How To Solve Sudoku Faster Than Everyone

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]If hard Sudokus give you trouble, then I'll show you my top five tips that will help you solve these puzzles faster than everyone else. And with that, it's solving time. Tip number one is to solve more than one cell at a time. If you notice across this row, you have a 1 2 9 here, and you have a 3 4 7 in this block. So, these three cells can only be a 5 6 or an 8. If you notice that a 5 and 6 both share the column with this cell, and the 5 repeats in this column, you can solve all three using my neat naked triple trick. You know this cell has to be an 8. The only place the 5 can go is right there, and this cell is going to be your 6.

[00:00:48]Greetings, friend. I've solved hundreds of extreme and hard-rated Sudokus. I've designed three Sudoku courses.

[00:00:59]And I want to thank Smarty Party member Granto 354 for sending me this puzzle because it's perfect to show you my top five tips to have you solving Sudoku faster than everyone else. So, tip number one was to solve more than one cell at a time.

[00:01:20]Tip number two is to use solving combinations. And this means going from one type of solve and strategy and technique to another type. In this case, we're going to switch from naked singles to hidden singles. If you look across and finish row two, you can finish this row.

[00:01:38]Only thing you need left is a 3 4 and a 7. If you see that the 3 and the 7 both see this cell, that has a be a naked single 4. And since the 7's right here, this is a naked single 3.

[00:01:50]And the only thing left in row two is a naked single 7. But now, switch. Do the combination and switch from naked singles to hidden singles. And by hidden single, that means you look for where a candidate or a digit can be in only one spot in a 3 by 3 block. So, now with these 7s and this 7, you can solve for 7 right here. It's the only place a 7 can go in this block. And then with these 7s, the only place a 7 can go in block six is right here. And then you'll see with these 7s, two possibilities here. So, if you have one possibility, solve it. If you have two, mark it with those nice little corner marks. Same thing down here in block eight.

[00:02:35]Okay, so that's tip number two.

[00:02:38]And then you can see here with this 9 coming up, there's only one place to put the 9 in block three. So, another hidden single there leaves you with just a nice 1 2 naked pair remaining in that block and in that column.

[00:02:54]All right. And so, you since these have to be only a one or a two, you have a three four remaining down here. Well, with this three, you know that's going to be hidden single three. This is going to be a naked single four to finish column seven. This is how you solve faster. And after you do that, you want to study the impact here in block nine.

[00:03:15]You have a 3 4 5 6 7 in the block. You need a 1 2 8 and 9.

[00:03:20]Well, with this 8 9 here, that can only be a one or a two.

[00:03:24]And the 8 9 right there, that can only be a one or a two. So, you know the only things you have left in block nine is an 8 and a 9. Well, with this 8 here, that's your hidden single 8. This is going to be naked single 9. So, you can solve those very quickly.

[00:03:41]And now brings me up to tip number three. You want to block out houses with hidden pairs and triples. You're going to use these hidden candidates to block out the house. I'm going to tell you and show you what I'm talking about here. Notice how you have a 7 9 here, 7 9 here, and a 7 9 here in this column.

[00:04:00]So, where can the 9 be in this block? It's got to be the same places as a 7. So, right there. When you see these cans on top of each other, that means the 7 9 are the only two possibilities. Well, those are the only two possibilities for those two candidates. So, switch to center marking, and you have yourself a hidden pair 7 9. You now just blocked out a 1 2 5 and 6 from these cells because the 7 has to be one and the 9 has to be in the other. So, you put more pressure along this row and within this block.

[00:04:34]You want to see how to use it to your advantage? You want to see it with another type of hidden candidates?

[00:04:41]You want to see it with hidden here in column two.

[00:04:44]What you might notice is you have a 5 6 7 8 in block four.

[00:04:49]Okay? And then you have a 1 3 4 in the column. So, where can the 1 3 4 go in this block? It can't be here or here. There's only three possibilities left. This is a hidden triple. You can mark this as a 1 3 4 hidden triple in block four. That's how you block out those cells. Leaves you with just a nice 2 9 naked pair in column two.

[00:05:15]And so now you know you just have a 6 and an 8 left. Well, since the 8's right there, that's your 6. That has to be your 8.

[00:05:22]And see, you do this, you keep blocking out candidates. And since now the 9s are here and they couldn't be in those cells, you have a 9 covers those cells.

[00:05:31]Where can the 9 be in this column? Well, cuz the 9 right there, there's only one place remaining. This has to be your 9.

[00:05:39]And then you remember my tip number one, solving more than one cell at a time?

[00:05:43]You just need a 3 5 and 6 in block one.

[00:05:45]You can use a neat naked triple trick to solve all three.

[00:05:49]The 3 covers these two cells. And the 6 also covers this cell. So, you can solve all three. That has to be your 5. The only place a 3 can go is right there.

[00:05:58]And this is going to be your 6. So, once you put the 3 there, make sure you remove the 3 from that mark right there.

