Daily calcudoku
Monday, 10 August 2026 · 5×5 Medium
The puzzle
Fill every row and every column with the digits 1 to 5, each exactly once, so that the digits in every outlined cage combine to its target with its operation. This one has 1 addition cage, 5 subtraction cages and 4 multiplication cages.
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Where to start
3 cells are printed for you: a 5 at row 4, column 1; a 2 at row 4, column 3; and a 2 at row 5, column 1. Fill those in first, then let each one rule its digit out of its row and column.
The first moves a careful solver finds:
- Somewhere in this line the 1 must go — and row 1, column 3 is the only cell that can still take it.
- Somewhere in this line the 3 must go — and row 1, column 1 is the only cell that can still take it.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 2, column 1 has exactly one candidate left: 4.
How this grid gives way
Of the 22 cells left to fill after the 3 printed ones, 11 by crossing off what a cell’s row and column already hold until one digit was left; 9 by a cage’s arithmetic leaving only one value that fits; and 2 by finding the one place left in a line where a digit could still go. No step needs a guess: every Cages daily is checked to have exactly one solution, reachable by reasoning alone.
The full solution
Show all 22 steps
- Somewhere in this line the 1 must go — and row 1, column 3 is the only cell that can still take it.
- Somewhere in this line the 3 must go — and row 1, column 1 is the only cell that can still take it.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 2, column 1 has exactly one candidate left: 4.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 3, column 1 has exactly one candidate left: 1.
- Work the 3× cage: with what the board already holds, only 3 can sit in row 3, column 2 and still hit the target.
- Work the 1− cage: with what the board already holds, only 4 can sit in row 3, column 3 and still hit the target.
- Work the 1− cage: with what the board already holds, only 2 can sit in row 3, column 5 and still hit the target.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 3, column 4 has exactly one candidate left: 5.
- Work the 3− cage: with what the board already holds, only 2 can sit in row 2, column 4 and still hit the target.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 1, column 4 has exactly one candidate left: 4.
- Work the 10+ cage: with what the board already holds, only 5 can sit in row 1, column 5 and still hit the target.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 1, column 2 has exactly one candidate left: 2.
- Work the 3− cage: with what the board already holds, only 5 can sit in row 2, column 2 and still hit the target.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 2, column 3 has exactly one candidate left: 3.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 2, column 5 has exactly one candidate left: 1.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 4, column 4 has exactly one candidate left: 1.
- Work the 3× cage: with what the board already holds, only 3 can sit in row 4, column 5 and still hit the target.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 4, column 2 has exactly one candidate left: 4.
- Work the 4× cage: with what the board already holds, only 1 can sit in row 5, column 2 and still hit the target.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 5, column 3 has exactly one candidate left: 5.
- Cross off what the row and column already rule out, and row 5, column 4 has exactly one candidate left: 3.
- Work the 60× cage: with what the board already holds, only 4 can sit in row 5, column 5 and still hit the target.