Large Print Sudoku for Seniors: Free Printable Puzzles (PDF)

The rule is the whole game: fill every empty square so that each row, each column and each 3×3 box contains the digits 1 to 9 exactly once. There is no arithmetic. The numbers could just as easily be letters or colours.

A method that works on every easy puzzle:

• Pick one digit — say 5 — and look at where it already appears.
• Look at one 3×3 box that is missing that digit. Any row or column that already has a 5 rules out every square in that line.
• If only one square is left, that is where the 5 goes. Write it in.
• Move on to the next box, or the next digit. Each number you place makes the next one easier.
• Stuck? Switch digits. On an easy puzzle there is always another number you can place. You never need to guess.

Here is that method on Puzzle 1 of the sample. Look at the bottom-left box, which has no 5 yet. The row through its middle already has a 5 at the far right of the grid, and the bottom row has a 5 in its fourth square. So the 5 in that box cannot sit in either of its lower two rows — it must go in the top row, where only one square is still empty. That is your first number.

Difficulty comes mostly from how many numbers you are given to start with, and from how far you have to look to place the next one. In our book the easy puzzles start with 26 to 36 numbers filled in, and the medium puzzles with 24 to 30.

• New to Sudoku, or returning after a long break: start with easy. More starting numbers means more obvious first moves.
• Finishing easy puzzles in one sitting without getting stuck: that is the sign to try medium.
• Finding easy puzzles frustrating: that usually means the method above has not clicked yet, not that the puzzles are too hard. Try a single digit at a time.

One thing worth knowing: a well-made puzzle has exactly one answer and can be finished by logic alone. If a puzzle can only be finished by guessing, the puzzle is at fault, not you. Every puzzle in the free sample and the book has been checked to have exactly one solution.

Plenty of books call themselves large print. These are the things that actually make a puzzle easier on the eyes:

• One puzzle per page. The grid fills the page, so every square is big enough to write in.
• Bold, extra-large starting numbers, clearly different from your own pencilled digits.
• Heavier lines around each 3×3 box, so you can see where one box ends and the next begins.
• Plain white space with no busy borders or tinted backgrounds that lower contrast.
• Answers at the back, not printed upside-down beneath the puzzle.

Good light matters as much as print size. A handheld magnifier helps with checking a single row, and our guide to low vision aids covers lighting and other simple fixes.

If the sample suits you, the four puzzles come from a full book of one hundred, in the same print and layout.

Puzzles stick best when they have a regular place in the day rather than waiting to be remembered:

• Pair it with something you already do — a puzzle with the morning cup of tea, or after lunch. Our daily routine guide has more ideas.
• Do one together. Two people on one grid, taking turns to place a number, is easy company. See social activities for seniors.
• Mix the activity. Sudoku sits alongside word games, reading and crafts in our mental activities guide.
• Stop while it is still fun. Half a puzzle today and the rest tomorrow is perfectly fine.