sudoku

su·do·ku  (s-dk)

n.

A puzzle in which a grid consisting of several regions is to be filled with numbers so that every row, column, and region contains only one instance of each number. The most common format is a grid of nine rows and columns that are divided into nine smaller regions of three rows and three columns into which the numbers 1 through 9 must be placed.

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[Japanese suudoku, contraction of suu(ji wa) doku(shin ni kagiru), the numbers must be unmarried (that is, occur singly).]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

sudoku - a number puzzle in which the numbers 1 through 9 must be placed into a grid of cells so that each row or column contains only one of each number mystifier, puzzle, puzzler, teaser - a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution; "he loved to solve chessmate puzzles"; "that's a real puzzler"