Reader’s Tips on Solving Sudoku

by Brad Smith Sudoku Match Vol. 1 The Black series is a mashup of Sudoku and Word search. Complete the Sudoku grid to find the solution row or column. Use

by Rick Yakubisin(Greensburg, PA) Any row, column or grid. Pick a candidate and count how many the chosen candidate is in the row, column or grid. Count the cells that

by Ed GLysson(Morgan Hill, CA) Sudoku Puzzle — Boxout Pattern A true Sudoku Puzzle must be resolvable to only one solution. A Boxout Pattern is a Sudoku Puzzle condition to

by Ed Glysson(Morgan Hill, CA) Sudoku Puzzle — Shuffle 288 Introduction: This article describes and demonstrates how the entries in a single Sudoku puzzle can be shuffled to create 288

by Ed GLysson(Morgan Hill, CA) Sudoku Puzzle; Identifying and Understanding Triplets: The “Sudoku Puzzle — Triplets” example attached can be used as a visual aid to promote the the identification

by Ed Glysson(Morgan Hill, CA.) Sudoku Square and Space Notation As we know, a Sudoku Puzzle Template is a 9×9 matrix of 81 Spaces, which are initially all empty. These

by Ed Glysson(Morgan Hill, CA.) Sudoku –54 Clues in Five Minutes This methodology is easy to utilize, but the explanation is wordy so stay with me. Start the Clock! There

by Ed Glysson(Morgan Hill, CA.) Sudoku Puzzling Materials OK… So, minimally all one needs is a puzzle and a pencil (or pen) and it’s “Game On!”. But some Sudoku puzzles

by Dr. Shelagh Robinson Psychologist, OPQ(Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Fast, focused, head-to-head Sudoku action. Timed, of course – the pace is competitive. Bragging rights are up for the puzzler who finds

by Cliff McQuesten(Florida panhandle) Related Values Chaining extends xy-chaining to analyze row-, column- and box- interactions between chain links and cells that are not part of the chain. A group

by John(Wisconsin. USA) If in a given row a certain number is determined to reside in a certain 3×3 block; and furthermore, that same number for a given column must

by Sunny Patel(Ahmedabad, India) So exactly what is Sudoku puzzle game? It is a number placement brainteaser, which calls for you to tap into your reasoning skills. Patience is also

by Bob(Auburn, MA, USA) After first pass through clues Yes, everyone says to do that, but no one explains how to do it systematically. Here is how I do it:

To use the chain strategy, pick a box with only 2 candidates that you would like to solve. Now imagine that the answer to that box is the first candidate.

Though likely written somewhere in this site already: Two or three of the same candidate forming a line in a region eliminates that candidate as a possibility for the rest

by RFTredwell(Orono, Maine, USA) Suppose you have solved three cells in a row (or column) within a region. (Rows with letters, from top; columns with numbers from left.) For instance,

by Mohammed Hajooze(Aleppo Syria) First I use Orange to mark the start of color mapping, in this example the candidate is (1). Find a column or row where the candidate

by Cynthia Wilson(White Sulphur Springs MT USA) For difficult puzzles, I’ve adopted what I call the Rule of Two. Simply put: no cell should ever have more than two numbers

by Claude W Smith (San Diego, CA) Recently, My wife asked me to find a computer program so that she could play the game on her home computer. As her

by JimNC9(NC) If a row has three empty cells, look at the columns of the empty cells of that row. If either column contains two of the three missing numbers,

by Colleen Atradley(lkwd, co usa) In the cell I put a dot for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 When I look at a cell a know

(Dubuque, Iowa, USA) I am not 100% sure this is the way to go, but look at the square. Is there a 1? If there is not, then look at

Whenever you have only 2 candidates in your cell, look for couples, triples and quads that go with that cell. When writing the candidates in your cells, write the 2

by Marijn van Bijlert(Oosterbeek, Netherlands) When you see in two 3*3 squares a pattern that looks almost a double X-wing, you are certain a double X-wing there is forbidden because

by Victor(Moncton, Canada) When you have 8 of the same number in any combination of 8 of the 9 by 9 squares, you can always put the ninth number using

Process of elimination using Dots instead of Numbers. When you are putting possible numbers that can be in a square. Use Dots instead. No need to use a Rubber.Use a

by Robert Benson(San Diego, CA, USA) While I use all the methods you give, one of my favorites (which I have not seen in print yet) is to use “coupled

by LESLIE MUTCHLER(EVERETT, WASHINGTON,USA) LABELING Across the top label the large squares A, B, C and down the left side D, E, F. Generally the bottom and right side don’t

by Elaine(Midwest, USA) I like Sudoku strategies that are simple and logical for me. I like solving Sudoku puzzles without using candidates, if at all possible. In reality, eventually you