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Medium puzzles suit players who are comfortable with Easy grids and want a bit more to think about. Scanning will get you a long way, but at some point you will need to look a little deeper.
Which techniques you need
As well as naked singles and hidden singles, Medium puzzles on sudoku.ie may need:
- Pointing: a digit in a box confined to one row or column.
- Claiming: a digit in a row or column confined to one box.
- Naked pairs: two cells that can only hold the same two digits.
- Hidden pairs: two digits that can only go in the same two cells.
These techniques do not place digits directly. They remove candidates, which then opens up new singles. For that, you will want to keep pencil marks.
How long it takes
Most players finish a Medium puzzle in 10 to 25 minutes.
When to play
The daily puzzle is Medium on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday. That gives you three chances a week to practise.
A tip
Scan first, and only start notes when scanning runs dry. Then, rather than writing every candidate everywhere, try marking just the digits that can go in two cells of a box. Those light notes are often all you need to spot a pointing pattern or a pair.