[00:06:07]And after doing that, remember I talked about the pressure here on row seven? You need a 1 2 5 and 6. Well, you'll notice that the 6s there means a 6 can't be in these cells.

[00:06:19]This has to be your 6. And with this 5 here, this has to be your 5, which leaves you with the 1 2 to finish row seven. We'll go along with that 1 2.

[00:06:30]Okay, after doing that part, then you might see here in column three, you can finish that up with a 1 4 naked pair. So, worth making these center marks because you're really close to solving those cells. And it brings you up to tip number four.

[00:06:44]You want to look at the impact on the row, the column, and block with each solve. And sometimes that means you have to go back to where you made the original solve to get more solves in.

[00:06:54]So, go to row five here.

[00:06:55]You haven't studied row five yet. It's got six 5 6 7 8 9. You need a 1 2 3 and a 4. Well, you see the 1 2 3 4 right here, this can only be a 1. Then notice that this cell can't be a 3 because of the 3 there. This cell can't be a 3. So, where can the 3 go along the row?

[00:07:14]It's got to be right there. Which leaves you with a nice 2 4 naked pair right there in row five.

[00:07:21]And now look at the impact on row one.

[00:07:23]By solving this one here, you might think you don't have any other solves, but if you notice, you only have a 1 2 8 remaining in a row one. Well, the 1 and the 2 right there means this is now a naked single 8. And that's just a 1 2 to finish this 1 2 pair.

[00:07:38]And now what's the impact to solve this 4 and 8? Well, with these 8s and this 8, you can solve this cell for an 8.

[00:07:46]Displacing that 7, so you can solve that for 7. What's the impact of that? Well, now you can disambiguate the 9 and the 7 right there. You get all those solves very quickly. And you might notice now with these two 9s, the impact is only one place left for a 9 in block five.

[00:08:02]It's got to be right there.

[00:08:03]And now you can disambiguate the 2 and the 9 here in block four.

[00:08:09]So, you make all these solves very quickly.

[00:08:11]This leaves you with a 5 6 right there.

[00:08:15]But you can do one more. If I notice that the 6 comes right here, I actually solve that for the 6 right away, solve that for the 5.

[00:08:23]And this 6 cuts across with this 6.

[00:08:25]Looking at the impact, you know you can solve that cell now for a 6. And with this 5 cutting across, only place left for a 5 in block five is right there.

[00:08:35]Leaves you with a nice 2 4 naked pair in the block.

[00:08:40]Okay?

[00:08:41]And then after doing that, you might notice what you have up here, 1 2 and 6.

[00:08:45]With the 6, you can solve that for 6.

[00:08:49]1 2 to finish up this row and this block.

[00:08:54]And then look at the impact. You mark those 5s. Well, with this 5, you can only have one place for a 5 in block eight, which leaves you with a nice 1 4 naked pair there in block eight.

[00:09:06]And everything up to this point, you could have solved using the strategies I cover in my free Sudoku solving guide, the top seven strategies. But you will not be able to solve faster than everyone else unless you know my last tip. But first, the question of the day.

[00:09:22]Do you think solving faster is about speed or strategy?

[00:09:28]Please, please, please let me know. Is it all about speed and getting the marks in, or is it about strategy and approaching the puzzle in a certain way?

[00:09:35]I want to hear from you. Help me grow the internet's best Sudoku community.

[00:09:41]Because in order to do my last tip, you need to finish filling out the rest of these cells.

[00:09:47]This can only be a 1 2 or a 4.

[00:09:50]And then you'll notice 1 3 4 across here, that can only be a 1 3, and this can going to a 1 4.

[00:09:56]And then this cell, you have a one-two-three restricted in column eight.

[00:10:04]And so my tip number five is I call it advanced strategy triage. You need to find and categorize what advanced strategies you're going to need to push forward in this puzzle. This is where people give up. This is where they lose lots of time. If you notice, there's only four different candidates remaining, ones, twos, threes, and fours.

[00:10:23]You have two big choices. You can either look at single candidate advanced strategies or bi-value cell advanced strategies.

[00:10:31]So, start with the single candidate advanced strategies.

[00:10:34]Where can the ones be?

[00:10:36]It can be in these cells here, these cells here, these cells and these cells. And don't forget blocks two and three.

[00:10:46]Okay, I'll highlight those in green. And what you want to look for, forgot this one, the very important one, is you want to look for conjugate pairs.

[00:10:56]So, there's a conjugate pair right here.

[00:10:58]Either this is a one, if it's not a one, that has to be a one. So, they have a relationship with each other.

[00:11:03]There's another conjugate pair across row seven. And the conjugate pairs that are in two different blocks, those are the powerful ones that will help you find the advanced strategies you need.

[00:11:14]So, either a one's there, if it's not there, it has to be a there.

[00:11:18]If you notice is now with these cells, they share a block. And you have one conjugate pair coming out of the column, one coming out the row.

