An example Greater Than Killer puzzle: a cage summing to 8, with an inequality fixing the order — 5 > 3.
Greater Than Killer Sudoku combines two variants in one. It has the dotted cages of Killer Sudoku — a small sum, and no repeated digit inside a cage — and adds inequality signs between the cells of a cage, showing which digit is larger. The sum tells you which digits are in the cage; the inequalities tell you their order.
The rule: a cage sum plus an order
Each cage still adds to its clue with all-different digits. On top of that, the > and < signs inside a cage rank its cells. Below, a two-cell cage sums to 7 with the left cell greater than the right — here 5 and 2.
A cage summing to 7 with left > right: the digits are 5 and 2.
A worked example, step by step
Take an empty two-cell cage that sums to 7, with the left cell greater than the right.
Step 0. A cage: sum 7, left cell greater than right.
Step 1 — list the sum combinations. Two different digits adding to 7 are {1,6}, {2,5} or {3,4}. That is the Killer half of the clue.
Step 2 — the inequality picks the order. In each pair the left cell is the larger, so the cage reads 6-1, 5-2 or 4-3 — never the other way round. The inequality has cut the six possible orderings down to three, and any crossing row, column or box then finishes the job.
Step 2. Left is the larger of each pair (4–6), right the smaller (1–3): 6-1, 5-2 or 4-3.
Why the two clues work together
On their own, a cage sum leaves the order open and an inequality leaves the values open. Put them together and they slice from both sides: the sum fixes the set of digits, the inequalities sort them, and often a single cage resolves completely. Longer cages with a chain of inequalities (a > b > c) are especially sharp, because the order is fully forced once the digits are known.
Solving strategy
- Start with the sum. List the cage's digit combinations exactly as in Killer.
- Then apply the order. The inequalities rank the cells, throwing out every arrangement that breaks them.
- Chase inequality chains. A run like a > b > c pins the order completely once the set is known.
- Feed the grid. Each digit a cage fixes behaves like a given for its row, column and box.
Common mistakes
- Ignoring one half of the clue. Use both the sum and the inequalities — each is weak alone.
- Allowing a repeat in a cage. As in Killer, a cage's digits are all different.
- Reading the sign backwards. The open side faces the larger digit, the point the smaller.
- Forgetting ordinary Sudoku. Cage cells still obey their rows, columns and boxes.
Can I play it here?
Not yet — Greater Than Killer Sudoku isn't one of the puzzle types SudokuStreak generates for now. But you can learn its rules above, and there's plenty here to sink your teeth into meanwhile:
- Try the closely related Killer, which you can play right now.
- Browse all the Sudoku variants we do offer.
- Or print free puzzles from the printable PDF page.