EXTREMEPUZZLE BOOKS

Extreme Killer Sudoku 3, puzzle 35: step-by-step solution

Step through the whole solution, or skip to the hard parts. Blue digits are placed by the walkthrough; red strike-through marks a candidate being ruled out.

Puzzle
Killer sudoku, number 35 of 150 in Extreme Killer Sudoku 3
Difficulty
Expert 3 (expert and beyond), from the opening third of the book
Key technique
Coloring/Multi-coloring
Hard steps
11 of 78 steps need an advanced or expert technique

Blue digits are placed by the walkthrough. Red strike-through marks a candidate being ruled out. Cells are named by row and column: R3C5 is row 3, column 5. Arrow keys step too.

The key technique: Coloring/Multi-coloring

Following one digit’s strong links, cells get two colours: one colour is true and the other is false. A cell that sees both colours cannot hold the digit.

Other advanced and expert techniques in this solve: 2-String Kite (×2), Advanced Innies (3+ sectors) (×2), Multi-Sector Locking (×2), Empty Rectangle, Forcing Chains, Remote Pairs.

Every move above the basics is listed on the killer sudoku techniques page, each with a one-sentence explanation and worked examples from the books.

The hard steps, in text (11)
  1. Step 12 · Advanced Innies (3+ sectors) advanced
    Rules out 3 from R6C2, R6C5; 4 from R6C2, R6C5; 1 from R6C5.
  2. Step 16 · Remote Pairs expert
    Rules out 1 from R3C9; 2 from R3C9.
  3. Step 46 · 2-String Kite advanced
    Rules out 3 from R3C6.
  4. Step 47 · 2-String Kite advanced
    Rules out 5 from R3C6.
  5. Step 48 · Multi-Sector Locking advanced
    Rules out 2 from R1C6, R2C3, R2C6, R3C3; 7 from R2C2; 8 from R4C1, R7C2.
  6. Step 50 · Advanced Innies (3+ sectors) advanced
    Rules out 2 from R3C4; 3 from R3C4; 9 from R3C4.
  7. Step 51 · Coloring/Multi-coloring expert
    Rules out 2 from R2C5, R3C5.
  8. Step 52 · Coloring/Multi-coloring expert
    Rules out 6 from R2C5, R3C5.
  9. Step 53 · Forcing Chains expert
    Rules out 5 from R3C9.
  10. Step 59 · Empty Rectangle advanced
    Rules out 3 from R5C6.
  11. Step 60 · Multi-Sector Locking advanced
    Rules out 7 from R2C3, R2C5, R4C1, R4C3.

The book

Volume three: 150 new killers, none repeated from books 1 or 2. No starting digits, just cages and their totals, ramping from hard to brutal.

150 new puzzles. Expert and beyond. Puzzles by M. J. Bailey. Paperback, 5 × 8 in, 196 pages, £9.99 / $11.99. Every solution in the book carries a QR code to its own walkthrough, so you can check one step without seeing the whole answer.

On Amazon from 15 Dec About the book

Try a free sample puzzle (PDF) · prints on A4 or US Letter

More step-by-step solutions: Extreme Sudoku 1 · Extreme Killer Sudoku 1 · Extreme Sudoku 2 · Extreme Killer Sudoku 2 · Extreme Sudoku 3.