first!

Hooray! Was nice to have an expert puzzle again. Need to do yesterday's now..

Hope you all have a good weekend. Good night, everyone.

Not too bad... did a guess but it was the right guess :) now, sleep.

Congrats. I need sleep, too.

done

Difficulty score 71. Not that hard in my opinion. Just on short XY chain broke it open for me.

... just one short XY chain ...

Done

not bad at all

happy weekend

I agree that it was an easy expert

relatively easy for an expert

easy hard, good medium I think

go

24 filled going manual green...

done

go (3/23)

done (3/23) no greens. felt like an easy medium. just cross-hatching and scanning.

hmmm not an Expert in my books, either that or I am getting a lot better!

Done cross hatching & x-wing

hello

is this really an expert??

Everyone thinks it's easy for an expert

done

Go.

Yippee!!

Hi, Artlady. First time I've seen you here.

No, I just don't chat. I've been playing since the beginning of time...

Oh my gosh 5 whole points. I did an expert! woo hoo~

or of Iron Sudoku! ;-)

congrats!

Did you draw your own icon?

Yes. I have a few with different expressions. Used to change them depending on my mood in Babble.

off to babble and then to do the dreaded taxes :)

I don't have time now.

27 cells left, going green.

perhaps I should try this while concentrating

have been doing loads of other things at the same time and I am not getting through... how surprising

Uh Oh. Mistake. After all that!

oops!

expert??? don't think so (at least not with greens)

nobody thinks so, it seems

and I agree

you all know me as a babble expert, right? Well I have spent more time with this sudoki puzzle than with babble this morning, and still cant get it. Going for my third attempt.

Okay, I'll have to make a guess.

IF I do eventually get this one, I will never try sudoku again, much too frustrating. Babble is calming

help on this one!!!

Done it. Really only crosshatching until I had to make a guess. And with the benefit of having botched a tripple earlier, I guessed the right one of two.

1's, 3's, 6's come together right away

and 8's

that was ridiculously easy

it's not bad, is it?

just one number in one spot and the whole thing falls into place

yeah, not bad at all

I haven't done anything really tricky yet and all I have left to figure out is 4's, 5's, 7's, and 9's.

same for me krys10

I've ended up with the same numbers and I can't figure out which way to go next.

with an expert level puzzle, it's almost always the case that you have to do a forcing chain (an elaborate game of "what-if" or guessing) to finish. that's what I did here and it's working fine.

I'm off - have a nice weekend, everyone!

aaaagh! guessed wrong and have to start over! :-/

the worst part: i didn't record my guess so as to avoid maing it again... sigh

go

woo hoo!

about eight minutes from (re)start to finish

good morning! go!

No, you don't always have to force a chain. Forcing chains is the easy way out of an expert.

done. no greens

did you already finish orangeslice?

I'm decoding the chain.

how do you know where to start with the chain?

Depends on your approach, I suppose.

done

I usually look around for something I recognize as solvable. Failing that, we try the ugly expert techniques.

There's a y-wing towards the middle.

And we're done. The y-wing solved the chain.

what were the # 's

no wait don't tell me, I want to find it, thanks

hi all!!! i think i'll start w/ a medium before i attempt today's puzzle!

Today's isn't _that_ bad

i think i just have to figure out some of those expert logic techniques...because on most experts that i solve i usually guess

hehe. well, today's uses an easy technique.

good. i'm glad to hear it...i've almost solved all of the puzzles starting in january and i'm moving backwards. i'm really excited to see so much dark grey in my archives!!! :)

I did it, thank you OrangeSlice

glad to be of help

that felt good to do that without guessing

Doesn't it, though? :)

Yup, now I'm going to go outside and get some fresh air

later all

Goodbye

i wouldn't want to go outside here...it's snowing like crazy!

Rain and wind here.

nice day here

it was raining...and then the snow started...i was supposed to run at a track meet today (haha) the track is covered in snow and water

and just two days ago it was worm and springy outside

*warm

the worms do like to come out in the spring though

yes...though i didn't see any :)

Seattle tends to 'fade in' to spring by warming up a little and then raining for a couple weeks.

seattle seems very romantic to me

Which is still preferable to the snow and ice.

i guess bc of sleepless in seattle

colorado weather just changes every day: from rain to sun to snow to wind

never seen that movie

!!!

heavens to betsy, whyever not?

Neither have I, actually, and I live here.

yes but you're a boy

i don't know why...too many zorro movies i guess.

how many zorro movies are there?

Yes but I'm usually of the opinion that Seattle is underdog to N.Y. and L.A. and those other places, and so I generally enjoy things that involve my city.

i think two...but i could watch them daily!!! i LOVE antonio banderas

well watch it then. it's a lovely movie. meg ryan's hair is so pretty in it.

i don't care too much for meg ryan personally.

miller - i think there are old ones too...

but she does have cool haircuts

I think we just don't have as much exciting crime.

that is good!

yes...but not with antonio banderas

Maybe someone should make a movie about the iPod muggings. lol

i think i see the problem here

it is 4, 5, 7, and 9

Do you want the solution, or would you prefer to hunt it down on your own?

and i think this chicken salad has gone bad :(

oh i can do it fine, don't worry bout me

sorry about the chicken salad.

Righto then.

what i wouldn't give for a wheelbarrow...

