The Two-String Kite in Sudoku
The Two-String Kite is a close cousin of the Skyscraper, and just as approachable. Two short strings of a single digit meet in a box and point at one cell to clear.
The two strings
Pick a digit. Find a row where it has exactly two candidate cells, and a column where it also has exactly two candidate cells. These are your two strings. The trick is that one cell of the row pair and one cell of the column pair share the same box.
Why it works
The two cells inside the shared box cannot both be the digit, since a box holds each digit once. Whichever of them is false forces its own string to place the digit at the far end. So at least one of the two far ends, the free cells outside the box, must be the digit.
The elimination
- Identify the digit and its row pair and column pair.
- Confirm one cell of each pair sits in the same box.
- Locate the two free ends, the cells not in that box.
- Erase the digit from any cell that sees both free ends.
Kite, Skyscraper, X-Wing
The Kite, the Skyscraper and the X-Wing are three ways to chain two conjugate pairs of one digit. They differ only in how the pairs connect. Learn the family together and stuck single-digit positions stop feeling like a wall.
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