.

[00:07:14]Four there.

[00:07:17]Four down, four across.

[00:07:34]Seven blocking down there.

[00:07:39]Three blocking this square. So, that's a three for the column. There's a two for the column. Missing digits here are 5 8 9. No idea. Missing digits down here are 1 2 3.

[00:07:53]Two's.

[00:08:28]Yeah, I've got enough three down here, three blocking here, three blocking there.

[00:08:33]So in that row, there's a three. I wasn't sure when I started to do it and I thought, "Oh no, I'm not sure."

[00:08:38]Yeah, it was enough.

[00:12:26]>> [sighs] >> Um we have got 4 7 and 9 blocking this square and we've got 4 7 and 9 blocking down here.

[00:12:35]So, we can say that those squares there contain 4 7 and 9.

[00:12:41]Uh which makes this then a 1 or a 3.

[00:12:45]Now, we've got 1 3 pattern here. Also, means that this can't be a 1 or a 3 because of our unique rectangle.

[00:12:51]So, let's explore just in case we get lucky. So, it's not 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 or 9.

[00:12:59]It's got to be an 8.

[00:13:01]Thank you, unique rectangle.

[00:13:16]And then, two blocking here and two blocking there will give us two in two in that square there.

[00:13:22]And three blocking here will give us a three down there. And so, now we know one there, three there.

[00:13:29]And back up here for the one.

[00:13:57]Digits two and three are finished.

[00:15:07]One blocks across here, so one is in one of these squares blocking up here, so that's the one for the top row. Last digit here is a nine.

[00:15:16]Nine down to the bottom.

[00:15:22]One in that square finish the row.

[00:15:36]Four must be in one of these squares blocking up. Four blocking across there.

[00:15:41]In fact, I can see which one of the two squares is cuz there's I've just noticed there is actually one crossing there.

[00:15:46]There we go. Seven there.

[00:16:38]Okay, that's our Los Angeles Times expert level puzzle over for Wednesday.

[00:16:43]Thanks for joining me today.

[00:16:45]Uh hopefully I'll be able to play some Sudoku tomorrow. Take care. Bye-bye.