Medium and Hard both have a median of 25 clues in this catalog. Compare their clue distributions and solving techniques.
What we compared
We compared clue counts across the four grades in our 512-puzzle catalog. Each puzzle's grade comes from the highest-ranked technique used by the solver.
Given digits in each catalog grade · all 512 records
Grade
Puzzles
Minimum
Median
Maximum
easy
128
24
33
42
medium
128
22
25
37
hard
128
22
25
32
expert
128
21
24
32
Where the clue counts overlap
Each bar counts puzzles with that many givens. Filter a grade to see its distribution; the complete table remains available below.
All 512 records in catalog v1; 128 per grade. The chart describes this selected catalog.Read all counts as a table
Number of puzzles, by clue count and stored grade.
Clues
easy
medium
hard
expert
21
0
0
0
1
22
0
3
2
6
23
0
18
19
20
24
2
29
34
40
25
2
28
28
26
26
4
16
19
12
27
6
8
10
9
28
2
8
7
5
29
7
7
2
5
30
5
7
4
2
31
16
2
2
1
32
19
1
1
1
33
11
0
0
0
34
13
0
0
0
35
15
0
0
0
36
7
0
0
0
37
5
1
0
0
38
5
0
0
0
39
3
0
0
0
40
3
0
0
0
41
2
0
0
0
42
1
0
0
0
More clues can still mean a higher grade
The first Easy puzzle has 24 clues and is solved with naked singles. The first Medium puzzle has 29 clues and also uses hidden singles. Compare the two puzzles below.
A given removes candidates from the cells in its row, column and box. Its position and value affect which deductions become available. Two puzzles with the same number of clues can therefore call for different techniques.
