Here are our best Sudoku puzzles of 2018, selected from the 42 web posts in this category:

Visually distinctive puzzles were an important part of the top Sudoku from 2018. While posted in our last week of 2018, this Christmas Tree Sudoku by Thomas Snyder (that combines Sudoku with the popular Star Battle style) got a lot of FAVE votes in a rather short time.

While we have been avoiding “Pi” puzzles for a long time here — some of us assert there is a more fundamental mathematical constant around 6.283 — having some new editors involved on the web led to our first full week of “Pi” puzzles in March and some others later in the year. Two Pi sudoku stood out including this Consecutive Sudoku from guest contributor Fatih Kamer Anda.

Another prize goes out to an Arrow Sudoku from Murat Can Tonta.

The best sudoku of 2018 goes to another Pi-themed puzzle, a Thermo-Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli with an incredibly elegant arrangement of its givens that still leads to a fundamentally interesting logical solve.

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Theme: Refraction of Light

Author/Opus: This is the 229th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 5th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:00, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

Note: Follow this link for more Arrow Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Arrow Sudoku to get started on.

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Theme: Candlepower
(this puzzle is a continuation of the theme in this Thermo-Sudoku)

Author/Opus: This is the 55th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:00, Master = 12:30, Expert = 25:00

Note: Follow this link for more Arrow Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Arrow Sudoku to get started on.

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Theme: Steps

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Rajesh Kumar.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 6th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

Note: Follow this link for more Arrow Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Arrow Sudoku to get started on.

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Theme: A Series of Arrows

Author/Opus: This is the 315th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 6th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:15, Expert = 2:30

Note: Follow this link for more Arrow Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Arrow Sudoku to get started on.

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Theme: Broken Arrows

Author/Opus: This is the 87th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 6th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 4th column from top to bottom.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:00, Master = 7:45, Expert = 15:30

Note: Follow this link for more Arrow Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Arrow Sudoku to get started on.

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Theme: Diamonds (for Chris Green)

Author/Opus: This is the 150th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Classic Sudoku Rules. Also, some arrow shapes are in the grid; the sum of the digits along the path of each arrow must equal the digit in the circled cell. Some thermometer shapes are in the grid; digits must be strictly increasing from the round bulb to each flat end. Finally, some diamond shapes are in the grid; the labeled diamonds below the grid must be placed in some order onto the shapes in the grid. The labeled diamonds can be rotated but cannot be reflected.

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 10:45, Expert = 21:30

Note: Follow this link for other less common variations of Sudoku and this link for classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on.