?

why do you need one?

did i say wheelbarrow? i meant unique rectangle.

force of habit i guess

oh no it's wrong anyway

There was one that turned up, but it was after the chain was broken and as such didn't last too long.

well, so i have to force it, you're saying? i keep hoping for an expert where i needn't

No no

Forcing chains is illegal.

well i thought so too but then people said not

and i tried to read about xy chains but it was not making sense

see you guys later!!!

oh, those are easy

basically, no matter what the middle cell ends up as, one of the branching cells has to be a certain number, thus you can remove that candidate from any cells both branching cells can see.

see you miller

um... is there an example in this grid?

i need examples.

In the case of today's we have an xy-wing of 4, 5 and 9 contained in the top-center and center boxes.

ok, so which is "the middle cell"?

4/9

If it's 4, one of the other's is 5. If it's 9, the other other is 5. So you can remove 5 from any cells both branches of the wing can see.

and... which cell can both branches see? i don't see any.

top-center box with candidates 4 5 7

how can the lower branch see that?

It's directly adjacent to it.

ohhhhh wait

i think i get it

hang on

i was thinking of the branches as other things... hang on... making sure i see it

i didn't have to guess the second time through - must've solved in a different order

Once that 5 is gone, there's a naked pair in that row, which solves for a number further on the right, which breaks the chain.

of course, i see that, but i still haven't completely wrapped my mind around the branches.

It's essentially a naked triple that's not in the same row, column or box.

so... one "branch" is the sixth column, with its three unfilled cells?

and the other is... the center box?

All three cells must have exactly two candidates, and the 'root' middle cell must be able to see both of them.

Two cells are in the center, one is in the top-center

hmm, then i still don't quite get it

it's fourth row, fifth col

5, 6, and

2, 6

?

Your middle cell is R5C6, and the wings/branches are R4C5 + R2C6

yay, i see it now

starting with 4/9 as our middle, a few cells directly above it is a 4/5, and in the same box as the middle cell is a 5/9, up and to the left.

thank you so much, that is extremely helpful, not just for this grid, i have been wanting to understand this for so long and nobody was around to explain it.

No problem. It's a very useful technique :)

i knew it would be, but i just couldn't understand it reading through the explanations on websites.

i THOUGHT people were wrong about forcing chains but then nobody could show me about this... i feel MUCH better now.

you are my new hero

it's superhero icon day on babble. if you send me a picture of you i will put it up. :)

I usually find it easier to learn a new technique when I have a real puzzle in front of me that has one in it.

yes, meeeeeee too.

I don't think I have any digital photos of me on here :)

well, i will use a can of orange slice then.

you'll be replacing Common Multiple Man - so this is a VERY high compliment.

(or would you prefer a slice of an actual orange?)

I named myself after the soda, actually.

ok then, soda it is

A childhood addiction, and the cause of much dental work in adult life.

can or bottle?

Either or.

kay

I'm not picky.

i'm going with can

hmm, I should use a can of orange slice as my avatar

you can google (images) orange slice soda

Yep, there we go.

Alas, profile page seems to have blown it up

yeah i don't think doc updated this site to show things non-square in the profile page like he did with babble.

oh well.

Nothing a quick run through the image editor can't fix.

that's better

go

done

This sudoku barely acquired the expert rating.

(x)y-wings are widely considered expert techniques for some reason.

I suppose finding them is the hard part usually.

X-wings are easy to find. Y wings are not so easy, I find.

very easy for an expert!

I haven't taken the time to learn the patterns.

OK. I just took the time. We'll see if it comes in handy on this archival puzzle I'm doing :)

...

Whoo, finally solved Oct. 1

What an awful puzzle.

So is the X-wing the key to today? I'm down to 26 or so and lesser techniques seem to not be cutting it

XY-wing.

I don't know either technique, so I guess it's time to learn. :D

I explained it to someone else in the chat log a little while ago

It's just barely there at the bottom - combined with brainbashers, I think this may have unlocked it. Yay! Let's see

Seems like an interesting technique, although I feel weird trusting it. :D

It's perfectly logical.

I suppose it is, I'm just not seeing it immediately yet

For either candidate of the root cell, one of the wing cells must be <number>, therefore any instances of said number can be removed from any cells that both wings can see.

That opened up the rest of the puzzle rather quickly, I must say.

I gotta be off for the day - but thanks for the tip! Too awesome. bye. :)

My wife is playing but won't say hi. Tell her to say hi

hi andy's wife!

Ah, but you have command of the keyboard.

Hi

Two different computers, two different laptops :)

Ahhh... there she is :)

lol, hi aa!

I'm getting her hooked. Won't be a stretch. She just finished our Sudoku a day calendar for the year.

I see. Hello

In fact, if you were to walk in the room right now, you would think we were playing Battleship the way our laptops are set up.

I'm not winning...

Well, neither am I. Been staring at Nov. 8th's puzzle for quite a while now.

Just started March 25. But I have to be parent of the year and take my son to McCrap for dinner.

sudoko and cough medicine with codine do NOT mix - just an fyi

(March 25 2006, that is)

codine tends to not mix with anything.

hi all, i was just wondering whether this happens often. im trying to enter numbers but the option boxes are coming up empty?

ok its working now

Happens if javascript is disabled.

my this is a hard grid!

how do you enable javascript?

how do you enable javascript?

Depends on the browser... (he said hours later)