[00:11:36]This is an advanced strategy. What you can figure out is this is a one, if it's not a one, then the only other possibility is this cell would be a one, which means then this cell could not be a one, and you have to put a one right there. So, either a one's right here, if it's not, I just showed you that a one has to be there. So, this is called a Sudoku two-string kite. And what it means is you can eliminate a one from any cell that sees both. So, if it shares a row, column, block of both, you can eliminate that one.

[00:12:06]So, this cell right here shares a row with this cell, shares a column with that cell, so you can remove the one right there. And now, go back to tip four. What's the impact of removing a one right there? Well, it gives you ones in the same row in this block. They're pointing pair of ones.

[00:12:23]Since a one has to be one of these cells, it can't be anywhere else along the row.

[00:12:27]So, you can remove a one from right there. Doesn't seem like it does much, but you did create another bi-value cell. This is super helpful.

[00:12:35]So, now what do you do? Cuz you need not just one, not just two, you're going to need three advanced strategies to make more progress in this puzzle.

[00:12:42]So, how do you find the second one?

[00:12:44]Well, continue looking for those single candidate strategies. You could look at the twos, and I'll tell you you're not going to find advanced strategy with the twos.

[00:12:51]With the threes, you only have these four possibilities left, not enough for an advanced strategy. So, look at the fours.

[00:12:58]See if there's something with the fours.

[00:13:01]Fours can go there, they can go there, they can go here, here, and here. Those are the remaining possibilities for the fours.

[00:13:12]All right, look for some conjugate pairs and then try to match them up. What you notice right here, that conjugate pair again, but this time consider the fours.

[00:13:23]Well, you have another conjugate pair right here.

[00:13:26]A fours, the only two possibilities for the four in this column. Well, they share the same rows, rows six and nine.

[00:13:33]So, what it tells you is a four can be here and here, or it can be there and there, right? If you put a four there, eliminates the fours there, has to be there. This is a Sudoku X-wing.

[00:13:44]Very popular, and I cover it in my Sudoku Ninja course, along with two-string kites in the bi-value or in the single candidate advanced strategy module.

[00:13:55]And what it means is since a one a four's got to be here and here or here and here, you cannot have a four anywhere else along these rows outside the red cells. You can't have a four there. And you see very quickly, you put a four right there, you eliminate fours from these cells, and column three and six, the four can only be in row nine. That would break the puzzle. You can only have one four in each row.

[00:14:22]So, you know you can eliminate the four from right there using the X-wing strategy.

[00:14:27]And it just removes a four, doesn't seem like much, but it sets you up for that third advanced strategy. And so if you didn't do single candidate strategies, the other choice, the other thing to look for is bi-value cell strategies.

[00:14:41]And look at the impact on what you just did here. You just removed a four from right there. So, you notice this cell is a one or three.

[00:14:50]And it shares the column with this cell, which is a one or two. So, it shares a one, but it also has additional digit, a two.

[00:14:57]Then look across the row.

[00:14:59]And you're going to notice, well, hey, this has a three, it shares a three, but it also has the two that's in the purple cell.

[00:15:05]All right, so with these three cells, you have all three paired possibilities of the digits one, two, and three.

[00:15:12]This cell sees the other two cuz it shares a column here, shares a row there. If this is a one, that'd be a two.

[00:15:18]Only other possibility for this cell is a three, then that would be a two. So, you know any cell that sees these two, you can eliminate a two because the two has to be one of these purple cells, no matter what value you put right there. This is a Sudoku XY-wing.

[00:15:36]And this is beautiful. I cover this in my Sudoku Ninja course under bi-value cell advanced strategy. This one comes up all the time. And if you want to learn all of these, or if you got stuck and couldn't find any of these three strategies, click on the pinned comment and enroll in my Sudoku Ninja course. You're going to be solving faster than everyone else. Because what it means is you can eliminate two from this cell right there.

[00:16:03]Give you a bonus tip. If you didn't see this nice XY-wing, you may have noticed that this cell was the only cell that had three possibilities remaining. Every other cell had two possibilities. There's an even faster strategy you could use called a bug plus one, and you could solve this cell for a one right away.

[00:16:22]And I'll show you this is going to be a one.

[00:16:24]Because with this one, that's going to be a one, that's going to be a two, right? And now this one, that's three, that's a one.

[00:16:33]That's two, that's a four. And just gobble up these marks, two and four right there.

[00:16:37]Four means that's a one, that's three, that's going to be a four.

[00:16:41]With this one, that's going to be a two.

[00:16:43]And now you have the two and the four there, so sure enough that is a one.

[00:16:47]Told you that. All right, there's four there, there's your four.

[00:16:50]There's your one.

[00:16:52]One here, two there, two there, your last cell is a one.

[00:16:57]Now, see if you can find the advanced strategies in this next puzzle. Thank you so much for watching.