Basic Sudoku Skills

Normal sudoku rules apply: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain 1-9.

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▶Music◀
Tim McCaskey plays Mozart's Sonata no 16 ("Sonata Facile")

▶SOFTWARE◀
Play the puzzle in the video by clicking the link under the video (above). Thanks to Sam Cappleman-Lynes and Sven Neumann for their work.
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Melvyn Mainini

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Joel Blundell

▶ABOUT US◀
Hi! We're Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe, two of the UK's most enthusiastic puzzle solvers. We have both represented the UK at the World Sudoku Championships and the World Puzzle Championships. We're also "cryptic crossword" aficionados. Mark is the twelve-time winner of The Times championship and Simon is the former record holder for most consecutive correct solutions to The Listener crossword. We hope we can help your puzzle solving while also introducing you to some of the world's best puzzles.

Thank you for watching!
Simon and Mark

[GrahamRSteele]

One of my favourite Mark solves. Slower than he's able for sure. But I watch these to understand their logic when solving. Not to watch a guy speed solve. Well done Mark. Thanks for explaining your thinking as you went along. Loved it!

[GeorgieB]

Thanks for taking the time to do some basic sudoku. Wish I had seen something similar before Covid-19 gave us all this spare time. /sarc. Also, I never heard "as useless as a chocolate tea pot". Love the channel.

[alyssawarrick]

With all the variations, it's nice to see a classic back on the channel. "Relatively straightforward" took me almost 23 minutes, so I see how he had trouble.

[Rangsk]

It seems the puzzle just isn't solvable until you notice the naked 57 pair in c7 and the hidden 23 in r2 and then how that creates a hidden single 7 in box 3 (which is exactly how Mark solved it). I couldn't find any other path through. That's likely going to cause a large discrepancy in whether someone considers the puzzle easy or not.

[SnavenShake]

I love the juxtaposition between Simon solving an hour and a half long puzzle, and Mark busting out a 17 minute video on the same day. Nice to get both.

[ThatGuy-djqr]

I love Classic Sudoku. Thanks for featuring another one. Feel free to do some diabolical level Sudokus. I love watching you and Simon solve the really hard ones. It seems to be a rarity these days.

[jm]

I did a Telegraph "Tough" in 10 minutes this morning, a time I was very happy with but this "relatively easy" classic absolutely floored me! Couldn't get a single number!

[ryang]

Thanks for including puzzles like this from time to time! I love watching you both solve the really challenging variants, however it is so satisfying to be able to solve one like this on my own. And I always learn a new trick or two along the way - thanks!

[Kelters]

Surprisingly difficult for a standard Sudoku with 30 digits to start. Not at all patronising, Mark. Well worth the effort. Thank you.

[Jon-G]

Long time listener, first time caller here. Love the channel. It cracks me up how on every basic tutorial video, there is a moment where the narration and teaching stop and the solving begins. It's like a flip of a switch. Still very helpful though, thanks

[loganv]

It was a straightforward puzzle, but it fought back at every turn, and fought back well.

[roland]

Great instructional video. Even though at 10:16 it was missed that the 59 pair in r5c1 had a 5 in the box Mark was able to continue a solid technique to find another way to find the resolution. I like that he never gave up on the basic technique for a more advanced solve because it was still giving results. We all miss things sometimes and for beginners this video shows not to give up, just keep searching.

[ExodaCrown]

I know the feeling of the guy who sent it in. I usually use a lot of the basic notation I learned from here, though the app I use doesn't let you do center marking just corner. When I get stuck I usually brute force my way by testing a number that I got it limited to. If there is a contradiction I have eliminated a possible number. Though it might be considered an x chain not sure.

[Blindpig]

Wow...we really need more of these...as I have not been able to many puzzles in months...

[paigel]

this is exactly the type of video I needed. Ive hit a part on the classic sudoku app where I cant seem to get through puzzles without pencil marking nearly all the boxes, hopefully using this simple bit of logic will help.

[Stromecek]

I've solved many a Sudoku that you guys share here and I would argue this one was far from easy :o

(it became largely trivial after placing the very first digit but to do that was very difficult)

[tanujbhojwani]

I got it in 11:36 !!!! This is the first time I'm finishing within a respectable time of them. I felt I've been spending so much time on this channel. Glad it's actually culminating into skill.

[DevilishlyDutch]

7:03 this bit right here, this is what I didn't spot and what broke the puzzle open entirely. I have a very hard time recognizing what cells are restricted like that and clearly that's what's lacking in my skill set right now

[blandingswest]

Actually this is a tough puzzle, since standard corner notation does not get one very far at the beginning. Rather than pencilling in candidates for cells (which is difficult and error prone for those without much experience), it is better to notice that column 7 contains a 168 hidden triple, given that the numbers 168 are checking two of the five available squares in column 7. Mark tends to overuse cell-candidates because he is VERY fast in calculating them. Most of us are not, and I think we are better off looking for hidden sets when getting stuck.

[saisaipech]

It's definitely much harder than I thought! My goodness! Thanks to the naked pair along a column and within a 9x9 box. I was able to proceed and finish the puzzle.