Practise: Swordfish
This puzzle is picked so that the easy moves run out and exactly the Swordfish 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
For each digit, list the rows where it has two or three candidates. Take combinations of three such rows and check whether their candidate columns fit inside three columns in total. The cells do not need to form a neat grid — gaps are allowed, which is what makes Swordfish harder to see than X-Wings.
Put it to use
Where you will meet it
Expert grids are the only place this pattern regularly decides the solve. Bring your notes.
Play ExpertStuck 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.
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