How long does a sudoku take?

Almost everyone who solves sudoku regularly wonders at some point whether they are slow. The honest answer is that solving time says more about which methods you have automated than about how clever you are, and that the spread between people is far wider than most published figures suggest.

Typical times by difficulty

For someone comfortable with the game, an easy grid takes three to six minutes, a medium one six to twelve, a hard one ten to thirty, and an expert grid anywhere from twenty minutes to an unbounded afternoon. Beginners can multiply all of those by three without anything being wrong. Competitive solvers finish easy grids in well under two minutes.

Why the same puzzle varies so much

Two things dominate. The first is whether you write candidate notes: on harder grids, solvers who note candidates finish while those who do not are still scanning. The second is pattern recognition — a solver who knows what a pair looks like sees in one second what another spends four minutes searching for by trial.

What actually makes you faster

Not hurrying. Speed comes from eliminating wasted passes over the grid: hunting one digit at a time instead of drifting, noting candidates before you need them, and recognising the two or three patterns that carry most puzzles. Rushing produces mistakes, and a mistake costs more time than every saving that caused it.

Whether your time is any good

Compare yourself against your own record on the same difficulty rather than against a leaderboard, since the top entries come from people who solve daily and have automated everything above. Your own average over twenty puzzles is the only number that reliably shows whether you are improving.

Measure yourself

The daily challenge is the same grid for everyone in the world, which makes it the fairest comparison available.

Leaderboard Play Medium Daily Challenge

Frequently asked questions

What is a good time for a medium sudoku?

Under ten minutes is comfortable, under six is quick. If you are past fifteen, the usual cause is scanning repeatedly instead of writing candidates.

What is the world record?

The fastest documented times for an easy grid are around a minute, and top competitive solvers finish hard puzzles in a handful of minutes. Those figures come from people who train specifically for speed.

Does the timer make me worse?

It makes some people rush, which causes mistakes. You can turn the timer off in the settings and solve without one; nothing else changes.

Why am I slower some days?

Sudoku speed depends heavily on attention, so tiredness shows up immediately in your time. A single slow puzzle means very little; your average over twenty is the meaningful figure.