The Hardest Sections Puzzles
These are the hardest Sections puzzles in the archive, ranked by how few of the players who started one ever finished it. The puzzle at the top has beaten more people than anything else we have published.
Grid size is a poor guide. A 9×9 with generous starting numbers can fall in two minutes, while a tight 6×6 whose sections all overlap will stall you for twenty. What makes these hard is the missing opening: no cell is forced until you chain two or three constraints together, which is exactly what the solving tips cover.
The 25 hardest Sections puzzles, ranked
- 1February 2, 2026Hard · 7×7 · avg 3:389%finished
- 2January 31, 2026Medium · 6×6 · avg 1:4413%finished
- 3March 4, 2026Hard · 7×7 · avg 3:0717%finished
- 4April 23, 2026Hard · 8×8 · avg 24:3518%finished
- 5January 25, 2026Medium · 6×6 · avg 3:1418%finished
- 6February 15, 2026Medium · 6×6 · avg 2:0720%finished
- 7May 25, 2026Hard · 8×8 · avg 29:0821%finished
- 8March 24, 2026Hard · 9×9 · avg 18:0122%finished
- 9June 24, 2026Hard · 9×9 · avg 34:1923%finished
- 10January 27, 2026Hard · 8×8 · avg 10:1923%finished
- 11January 29, 2026Medium · 6×6 · avg 2:1024%finished
- 12June 4, 2026Hard · 9×9 · avg 34:1226%finished
- 13April 20, 2026Hard · 7×7 · avg 3:0126%finished
- 14February 22, 2026Medium · 6×6 · avg 1:4027%finished
- 15March 22, 2026Hard · 8×8 · avg 16:2529%finished
- 16March 6, 2026Hard · 7×7 · avg 3:2029%finished
- 17March 16, 2026Hard · 7×7 · avg 2:5229%finished
- 18February 21, 2026Medium · 5×5 · avg 0:3129%finished
- 19March 12, 2026Hard · 7×7 · avg 4:2130%finished
- 20January 24, 2026Medium · 5×5 · avg 0:4730%finished
- 21April 1, 2026Hard · 8×8 · avg 6:0632%finished
- 22April 2, 2026Hard · 7×7 · avg 3:3832%finished
- 23March 25, 2026Hard · 9×9 · avg 16:3433%finished
- 24March 31, 2026Hard · 8×8 · avg 11:5333%finished
- 25March 26, 2026Hard · 8×8 · avg 9:1633%finished
How this list is worked out
Every puzzle records how many people started it and how many finished. This list ranks them by the share who finished, lowest first, so the puzzle at the top defeated a larger proportion of the people who tried it than any other. Ties break on average solve time.
The ranking refreshes once a day, so a puzzle can move as more people play it. Newer puzzles swing the most, since early solvers carry more weight before the numbers settle.
It is worth saying what this list is not: it is not sorted by grid size. Size is a rough proxy at best, and some of the meanest puzzles here are small grids with tightly overlapping sections.