Techniques › Pointing › Practice
Practise the Pointing
A digit confined to one line inside a box clears that digit from the rest of the line.
8 real positions, each taken from an actual puzzle at the moment this was the cheapest move available. Two steps: find the cells that form the pattern, then find the candidate it rules out. A near miss tells you how many you had right, so getting it wrong is worth something.
| 9 | 2 | 4 | 18 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 18 |
| 8 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 18 | 78 | 17 | 9 |
| 2 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 7 |
| 7 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 6 |
| 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 5 | 9 | 2 | 18 | 6 | 178 | 78 | 4 | 3 |
| 1 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 5 |
| 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 178 | 2 | 17 | 18 |
How to spot it
For each box, take each unplaced digit and see whether its remaining cells share a row or a column. Two or three cells in a line is the pattern.
Full explanation on the Pointing reference page.
Practise something else
- Claiming A digit confined to one box inside a line clears that digit from the rest of the box.
- Hidden Single A digit with only one home left in a house, even though that cell has other candidates.
- Naked Pair Two cells in a house holding the same two candidates lock those digits away from the rest.