Tuesdoku Tip: Part III | 01/10/06

I was in the middle of making a really complicated Sudoku tip for today when I realized that most people don't need advanced tips; advanced Sudokers don't need help at all. So here's some help for the beginners: How To Get Started 101.

Start "Crossing". Look at the red arrows on the sevens at the bottom. Whenever you have two of anything, anywhere you should start there. In this case we have two sevens and since we know we need one in the top row of the bottom set of minigrids we can see there's only one spot to fill it in. Now look at the blue arrows, again we have two 7's and can fill in that third one. Same goes for the 8's in green.

But now what? You're not stuck, don't you worry your pretty little head. Look in the oranged-out column. We already have the 1 and the 2 and know we need a 3. Since we already have a 3 in the lower-right hand minigrid and the 1,6,7 in the middle right-hand minigrid, we only have two choices for the 3--the blue box and the magenta box. Obviously, the 3 in the very top row eliminates that as an option. This same strategy will also place the 9 in the magenta box. Now that we have even more filled in, we see we have two fives (magenta arrows, at top). With only one space in the uppermost row, *bam*, that's where it goes. With the light blue arrows, also in the top row, we can safely fill in the 5 with same Crossing technique. I did today's puzzle in 3:03. jamie probably did it in 2:30. But you never know; she might just say that to keep me motivated.

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