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When these cells are connected, they must be aligned in a square or rectangle by column and row. To use the x wing sudoku puzzle-solving technique, the player must identify two rows or columns in which only two cells in each row or column contain a single digit. Conditions for applying the Sudoku X-Wing strategy Image Source: Ĭonsider that each of these rows must contain a 4, correct?Īdditionally, we know that the 4s cannot be stacked on top of one another because two 4s would be in the same column.Īs a result, either the light blue or dark blue cells are 4s.Īfter establishing that, let’s zoom out completely and focus exclusively on the columns in question (indicated with arrows below).Īccording to what we said previously, the 4s in these columns must exist at the intersection of these two rows – that is, where the blue 4s are. If you identify a row that contains the same pencil mark in exactly two locations and a parallel row that contains the same pencil mark in the same two locations, you can use this information to eliminate similar pencil marks in the columns that pass through those locations. There are many ways of solving sudoku puzzles, but x-wing sudoku may seem a little less straightforward than other approaches.Īn x-wing sudoku puzzle starts with a grid of nine cells and must end up with a solved grid, where all three rows and columns have unique sums between 1 and 9.Įach cell in an x-wing sudoku puzzle has two numbers in it, which represent possible places for those values within each row and column.
X wing sudoku how to#
Sudoku Tricks: The X-Wing And How To Spot It Knowing that it is either one or the other eliminates the possibility of that candidate being a sibling.
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It is irrelevant if you have not yet decided on a diagonal. It is located on both sides of the diagonal. When you locate one, you know that the digit must appear in at least two of the four cells. It is so named because the four cells form an X. Image Source: When two rows or columns contain the same number only twice and in the same location, X Wings appear. What is more likely is that you will be able to remove numbers from adjacent cells, allowing you to use other techniques to locate final numbers. Because X Wing is a much more advanced sudoku method, the result is not always a search for the original value of a cell.
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