SudokuSolver Forum

Here an easy Pen & Paper puzzle for a lazy afternoon.

enxio27 Samurai #2

Rating based on required solving techniques:  Easy

030056000810009200009000150000500042100080007590003000056000000008300000000690000
000640090009100058027000100540008000900020001000500049000000720000001900000056000
000305000000070000000000000058030420000000000034090510000000000000050000000109000
000510000008400000097000000850001000200030006000700028002000380780005900040093000
000097000000006500000000410000100098700080003890002000068000300007200085000750060

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Ok, I finished this one (actually last week, but haven't had time to post my solution until now).

This one isn't difficult (a few X-wings, but nothing harder), just a little time-consuming (with multigrids I always write out my solving steps so that I can backtrack if I make a mistake). Lazy afternoons don't currently exist in my world.

Here's the solution (barring any transcription errors):

This puzzle is solvable with Naked/Hidden singles ONLY !!!. Not even Intersections are required. That's why I wrote: "An easy Pen & Paper puzzle for a lazy afternoon."

Women love making easy things complicated

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Ok, so my solving path is different. I start with rows (top to bottom), looking for whatever I can find for 1, then 2, then 3, and so on. Then I go through the columns (left to right). Then the boxes, left to right, top to bottom. (I TOLD you I'm methodical!) Doing it that way, I pretty much found an X-wing right off the bat (15th step, r XW 9 r1c8, r1c9, r7c8, r7c9).


Thanks a lot!

"Naked/hidden singles only" is something very solverish. I never check everywhere for singles the whole time when solving with pen/paper. I solve all my clueless and samurai on paper without pencil marks. I could solve all of Ruuds puzzles this way, they had the proper difficulty for that. I just run through the numbers and see where you find things. So you'll find the stuff you normally check for as well even though it might not be NEEDED to solve the puzzle. But it's just how you approach puzzles.
So yeah, it might be "naked/hidden singles only" but that doesn't mean you only use that when solving the puzzle on paper. Nothing to do with being male/female. It's just being human.

Para, I agree 100% with you. When I solve a Sudoku I also use what ever techniques I find suitable for getting the puzzle solved. I certainly often use techniques not intended by the puzzle designer (also myself) and it does not bother me at all.

When solving on paper however I personally have big problems solving puzzles requiring other techniques than Naked/Hidden Singles only, especially if I do not bother noting some possibilities (pencil marks), when just running through the numbers and see where you find things does not get me further. When just running through the numbers and see where you find things, I have problems finding anything else than Naked/Hidden Singles.

I am extremely impressed by people who are able to solve (Ruud's and my) Samurai and Clueless puzzles on paper, especially when not using some pencil marks, at least at some stage during the solving.

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I don't even TRY to solve multi-grid puzzles without pencil marks (although I did see a number of easy moves in this puzzle before I got to the pencil marks). Regular 9x9 puzzles I work without pencil marks (at least so far--I haven't gotten to really dificult ones, though).

I guess it depends on you definition of pencilmarks maybe. When i say pencilmarks, i mean having 1-9 in each cells. I only note the things i find like, hidden pairs/triples and locked candidates. It generally takes a bit longer to solve it but i don't mind that. I solve these puzzles over several days usually.

That is what I call pencil marks, i.e. any small digits in a cell telling possible solutions.

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In other words, candidates, right? Yes, that's what I mean by pencil marks.

It takes me several days to solve a multi-grid puzzle, anyway, because I usually can't spend very much time (maybe 10-15 minutes) per day working puzzles.