The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Lost]

The sudoku was in the Sacramento Bee on Sunday. I've spent two days trying to figure it out. I have the answer, but I have no idea how to get there. The puzzle is labeled HARD. Here's where I'm at. I checked my answers so far with the cheat sheet and so far so good but I cannot get any more numbers to get me moving.

HELP!

7...94...
4...82.9.
5..317.84
657938421
..4275...
932461..8
27.149..5
.4.75...2
..582..4.


Thanks!

Lost

[fermat]

Work on column 8 first, you can solve three cells just by looking.

That done, observe the 1s in column 3, that will solve you some cells in column 2.

[udosuk]

Code: Select all

7..|.94|...
4..|.82|.9.
5..|317|.84
---+---+---
657|938|421
..4|275|...
932|461|..8
---+---+---
27.|149|..5
.4.|75.|..2
..5|82.|.4.

There is a hidden single on column 8... (Which number could go on only one cell on that column?)

The rest are all singles...

[QBasicMac]

Code: Select all

+------------------+-----------+-------------------+
| 7    1268  1368  | 56  9  4  | 12356  1356  36   |
| 4    16    136   | 56  8  2  | 13567  9     367  |
| 5    269   69    | 3   1  7  | 26     8     4    |
+------------------+-----------+-------------------+
| 6    5     7     | 9   3  8  | 4      2     1    |
| 18   18    4     | 2   7  5  | 369    36    369  |
| 9    3     2     | 4   6  1  | 57     57    8    |
+------------------+-----------+-------------------+
| 2    7     368   | 1   4  9  | 368    36    5    |
| 138  4     13689 | 7   5  36 | 13689  136   2    |
| 13   169   5     | 8   2  36 | 13679  4     3679 |
+------------------+-----------+-------------------+


Note that 36 occurs alone in two cells in column 8.Thus one of those cells is a 3 and the other a 6.

That means you can eliminate candidates 3 and 6 from all other cells in column 8, Right?

So now you can place some numbers in column 8: 1 in row 7, 5 in row 1 and 7 in row 6.

Mac

[udosuk]

So now you can place some numbers in column 8: 1 in row 7, 5 in row 1 and 7 in row 6.

I'm sure Mac meant to say "1 in row 8" instead...

For pen and paper solvers, hidden single is probably easier than naked pair... But for pencilmarks/candidates players naked pair is probably a more accessible method... But with filters available then hidden single will definitely become easier again... But I've noticed the newest version of Simple Sudoku has ranked hidden pairs and triples above naked quads...

[Lost]

My goodness. Thank you for helping. I stared at that thing forever. I see I have a lot to learn about this game.

Thanks again!

Paul "Lost"