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This allows us to distinguish two puzzles of similar grade and may be a new metric for difficulty.

If a puzzle has twenty different cells which all lead to a trivial solution then guessing (to throw in a quick strategy) will skip a bottleneck and the puzzle ought to be considered easier than a puzzle where no cell solution will render the puzzle trivial. However, the question is interesting as we can test a difficult puzzle for the number of Magic Cells that do render a puzzle trivial. The question is, are there any cells, which if filled in with a solution, would render the remaining puzzle trivial? That is, if I know the solution of cell X, would it allow us to skip all the advanced strategies? (Fariande is not alone in thinking about this approach and on the Player's Forum these cells are called Magic Cells, which I'll use from now on.)įariande offers a way to identify a Magic Cell but I'm not won over that it is a practical or satisfying strategy to use for solving difficult puzzles. All puzzles I grade as gentle, almost all moderate and some tough ones will be of this kind.įariande's approach is this: should a puzzle, using the solver, require more advanced strategies to continue we stop and look at the remaining uncompleted cells.

I will define trivial as any puzzle that can be solved with these strategies alone. Fariande has posited the notion of Optimal Solutions Using Only The Basic Strategies 1-6 In the Solver, namely Singles, Pairs, Triples, Quads and Intersection Removal. This article pursues some interesting ideas being discussed on the Weekly Unsolvable Sudoku page. A New Metric for Difficult Sudoku Puzzles?