The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Mugenlude]

I've been playing Suduko for awhile, mostly the easier puzzles though. I've been trying to advance my skills by tackling some harder puzzles and trying to understand new techniques to solve puzzles....

This puzzle is a Evil puzzle from websudoku.com. I've finished these puzzles in the past, but I'm stuck really early in this puzzle!

My Progress

Code: Select all

2     89   7      |   1      568   689   |   4      3    5689
89    3    5      |   679    2678  4     |   28     1    268 
1     4    6      |   35     2358  238   |   9      25   7
------------------+----------------------+-------------------
3489  25   3489   |   3467   1     3678  |   2358   67   25689
7     6    1389   |   2      38    5     |   138    89   4
348   25   1348   |   3467   9     3678  |   12358  67   2568
------------------+----------------------+-------------------
5     89   2      |   347    347   37    |   6      89   1
369   1    39     |   8      2356  239   |   7      4    259
4689  7    489    |   4569   2456  1     |   258    25   3

Original Puzzle

Code: Select all

2 . . | 1 . . | . 3 .
. 3 5 | . . 4 | . 1 . 
. . 6 | . . . | 9 . 7
------+-------+------
. . . | . 1 . | . . .
7 . . | 2 . 5 | . . 4
. . . | . 9 . | . . .
------+-------+------
5 . 2 | . . . | 6 . .
. 1 . | 8 . . | 7 4 .
. 7 . | . . 1 | . . 3

Any help with the technique and area for the next move would be appreciate!

[JasonLion]

There are a couple of locked candidates on the digit 4 that allow you to place a digit.

There are also a couple of other locked candidates, a naked pair, a naked triple, and a variety of more complex techniques that you could apply.

[Mugenlude]

Thanks for the reply! I was able to find one of the 4's (r7c5). I've spent a lot of time looking for naked/hidden triples, so apparently I'm not grasping them. Could you give me a row that it is present in? Thanks.

Updated Progress

Code: Select all

2     89   7      |   1      568   689   |   4      3    5689
89    3    5      |   679    2678  4     |   28     1    268 
1     4    6      |   35     2358  238   |   9      25   7
------------------+----------------------+-------------------
3489  25   3489   |   3467   1     3678  |   2358   67   2589
7     6    1389   |   2      38    5     |   138    89   4
348   25   1348   |   3467   9     3678  |   12358  67   258
------------------+----------------------+-------------------
5     89   2      |   37     4     37    |   6      89   1
369   1    39     |   8      2356  239   |   7      4    259
4689  7    489    |   4569   2456  1     |   258    25   3

[Mugenlude]

Thanks for the tip... I was able to solve it!