Sudoku Techniques, Hints & Tips
Sudoku is a logic puzzle game played on a grid of boxes made up of nine rows and nine columns. This grid is also divided into nine square regions, with each square containing nine boxes. Numbers are written in some of the squares; other squares are left blank. The object of the puzzle is to fill in the blank squares with numbers so that every row has the digits one to nine, as does every column and every region. No numbers can be used twice in the same row, column or region.
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Cross Hatching
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Pick any number from one to nine. Draw a line through all the rows that contain that number. Draw a line through all the columns that contain it. Draw lines through each box of each region that contains it. The blank boxes that are left are all possible locations for the number you have chosen.
Filling in Possibilities
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Go through all the rows, columns and regions and write a number one in each box that it could go in. Use a pencil so that you can erase as you need to. Once you have gone through the whole puzzle this way, do it again for the number two, and so on, all the way up through nine. Write small, so that you can fit as many numbers as possible into each box. Once you have filled in all of the possibilities for each box, study the puzzle. Look for patterns and commonalities. If, for example, both the row and the column that a box belong to need a number two then it is more likely to be a two than a number that seems to be only needed by one of them.
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Regions
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If you are stuck on a row or column, then try working on the regions that contain that row or column. Solving the region, or even just parts of it, could give you valuable clues about the row or column you are stuck on.
Care
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Don't hurry through the puzzle. Sudoku is a logic puzzle, and you'll do better if you take the time to think carefully. Never take guesses. More likely than not this will just leave you with a lot of wasted work and incorrect entries. If you get really stuck, put the puzzle down for a while and go do something else. Sometimes a distraction can help you gain a fresh perspective and see things that you had previously missed.
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References
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