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IntermediateMedium / Hard
Sudoku strategy guide

Hidden pairs: find two digits with two homes

A hidden pair is found by counting digit locations across a unit, not by looking for two already-clean cells.

Key idea

If two digits occur only in the same two cells of a unit, those cells must contain the two digits and all their extra notes are impossible.

See the move, step by step

Scan row 3 for the only homes of 5 and 9.

Step 1 of 4

Count locations across the row

Ignore candidate-list length and track where each missing digit can still appear in row 3.

Row being scanned

Step 2 of 4

Find the two shared homes

Digits 5 and 9 appear only at R3C3 and R3C4, even though both cells contain other notes.

Row 3Hidden pair: 5 and 9

Step 3 of 4

Strip the hiding candidates

Remove 3 and 7 from R3C3, and 3, 6, and 7 from R3C4.

Reserved pairExtra candidates to remove

Step 4 of 4

Expose the pair

Both cells now contain only 5 and 9. Their order is unknown, but the pair is no longer hidden.

Hidden pairCleaned pair cells

Try it on today's puzzle

Within each unit, look for two digits with identical two-cell location sets. Do not require the cells to start as bivalue cells.

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