The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[mark lar]

Hi,
I am a fairly decent solver of hard puzzles but struggle to solve https://porndollz.com fiendish ones. I know there's ton of material on additional strategies like fish, wings etc but I am curious to find out which resources would this sub recommend as easiest to go through.
Also, are there any websites or apps which have exercises aimed to spot/use those strategies?

[SpAce]

Hi,I am a fairly decent solver of hard puzzles but struggle to solve fiendish ones.

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I know there's ton of material on additional strategies

Really? I haven't seen almost any. What you mean is tactics. Individual solving patterns and techniques are not "strategies", even though some not-so-great sources misuse that word for that purpose. This may sound like nitpicking, but they're actually very different things. Strategy is a complete plan of attack for the whole puzzle (winning the war), while tactics is about attacking small pieces of it (winning battles). A player with a good strategy can typically solve a puzzle more elegantly and with fewer moves than someone who doesn't, even if they know the same tactical level patterns and techniques. A good player can also use different strategies depending on the goals at hand. Unfortunately few if any sources discuss strategies, but then again, you must first learn your tactics pretty well before you can even think strategically.

like fish, wings etc but I am curious to find out which resources would this sub recommend as easiest to go through.

Hodoku is probably the best single source to learn the most common solving techniques. It's only missing some very advanced ones, but for them this forum is probably the best source. Personally I would recommend learning chaining concepts early on, because that would let you understand and use most of the individual patterns without memorizing them all. Most named patterns (Skyscrapers, XY-Wings, etc) are just short chains, and almost every solving move can be seen and expressed as a chain (or a net in complex cases).

Also, are there any websites or apps which have exercises aimed to spot/use those strategies tactics?

Also Hodoku. With its learning and practicing modes you can generate puzzles with specific solving patterns to spot. It can also list all available patterns/techniques in a puzzle state if you get stuck or want to see different options. It's probably the best tool for learning sudoku, and completely free too. I highly recommend downloading it right away.