Practise: Claiming
This puzzle is picked so that the easy moves run out and exactly the Claiming gets you going again. Solve as far as you can — when nothing obvious is left, the pattern is waiting for you.
Skip the obvious cells and start right where the technique is needed.
How to spot it
Work along rows and columns rather than boxes. For each missing digit, mark the cells on the line that could take it. If they all fall inside one box, apply the elimination to the remaining cells of that box.
Put it to use
Where you will meet it
Medium grids are where this move starts to matter: the obvious cells run out and the pattern takes over.
Play MediumStuck on a grid of your own?
Type the position into the solver and it walks the whole solution, naming the technique behind every step — including this one.
Open the solverPrefer paper? Ready-made Medium sets as a PDF.Print puzzles