Build Your Own Hitlines
(Published on 16. December 2025, 13:59 by marty_sears)
Normal sudoku rules apply.
From each square, draw a valid hitline moving through the centres of cells. Each hitline must occupy at least two cells. Hitlines may travel orthogonally and diagonally between cells, but may not branch, share cells, or cross themselves or each other.
Digits may not repeat on a hitline.
The small white clue on a square indicates the total sum of all the digits along that hitline that match their position number, with the square itself being position 1.
Eg: if a hitline reads 82195 then its square would have a 7 clue, as this is the sum of 2 and 5 which are the only two digits on the line which match their position number (they are in the 2nd position and 5th position.)
Puzzle 1: Hitlines
Puzzle 2: Hit Count
Puzzle 3: Dutch Flat Mates: Hitlines
Puzzle 4: Pick-up Sticks: Beige
Puzzle 5: Rank Up: Hitlines
Puzzle 6: Six Hit Wonder
Puzzle 7: HIT + MIX
Puzzle 8: Build Your Own Hitlines
Solution code: The digits along the 12 line in box 9, starting from the square
Comments
yesterday, 13:58 by madhupt
Marvellous!
on 28. December 2025, 03:49 by virus_dave
Another absolutely brilliant puzzle by a brilliant setter.
on 23. December 2025, 22:47 by olc
incredible puzzle! very fun to figure out. the last hurdle was quite challenging to get over (took me over 2 hours on that part alone) but overall very well put together!
on 22. December 2025, 18:44 by Voidslime
Brilliant puzzle! I hope you can ignore the weird criticism from frustrated and confused solvers! You’ve done more than enough to explain. I once left a frustrated comment in rat race puzzle I’ve regretted ever since
on 21. December 2025, 20:17 by Klausku
This is one of the best puzzles I solved this year. What a brilliant construction. The last third of the puzzle took me ages. But finding the logic that disambiguates all the possibilities was so beautiful and satisfying. Thanks Marty!
on 20. December 2025, 17:08 by PhysicistFromFunen
It is not every day you see a 98 % rating only to find yourself thinking “well, that’s clearly underrated” after solving… thank you so much for this gem!
on 18. December 2025, 21:24 by chinesemaster
Very approachable 4*! Great fun thanks!
on 18. December 2025, 12:14 by Asparagus
This is a magnificent puzzle. Well done Marty and thank you!
on 17. December 2025, 19:12 by m0rkoli
Thank you!
I hesitated to start this one...
Luckily took the challenge, 1 hour 34 min.
Did some mistakes, luckily not too big ones.
10 / 10 for creativity
I think this was first time doing hitlines :D love them.
on 17. December 2025, 18:08 by Franjo
A wonderful construction from the nice break-in up to the funny solution code! My favorite lines are the 0 and 9, but I love all of them. Thank you very much for creating and sharing this masterpiece.
Marty: those are my two favourite lines too :) thankyou for all the nice comments this year Franjo
on 17. December 2025, 14:27 by mscha
Wonderful new idea, but very tricky. Even more so because I believed for a long time that hitlines with length N had to have the digits 1..N. :-(
When I finally finished, I couldn't enter the solution, since I had no 12 line in box 9. So I "had" to start over again, which took me surprisingly long, even on the parts that hadn't changed.
But it's still a wonderful puzzle!
on 17. December 2025, 14:09 by TJ
That was very hard, started on the original version and took over an hour divided over two days to solve it, then found out about the new version.
on 16. December 2025, 22:16 by little_turd
Show me someone who says they solved this without cheating, and I'll show you someone who is much better at Sudoku than I am.
on 16. December 2025, 21:17 by War
Very cool and beautiful puzzle. The logic felt straightforward and easy to find, so I'm giving it a 3* difficulty.
on 16. December 2025, 20:42 by Isael
Got stuck for a looooong time... and then I read that digits may not repeat on a line ^^
on 16. December 2025, 19:44 by wuc
Brilliant. Twice lost track of the no repeats. Amazing flow even though very hard. Such a fun rewarding puzzle. Inspiring setting thx.
on 16. December 2025, 17:50 by mihel111
Lot of fun. Thanks Marty.
