The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Guest]

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]

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?

[praps]

Thanks Steve.

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

[praps]

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??|???

[Guest]

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.

[Pappocom]

Is that 1 in box 5 a typo?

- Wayne

[Guest]

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]

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.

[Bernard Stay]

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.

[praps]

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.

[Guest]

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

[zebedee]

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