When you get to this stage, it’s time to start penciling in possible candidates for various cells. Unless you’re completing an easy Sudoku grid designed for beginners, you’ll soon run out of possible numbers you can ‘lock in’ for certain. The harder the puzzle, the more numbers you’ll have to add until you start uncovering new cells. Note: Not every time you add a new number to the grid will reveal a cell. This only leaves the bottom right cell of the top left box available for the 2. Likewise, the two given 2s in top middle and right boxes also rule out the first two rows of the top left box from containing a 2. This is because the 2 we added in step 3 rules out the 2 from appearing in the middle column of the box. That is, squares where only one number can go without breaking any rules.įor instance, only the number 2 can go into the square highlighted below. When you start a new Sudoku puzzle, some squares will already be filled with numbers.īased on how difficult the puzzle is, these numbers will ‘lock in’ specific numbers to specific squares. Step 3: Find squares that can only be one number In other words, no number can be repeated in any 3×3 box, row, or column. Once the puzzle is solved, this means that every row, column, and 3×3 box will contain every number from 1 to 9 exactly once. Each horizontal row can only contain each number from 1 to 9 once.Each vertical column can only contain each number from 1 to 9 once.Each 3×3 box can only contain each number from 1 to 9 once.Only the numbers from 1 through to 9 can be used.Every square has to contain a single number.Sudoku is a puzzle based on a small number of very simple rules: This video is a walkthrough of how to solve a typical codeword puzzle with three clues, and you can try the puzzle before watching if you like.In total there are 81 squares on a Sudoku grid and when the puzzle is completed each square will contain exactly one number. How to solve a Codeword PuzzleĬodewords are a lovely word puzzle that will require some logic combined with a good knowledge of the English language and vocabularly. Read more Puzzle Strategy Tips on a range of different puzzle types. Now download the jigsaw sudoku puzzle magazine and enjoy 100 fun jigsaw sudoku puzzles. We can eliminate 4,8 as candidates from all other cells in row four this now means that the 8 can be placed in row five, in turn enabling us to place precisely the 4 and 8 in row four. This enables us to say that R4C5 and R4C6 must be 4 and 8, so we can mark 48,48 as the pencilmarks in those cells. With the 1 in column 5 and the 3 in column 6, this makes the candidates for those cells respectively: 137, 37, 17. This will just leave 1,3,7 which must be placed in cells 4,5,6 in row 6 accordingly. The 5 in row six can also be placed instantly. We can instantly place the '6' in row six using the simple logic above, and it pays dividends taking the time at the start of the puzzle to look for numbers that must go in a particular cell in a row, column or box. You will tend to find that you need to use pencilmarks a lot more with jigsaw sudoku than you do with normal sudoku (unless you are doing a particularly hard sudoku that relies on you going through and noting down each candidate for a particular cell systematically to reduce the options). Looking out at the start of the puzzle for applications of this can be the key to placing values quickly in jigsaw sudoku and making the appropriate eliminations as a result. This only leaves one cell that can contain the 1 in row 1, and that is the final cell, R1C9, and we place it there. This only leaves three cells in row 1 that can contain a 1, but in fact cells 1,2 can't either because there is a 1 placed in R2C2 which contains cells R1C1 and R1C2 in its boundaries. We can see that the '1' in cell Row three Column 5 (R3C5) means that cells 3,4,5,6,7,8 in row one cannot contain a 1. Those that spread across a particularly large number of cells in another region (intersect over those cells) are particularly useful. The key to solving jigsaw sudoku is of course to make the most of the shapes of the regions. However, there is one rule that you will find yourself using a lot more than in normal sudoku and that is region intersection elimination. The rules that you use in standard sudoku certainly apply, that there is 1 - 9 once in each row, column and in this case irregular shaped thick lined set of nine cells. One of the most enjoyable elements about it is that there are many possible grid types, and therefore each of these presents a different set of regions and therefore a different puzzle each time. This puzzle is one of the more common and more fun of the various sudoku variants. Our Irregular sudoku puzzle magazine, also referred to as Jigsaw Sudoku, has 100 all new irregular sudoku puzzles for you to enjoy.
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