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		| prakash 
 
 
 Joined: 02 Jan 2008
 Posts: 67
 Location: New Jersey, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:51 am    Post subject: March 16 - VH |   |  
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				| Very straight forward. An XY wing 58-89-59 cracked open the puzzle. |  | 
	
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		| Stanley P 
 
 
 Joined: 27 Feb 2008
 Posts: 20
 Location: Tennessee, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:09 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Same xy-wing did it for me. |  | 
	
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		| andras 
 
 
 Joined: 31 Oct 2007
 Posts: 56
 Location: Mid Wales
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:17 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				| And me! 
 (Pivot on R6C1 for anyone who doesn't see it).
   
 John
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		| Earl 
 
 
 Joined: 30 May 2007
 Posts: 677
 Location: Victoria, KS
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 11:50 am    Post subject: March 16 |   |  
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				| Just one more step. 
 Earl
 
 
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | +-------------+----------+------------+
 | 578 3   248 | 6  458 1 | 28  57 9   |
 | 1   47  248 | 3  458 9 | 268 57 26  |
 | 58  6   9   | 25 258 7 | 1   3  4   |
 +-------------+----------+------------+
 | 2   5   3   | 1  6   4 | 7   9  8   |
 | 79  47  46  | 8  59  2 | 56  1  3   |
 | 89  18  168 | 59 7   3 | 4   2  56  |
 +-------------+----------+------------+
 | 6   9   7   | 4  12  5 | 3   8  12  |
 | 3   128 158 | 29 129 6 | 25  4  7   |
 | 4   12  15  | 7  3   8 | 9   6  125 |
 +-------------+----------+------------+
 
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 Play this puzzle online at the Daily Sudoku site
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:28 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| Looked for ERs and URs but couldn't find any.  I have tremendous difficulty with xy wings.  Solved this one by a method that often works for me - screwed up and got lucky!!! |  | 
	
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		| prakash 
 
 
 Joined: 02 Jan 2008
 Posts: 67
 Location: New Jersey, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:33 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| I was always assume that the XY wing would not be in a regular shape (square or rectangle). Having one so straight forward was a challenge to find. 
 Prakash
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		| Marty R. 
 
 
 Joined: 12 Feb 2006
 Posts: 5770
 Location: Rochester, NY, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:20 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				| This puzzle required no steps for me. Just started the initial scan of rows and my eraser never stopped until it was done. |  | 
	
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:32 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Quote: |  	  | This puzzle required no steps for me. Just started the initial scan of rows and my eraser never stopped until it was done. | 
 
 Nay!  Methinks you erred like what I did.  I did it again and one definitely has to resort to clever VH stuff.
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		| Marty R. 
 
 
 Joined: 12 Feb 2006
 Posts: 5770
 Location: Rochester, NY, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:39 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | cgordon wrote: |  	  |  	  | Quote: |  	  | This puzzle required no steps for me. Just started the initial scan of rows and my eraser never stopped until it was done. | 
 
 Nay!  Methinks you erred like what I did.  I did it again and one definitely has to resort to clever VH stuff.
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 Craig, since your credentials are unimpeachable, I tried it again, this time online rather than P&P and you may be right. Basics only got me this far:
 
 
  	  | Code: |  	  | +-------------+----------+------------+
 | 578 3   248 | 6  458 1 | 28  57 9   |
 | 1   47  248 | 3  458 9 | 268 57 26  |
 | 58  6   9   | 25 258 7 | 1   3  4   |
 +-------------+----------+------------+
 | 2   5   3   | 1  6   4 | 7   9  8   |
 | 79  47  46  | 8  59  2 | 56  1  3   |
 | 89  18  168 | 59 7   3 | 4   2  56  |
 +-------------+----------+------------+
 | 6   9   7   | 4  12  5 | 3   8  12  |
 | 3   128 158 | 29 129 6 | 25  4  7   |
 | 4   12  15  | 7  3   8 | 9   6  125 |
 +-------------+----------+------------+
 
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 Play this puzzle online at the Daily Sudoku site
 
 The deadly pattern on 28 in boxes 1 and 3 can be broken up by a 6 in r2c7 or a 4 in r1c3 or r2c3. All three result in a 6 in r5c3 and that solves it.  I'll probably take a look at other methods as well.
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:28 am    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Quote: |  	  | The deadly pattern on 28 in boxes 1 and 3 can be broken up by a 6 in r2c7 or a 4 in r1c3 or r2c3. All three result in a 6 in r5c3 | 
 
 Marty:  I kept staring at these 4 cells because they look like a UR but they don't fit in to the Types given in the Sudoku technique references. There are two options - is it a pair of 4s or a 6. So really you have to do a bit of trial and error - don't you think??  Nonetheless I do see these patterns now and again and I think they should be acknowledged - i.e., given a label.
 
 Just a thought.
 Craig
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		| Marty R. 
 
 
 Joined: 12 Feb 2006
 Posts: 5770
 Location: Rochester, NY, USA
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:42 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Quote: |  	  | There are two options - is it a pair of 4s or a 6. So really you have to do a bit of trial and error - don't you think?? | 
 Yes, I do think there's some trial-and-error there, but there are degrees of trial-and-error and this ranks above something like picking a bivalue cell and testing it for a forcing chain.
 
 The deadly pattern was the first thing I noticed; when I looked at it later, the 89-58-59 XY-Wing solves the puzzle.
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		| cgordon 
 
 
 Joined: 04 May 2007
 Posts: 769
 Location: ontario, canada
 
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				|  Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:08 pm    Post subject: |   |  
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				|  	  | Quote: |  	  | Yes, I do think there's some trial-and-error there, but there are degrees of trial-and-error and this ranks above something like picking a bivalue cell and testing it for a forcing chain. | 
 
 Sadly I think this Post will get lost by the wayside - because often I see many UR looking patterns that have too many numbers for a UR solution.  For example - a 458, 458, 458, 4589.  If I were in a Sudoku competion where speed was involved - I would look for these patterns - and find a quick chain.  As did you.
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