Fiendish on March 25th

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Fiendish on March 25th

Postby Guest » Sat Mar 26, 2005 10:42 am

Did anyone solve (without trial and error) the fiendish that appeared in the The Times on March 25th (No 101).

I've looked at it for about three hours without solving it. Any tips?
Guest
 

Postby Guest » Sat Mar 26, 2005 11:48 am

I did solve it using logic.

Perhaps if you can give details of where you have reached I or someone else on the forum could give a clue?
Guest
 

Postby praps » Sat Mar 26, 2005 12:14 pm

Thanks Steve.

My email is praps@hotmail.co.uk. If you email me i could send you a spreadsheet with my latest position
praps
 
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Joined: 26 March 2005

Postby praps » Sat Mar 26, 2005 12:34 pm

Or you could just look at this

Code: Select all
???|??1|875
?1?|??8|???
7?8|9?3|??1
-----------
?4?|???|???
8?5|1??|3?7
???|???|?6?
-----------
3??|5?9|1?6
???|31?|?2?
19?|6??|???
praps
 
Posts: 3
Joined: 26 March 2005

Postby Guest » Sat Mar 26, 2005 1:10 pm

Hi praps,

Have a look at box 3, ie the squares c7r2, c8r2, c9r2, c7r3 and c8r3,

Check out the possible values for each of those squares (nothing complicated) and you should find a unique number for one of them.
Guest
 

Postby Pappocom » Sat Mar 26, 2005 2:08 pm

Is that 1 in box 5 a typo?

- Wayne
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Joined: 05 March 2005

Postby Guest » Sat Mar 26, 2005 5:27 pm

I got this far yesterday and have no idea how to get any further without resorting to a bit of guessing. Could anyone give me some pointers as the next stage of reasoning please?

Code: Select all
???|??1|875
?1?|758|???
758|9?3|?41
-----------
?4?|???|???
8?5|???|3?7
???|???|?6?
-----------
3??|5?9|186
586|31?|?2?
19?|68?|???


George
Guest
 

Postby Guest » Sat Mar 26, 2005 7:06 pm

Hi George

This one gets a bit complex, but have a look at where the 4's can go in rows 1 & 2. Look in particular at boxes 1, 2 & 3 (& note the significance of the 4 already in row 3).

Now consider where the 4's can go in columns 1 & 3 (col 2 already has a 4) by looking at boxes 1, 4 & 7.

There is one common box in the above, ie box 1, and if you go through the above you should find where the 4 goes there.
Guest
 

Postby Bernard Stay » Sat Mar 26, 2005 8:09 pm

I went a rather simpler way from there: in box 3: 3 & 9 have to go in row 2. In box 1: 4 has to go in column 1. This leaves only 2 to go in c3r2 and thus 3 in c2r1 and off you go.
Bernard Stay
 
Posts: 94
Joined: 22 March 2005

Postby praps » Sat Mar 26, 2005 9:31 pm

Stevef

Thanks for that - cracked it at long last without any t&e - r3c8 is a 4

Amazing - i really didn't think it ws possible. Congrates for doing it in the first place.
praps
 
Posts: 3
Joined: 26 March 2005

Postby Guest » Sun Mar 27, 2005 1:38 pm

Cheers for that Steve, completely missed it! Well on my way now, another snag but I'm sure I'll overcome it once I wake up!

George
Guest
 
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Joined: 25 November 2005

Postby zebedee » Sun Mar 27, 2005 2:51 pm

guest wrote:I got this far yesterday and have no idea how to get any further without resorting to a bit of guessing. Could anyone give me some pointers as the next stage of reasoning please?

Code: Select all
???|??1|875
?1?|758|???
758|9?3|?41
-----------
?4?|???|???
8?5|???|3?7
???|???|?6?
-----------
3??|5?9|186
586|31?|?2?
19?|68?|???


George


I got to the same point as you George and then realised, after 3 hours of looking, that there had to be a 4 in Box 1, Column 1. It was then plain sailing. Goodness knows how I managed to miss this fact for so long. Must have gone number blind.

Cheers.

:)

zeb
zebedee
 
Posts: 26
Joined: 27 March 2005


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