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Sudoku strategy guide

Finned Jellyfish: four-line fish with an escape

A finned Jellyfish is a size-four fish plus one or more extra base candidates outside the four cover columns.

Key idea

A target is removable only if the fin sees it and the underlying finless Jellyfish would also eliminate it.

See the move, step by step

Treat R8C1 as the fin on a candidate-7 Jellyfish.

Step 1 of 4

Find a near four-line fish

Rows 1, 2, 3, and 8 nearly confine candidate 7 to four cover columns.

Base rows and fin box

Step 2 of 4

Separate the fish from its fin

Eight candidates form the Jellyfish skeleton. The extra 7 at R8C1 is the fin.

Near-JellyfishFish candidates and fin

Step 3 of 4

Intersect the fin and fish cases

R9C3 sees the fin through box 7 and lies in a Jellyfish cover column, so both cases eliminate its 7.

Finned JellyfishCandidate to remove

Step 4 of 4

Keep the cleanup local

Remove 7 only from R9C3; the fin prevents unrestricted eliminations across all cover columns.

Finned JellyfishUpdated target

Try it on today's puzzle

Search smaller fish first. For every proposed elimination, verify both cases independently: fin true and fin false.

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