The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[dgwil]

Please help me proceed with this puzzle.

x x 7 x 3 x 5 8 x
2 x x x x 9 x 7 x
6 3 8 5 7 x x 1 x

5 x 9 x 2 x 4 x x
x x x x 4 1 x 9 5
x x 1 x x x x x 7

x x 6 x x 2 x x x
x x 4 x x x x 2 3
8 x x 4 6 3 1 5 x
using my beginners basic stuff, I got to here.

1/9-----1/9-----7--------2------3------6--------5------8------4
2--------4-------5-------1/8---1/8-----9--------3------7------6
6--------3-------8--------5------7------4--------9------1------2

5-------6/8------9---3/6/7/8---2------7/8------4-----3/6----1
7-----2/6/8------3------6/8----4-------1--------2/8---9------5
4-----2/6/8------1---3/6/8/9--5/8/9--5/8------2/8---3/6----7

3-----1/5/9-----6-------1/9---1/5/9-----2-------7------4-----8
1/9---1/5/9-----4---1/7/8/9--1/5/8/9--5/7/8---6-----2------3
8--------7-------2---------4------6-------3-------1------5-----9

I'm very interested in any rules to help start some of these interrelated chains. From here, in an effort to avoid dual ending situations, I gave r4c2 the 8 to avoid the 2/8 in r5c2, r6c2 with r5c7, r6c7. This led to giving r8c2 the 5 to avoid the 1/9 at r1c1, r1c2 with r8c1, r8c2. I also felt I had to give the 6 to r5c4 to avoid the 3/6 at r4c4,r6c4 with r4c8, r6c8. All this has left me with a seeming dual ending interrelated chain of the rest of the cells with 1/9, 1/8, & 8/9 at r1c1&2, r2c4&5, r6c4&5, r7c2&4, and r8c1&5.
I will appreciate any input and I do hope I have not wasted our time by copying the dang puzzle down wrong. alas, I can't double check as I don't remember where I got it.
Thanks, Wil
PS when I reviewed this I see it has scrunched up all my columns making them hard to view. how do you show penceled in puzzles, or is there a format that is easy to keep boxes and columns easy to read.

[Shazbot]

this puzzle has 30 solutions. Guessing as the next step is the only way to reach one of them.

Oh, and you can use Word/Notepad to enter your candidates, using a fixed width font (courier), then copy them into the post using the Code button at the beginning and end - then they'll keep their spacing.