we turn coffee into puzzles


Greater Than Sudoku

Each of the numbers 1-9 must each appear exactly once in each row, column, and block. In addition, adjacent cells must obey any 'greater than' (>) or 'less than' (<) symbol that appears on their dividing line. Note that this puzzle has no starting clues given; the greater than symbols are enough to determine a unique solution without any initial conditions at all! As an aid in solving, some cells have been shaded. Cells with a lower value than all their neighbors are blue; cells with a higher value than all their neighbors are red.


Appeared in +Plus Magazine, part of the Millennium Mathematics Project based at Cambridge University, Issue 44, September 2007.