Hi Eleven, Cenoman,
Thanks for your solutions. I am not sure if my reflections are interesting to someone, but let me tell you how I came to my solution. Sometimes it is hard to combine distant cells in one pattern, but in this case I found rather quickly the key ALS (6789) r4c349 and used it in the chain (2=7)r1c12 - (7=8)r2c3 - (8=9)r4c349 - r1c9 = r1c7 => -2r1c7. Later on I used the same ALS to eliminate another '2': (2=7)r1c12 - (7=8)r2c3 - (8=9)r4c349 - (9=2)r8c9 => -2 r1c9,
which led to -7 r1c2.
- Code: Select all
.---------------------.---------------.--------------------.
| a12 a127 3 | 4 5 6 | e79-2 8 dE79-2 |
| 45 45 b78 | 1 289 29 | 267 37 2367 |
| 268 26 9 | 3 28 7 | 1 5 4 |
:---------------------+---------------+--------------------:
| 2689 3 c678 | c67 249 249 | 5 1 c679 |
| 12569 125679 167 | 8 129 1259 | 4 379 3679 |
| 1569 15679 4 | 67 3 159 | 679 2 8 |
:---------------------+---------------+--------------------:
| 349 49 5 | 2 6 38 | 789 479 1 |
| 13469 1469 16 | 5 7 38 | 289 49 D29 |
| 7 8 2 | 9 14 14 | 3 6 5 |
'---------------------'---------------'--------------------'
Then I asked myself if it was possible to come to -7 r1c2 in one step, and eventually I found Cenoman's first step with the same ALS r4c349. I could not come to this solution at once because of the distant cells r1c9 and r8c9 that should be combined in one pattern, so this puzzle needs long range artillery. Here is
another example of such a puzzle.