How to play Sown

The rules

• The garden is a square grid split into coloured plots. There are as many plots as rows.
• Sow exactly one seed in every row, every column and every plot.
• No two seeds may touch: not side by side, not above and below, and not corner to corner.
• On Sundays (twin day) the garden is 10x10 and every row, column and plot takes two seeds instead. They still never touch.

Playing on a phone or a computer

• Tap a square once to put a dot in it (meaning: no seed here), twice to sow a seed, and a third time to clear it.
• Drag across squares to dot a whole line of them in one go. Start a drag on a dotted square to rub dots out instead.
• Squares next to a seed, and the rest of a full row, column or plot, are dotted for you in a lighter shade. You can switch this off under the board.
• Seeds that break a rule turn red. You can switch that off too, if you prefer to find your own mistakes.
• Undo steps back one move at a time. On a keyboard, use the arrow keys to move, S to sow, X to dot and Backspace to clear.

The week

Monday and Tuesday are Easy 7x7 gardens, Wednesday and Thursday are Medium 8x8, Friday and Saturday are Hard 9x9, and Sunday is twin day: 10x10 with two seeds everywhere. The size helps, but what really sets the level is the hardest idea a garden needs, as worked out by our solver (see the techniques below).

Scoring

You start on 1,000 points and lose one point for every second on the clock (half a point on twin days) and 50 for each hint. Any finished garden scores at least 100, and giving up scores 0 and shows you the solution. The clock starts when you press Start and runs on our server, so a refresh does not reset it.

Techniques, from easy to hard

1. The last free square

When a row, column or plot has only one square left that is not dotted, the seed goes there. Every garden starts with a few of these once the obvious dots are in, and a plot that is a single square is a free gift.

2. A plot squeezed into one line

If every free square of a plot sits in the same row, that row's seed must belong to the plot, so every other square in that row can be dotted. It works the other way round too: if a row's free squares all sit inside one plot, the rest of that plot is empty. The same goes for columns.

3. A seed that would crowd out a plot

Look at a small plot, or a row with few free squares. Any square whose seed would dot out ALL of them (by touching them or sharing their row or column) cannot hold a seed. Seeds next to a small plot are the usual culprits. This is the idea Medium gardens are built around.

4. Groups of plots

If two plots fit entirely inside two rows between them, those two rows' seeds belong to those two plots, so every other square in the two rows is empty. Three plots in three columns works the same way. Hard gardens need this at least once.

5. Twin day boxes

With two seeds per row, split two neighbouring rows into 2x2 boxes (columns 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and so on). Two seeds in the same box would touch, so each box holds one at most. Two rows need four seeds, so if only four boxes still have room, every one of those boxes gets exactly one seed.

Hints

Stuck? A hint lights up the squares it is about and explains the next deduction in plain words, then offers to fill it in for you. If one of your seeds or dots is already wrong, the hint points that out first, so a hint is never wasted on a garden that cannot be finished.

Endless mode

Want more than one a day? The loop button at the top opens endless mode: hundreds more gardens at Easy, Medium, Hard and Twin, played at your own pace with unlimited hints. Your progress, best and average times stay on your device. The last seven daily gardens can also be replayed from the calendar.

Every finished garden, with its solution and the first moves explained, is in the Sown answers archive. For the other daily games, see the dailies page.

Frequently asked questions

Does Sown ever need guessing?

No. Every garden has exactly one solution, proved by a computer, and our solver reaches it using only the kinds of deductions described above.

What is twin day in Sown?

Sunday's garden is 10x10 and every row, column and plot takes two seeds instead of one. Seeds still never touch, even diagonally.

How is Sown scored?

You start on 1,000 points and lose a point a second (half a point on twin days) and 50 per hint. Any finish scores at least 100; giving up scores 0.

Is Sown free?

Yes. Sown is free to play in any web browser, on a phone or a computer. There is nothing to install and no account to make.

What time does the new Sown garden come out?

At midnight UK time (GMT in winter, BST in summer). Everyone gets the same garden on the same day. If you have the old puzzle open at midnight, you have 30 minutes to finish it and still have it count.

Can I play more than one Sown a day?

Yes. Endless mode has hundreds of extra gardens at four levels, and the last seven daily gardens can be replayed from the calendar. Neither affects your daily score or streak.

Where can I see yesterday's Sown solution?

The Sown answers archive shows every finished garden with its seeds and the first moves explained. Today's garden never appears there until the day is over.