The New York Times Hard Sudoku: The Most Important Trick

[@ridefast0]

Thank you so much for showing these solves 'warts-and-all' - it helps me know that its not just me sometimes! I found my first X-wing recently, what a buzz. Its funny how I understand even the more complicated techniques while being shown them, but all my tools evaporate as soon as a real puzzle is in front of me! I hope this is inexperience rather than old age!!

[@grenvillephillips6998]

Another useful tip to keep me going through my slog amongst the foothills of Sudoku competence. Now, if I could only remember them.

[@DaveGeelen88]

save screenshots :D and name them …. X-wing...SwordFish… and so on :p

[@grenvillephillips6998]

@@DaveGeelen88 I am building up a bit of an archive but persuading the old corpuscles to co-operate is the problem. Cheers!

[@bluestar2802]

Thank you this was good. I solved this puzzle previously and saw the triple quite late. It took me more than 30 minutes. I guess I normally work on rows and columns and then look for patterns. Perhaps I need to look for patterns as you said first and then work through rows and columns next. I'll try this and see if I get to the solution faster.

[@JohnRandomness105]

I admit that I didn't recognize the obvious triples with row 8 and box 7, and that made me take longer and work harder. However, I think that disciplined(?) corner-pencilmarking and finding and center-pencilmarking cells with only two or three possible digits will gradually reveal and lay bare a hidden triple for all to see and observe.

[@donnyh3497]

Great video!

[@sandpiperbf9767]

You make it look so easy, but I still struggle to solve these without center pencil marks. Even then I can get stuck.

[@ashishjakhariya1523]

Which software u using?

[@BK-or8bj]

You’re so smart i like that

[@johnoliver1891]

Great video. Do the NYTimes puzzles ever use such things as Xwings either normal or sashimi, swordfish, Wwings etc? I’ve spotted them occasionally.

[@barbaraclampin9184]

I'm struggling to progress beyond Medium. I can't understand at about 7.48 - re the 1689, you say the 9 must go in block 4? Please excuse me being dense!

[@thegrammarpolice7052]

That cell sees all other digits 1-8, so it must be a 9.

[@Ensivion]

@8:01 couldn't the nine go in row 2 column 2 instead, then the other nine could go in row 6 column 5

[@kai-ju5fv]

?

[@adityajogalekar2376]

then you would have had repeated numbers in both boxes which is not allowed, these have unique solutions

[@JohnSmith-rf1tx]

I think you were talking about the logic that led to the 9 in row 6 column 2 @ 7:37. And the reason why that cell MUST be the nine in that row instead of row 6 column 5 is because it's the only number possible for that cell. He compares the contents of column 2 with the contents of row 6 and all the numbers are taken except a 9.

[@gerasimos33]

Does this puzzle have a uniqueness problem? You can reverse 5 and 9 in rows 1 and 3 i think.

[@jagmarz]

The 5 in the upper right is given, so no.

[@gerasimos33]

jagmarz I see, thanks a lot. I solved that puzzle before watching the video and didn’t notice the placement of 5s and 9s but the fact that 5 is fixed makes sense.

[@IngersollLouis-c5r]

Miracle Glen

[@madhurampandian5320]

❤

[@chookingvid]

I solved it without the trick in the beginning, but I took longer.

[@brianlutz7813]

still no luck solving a hard sudoku ... i get about a 1/4 of the way through and hit a wall ... every stinkin' time

[@RooseveltCamille-v1f]

Bednar Center

[@LewisAlexander-y8u]

Lucile Parkways

[@JohnWebber-w3i]

Haag Junction

[@user-yz8wr8vb7f]

At the very beginning in row 1, the 37 pair can only go in r1c1 and r1c8

[@DaveGeelen88]

You didn't use much logic at all idd :D So funny to see you struggle at very easy things, while you are 100 times better than I am at this :D Finding the 9 in the bottom middle box, I see immediately that in the center box, 9 can only be on the left, and so on the upper middle box, the 59 are solved :D And that took you like 30 secs :D But the very hard things I don't find :D and you make that seem easy Crazy how minds can be different, and even reality is different for everybody.

[@Jack-ye6fm]

Because he was taking a different train of thought and following through with his methodologies to make the video more educational and easier to watch/follow.