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Solving Techniques

With a lot of people asking me questions like 'How do you solve this puzzle?', 'Are there any tricks in solving this sudoku?', 'How do players solve so fast?', etc. I have decided to start sharing some solving techniques. I will post some solving techniques of common puzzles and sudokus and then move on to other more complex ones. Below is the list of solving techniques that I have posted till date.
Feel free to comment and give me feedback. If you want some solving techniques of a particular puzzle, you may ask here and I will try to post some tips :-)

Hope you like and benefit from them :-)

Sudoku Solving Techniques
Most sudokus (apart from irregular ones) are in the standard classic form, so the techniques of solving a classic sudoku apply to other sudokus with 3x3 boxes too.

Classic Sudoku
Technique 1: Single Position
Technique 2: Single Candidate
Technique 3: Candidate Lines
Technique 4: Two Pairs
Technique 5: Multiple Lines
Technique 6: Naked Pairs/Naked Triplets
Technique 7: Hidden Pairs/Hidden Triplets
Technique 8: X-Wing

Killer Sudoku
Technique 1: Unique Combinations

Odd-Even Sudoku
Technique 1: Section Solving

Puzzle Solving Techniques
Every puzzle has its own techniques but you may find some similarity between similar puzzles like Loop Puzzles, Connection puzzles, etc.

Along The Lines
Techhnique 1: Singular Cells

Battleship
Technique 1: Outside Sums

Black And White
Technique 1: Edge Connection
Technique 2: Opposite Pairs

Kakuro
Technique 1: Unique Combinations
Technique 2: Minimax-Maximin
Technique 3: Overlapping Cells

Star Battle
Solved Example 1

Tapa
Technique 1: Elementary Beginnings

I have named all the techniques, for consistency and convenience, which may differ from what you know.
Enjoy and look for more techniques coming soon!

9 comments:

Rohan Rao said...

If you want some tips of solving a particular puzzle, you can post here. I will try to post some techniques.

PS18 the mod god :P said...

Top post. Will read through later :)

Rohan Rao said...

I expected you to post something here :P

Tell if you want some specific fundas, I'll put it up.

Rajesh Kumar said...

Thanks for putting the efforts to document the solving techniques. If possible put the solving techniques for Minesweeper puzzle

Giovanni P. said...

Hi Rohan,

First of all, I love your blog--it helps me keep track of some of the puzzle championships I might miss, and it also has some useful solving techniques.

I was writing to ask about some good solving techniques to make use of in Star Battle puzzles. I have never really known how to approach one, and the Hard Star Fillomino on the recent LMI test included some steps that I wasn't aware of. Your techniques on the Puzzles like the Yin-Yang have made it easier to approach puzzles, so maybe knowing some good starting tricks for Star Battle might make it easier to digest.

Thanks for your time; I look forward to your future entries on this blog.

Rohan Rao said...

Thanks, I have been a little busy lately, but I'll surely put some new solving techniques in June-July :-)

Anonymous said...

How to solve an even odd neighbors sudoku

Unknown said...

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