Step-By-Step Method For Hard Sudokus

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▶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 eleven-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

[thesundancekid]

Obviously my problem is, that my eyes are not immediately drawn anywhere.

[Blindpig]

We need more of the step-by-step guides! Thank you.

[Doc_Fartens]

More of this style of video please. I learned a lot from you taking it slowly and explaining every step rather than just assuming that everything you find is clear as day.

[blandingswest]

Your solutions of hard classic sudokus continue to be the most interesting and helpful videos on the site. Scanning rows and columns in groups of three leads to a HUGE improvement in technique and accuracy. Hard sudokus (even those with hidden sets) used to take me 45 minutes to solve, but now they fall in less than 20. Admittedly you make it look easier than it really is, even though you are doing nothing magical. Perhaps it is only a matter of practice, which leads to greater confidence and ease.

[DirtyOldMountainGoat]

In the Pacific Northwest (USA), there was a mountain climber by the name of Fred Becky. He had tons of first ascents and was one serious mountaineer. If you look at his climbing guides (classics and used by EVERYONE), he had a phrase when looking for routes. It usually went like this: "Find the obvious ramp" or variations thereof. The reason I am bringing this up is that the obvious for trained eyes is not the obvious for untrained eyes. Hence, my subscription to this channel. My hope is that by continual immersion in the "tricks of the trade", the once non-obvious ramp becomes the obvious ramp. Thanks for making the obvious, obvious.

[racoon_in_ankhmorpork]

I think that one just needs to solve an incredible amount of sudokus to gain the instinct that you have. As a newby, my eyes aren’t drawn anywhere in particular when looking at a grid and I struggle at spotting patterns (or even mistakes) sometimes, simply because I’m not used to it. I am confident that if I continue on with solving sudokus I’ll get there eventually, though, and that is largely due to what I have learned and continue learning from this amazing channel, so thank you!

[Wonderland_Jutomi]

Oh goodness gracious this one took me 70 solid minutes. The thing that cracked it for me was spotting that the 8 in the lower left box could only go in column 3*, and that took me maybe half an hour. Granted I'm not the greatest solver, but the fact that I solved it at all was a huge accomplishment. :)

[peterdunlop]

In the About Us section in the scroll down bar, Mark is still listed an an eleven-times winner of The Times championship. Needs an minor update. Well done Mark.

[Kingcob]

Took me 18 hours 44 minutes. Don't fall asleep when you start a sudoku :D

[ZmajevKralj]

88mins to complete. Feel like an absolute champion even though every other person here seems to have done it in under 20mins. This is the first one I've solved without hints or watching the video. What ultimately got me there (still haven't watched the video yet, I wanted to attempt it prior to watching it; so there's probably better advice on the vid!) was the improvement of my logical deductions. By working hard to find where you can place "Snyder" notations and looking everywhere you can to rule out where numbers can occur, you slowly but surely will get there.

[briangriswold]

I really appreciate the step by step puzzle solves you do. I’ve been watching for 3-4 years now and there are still common techniques I haven’t mastered. When you do a slow solve like this it helps to cement the basics!

[qillerdaemon]

8:15 and 11:48 worth it just for those alone. Simply did not see them. I spent about four minutes solving a few obvious cells, and then a bunch of pointy and ghost pairs, then sat for over a half hour in self disgust. I'll be on the lookout for that kind of solution in the future. Thanks!

[gposchman]

I solved the puzzle myself. I had not thought of looking at 3 rows or columns at a time. Great idea, speeds up the solution. I found the 8s in column 3 sooner because of both squares above box 7 had 8s blocked. That allowed me to find the 5 in box 7. I am pleased with myself because I had found the triplet in box 1. Before I began watching you and Mark, I would have missed it. Thanks for a marvelous tutorial. I always learn something new.

[Pyromonkey]

15:38, according to the times mentioned at the start of the video, I'm now an "expert" solver! That is 100% thanks to you two and this wonderful channel. 6 months ago, I'd have no chance to solve this puzzle at all, let alone do so with an "expert" time. Also, I loved the guest puzzle additions in the classic sudoku app, they've all been brilliant! Special tip of the hat to Derek Neal and Sam Cappleman-Lynes, who have produced some absolutely stellar puzzles throughout the app.

[timdunkley]

This is a perfect video for people new to the channel. Good, basic technique is vital and needs hammering home, just like Simon continues to do. Thanks.

[tmnvsv]

Just want to say thanks. I've been following the channel for a month and went from complete novice to being able to solve the puzzles you post almost by myself. I still stuck few times during the solving, but the progress is huge! thanks again

[boorad]

Does anybody else hear his voice in their head when they're solving Sudokus now?

[parka]

Excellent video. I've always just done sudoku with the technique of just using big numbers to fill numbers in and had not started pencil marks. Struggled with hard sudokus and thought they were boring. Much much preferred Picross (nonogram) puzzles for my logic fix but these videos have opened my eyes to the beauty of sudoku puzzles. Amazing.

[MuraliVajapeyam]

You uploaded this video on the day of my birthday, over 1.5 years ago :) This is indeed a great explanatory video. I had already seen many videos from Simon so when I tackled the puzzle, it didn't seem hard at all. Ok, I did take almost an hour but it was because I messed up at some point -- my real time would likely be around 30 mins.

It certainly helps that the crackingthecryptic app has a lot of goodies, in particular both center and corner squares. I like to solve the New York Times sudokus but they are artificially "hard" because its interface only allows "normal" and "candidate", so I can't mix corner and center. I did cheat sometimes by opening the puzzle in two different browsers and using each technique in one of them, but these days I try to work on my perception and use what I learned here to solve the NYTimes puzzles while "handicapped". With the interface here I think most NYT sudokus would be straightforward. Without it, at NYT I always start, as Simon suggested in a different video, by pencil-ling every time a 3x3 box has a number that can only be in 2 squares -- today that is almost automatic. I still have a blind eye for naked singles, but working on it...

[Urroner]

Thanks for taking the time to plug through this puzzle and explaining in great detail the hows and the whys. Once you explained your reasoning on some of the things you do, I felt almost embarrassed for not seeing the obvious. You are Sherlock and I feel like Watson who can't see the obvious.