Super fiendish Sudoku puzzle ...

[A580Hojas]

Anyone fancy giving me a clue on this? You can see where I've put two 3s in - but now have been stumped for days!

Any suggestions very gratefully received .

I don't want to give it away in the actual puzzle @JoanOgden but here's an explanation

I know in theory how hidden doubles/triples/quadruples work, but I get distracted too easily!

Sometimes I put another piece of paper over it to force me to look properly at one row or column at a time.

In the middle row.
From the top down.
The first two free squares are 5/6 and the last two are 4/9.
So:
7
5/6
3
5/6
1
4/9
8
4/9
2

If you put the 3 in the top left corner you can See straight away that it doesn’t belong there

Oh yes, I get it now

Will see if I can get any more numbers... I may be some time.

@Needdoughnuts

If you put the 3 in the top left corner you can See straight away that it doesn’t belong there

Can you explain how though? I honestly couldn't say that till I'd worked through some of the other numbers!

@BIWI if you put 3 in the top left square then the only place that a 3 can go in the bottom 9x9 is in a row that already has a 3 in it. Therefore the 3 can only go in the top left square. Hope I've explained that ok!

Oops! I mean the 3 can only go in the RIGHT top square

Is anyone else into 'Stars' puzzles? They don't appear often & can be simple up to v.difficult. Germans have fiendish varaitions in the number of stars in each area, too, & seem to relish convoluted versions.

Looking for an example, I found this.

www.gmpuzzles.com/blog/star-battle-rules-and-info/

I may be gone some time...

Ah yes, @Needdoughnuts. I get you!

(I have actually solved this puzzle, just couldn't understand the explanation )

@PostingForTheFirstTime

In the middle row. From the top down. The first two free squares are 5/6 and the last two are 4/9. So: 7 5/6 3 5/6 1 4/9 8 4/9 2

But that's simply not true. Yes the first free square is 56 but the next one is 456; and the third is 69.

Looking at those squares though; If the first one is 6, then the third must be 9 and the last 4, leaving 5 for the second.

However if as the third, just below the 1, is 9 then the boxes next to the 1 must be 8 and 5

So that's two 5s in the middle section which is impossible

I love sudoku so I am going to copy the op and solve it. I have scrolled past any clues thay may ha e appeared. (I immediately scrolled so not sure!)

Thanks OP, thatbwas a good one
I agree your 3's are correct.

I was confident my 3s were correct (very easy to solve) but then beyond that ...

Have you got any further @A580Hojas?!

No . But not had any time to really look at it properly this evening. Tomorrow is another day (well after work). But I will update I promise.

Has anyone solved this without putting multiple maybes in the boxes? I never do this so am finding it tricky beyond the first two '3's. Well not just tricky, impossible actually.

I solved it by putting multiple maybes in and then just picking one of the options and seeing what knock on affect it had.

Not as satisfying doing it that way but I wonder if it’s the only way with ones as tricky as this.

Yes, you could be right

@toppkatz

Pencil the maybe's in v small writing, so if a 7 can only go in two boxes in a square, pencil them in. Keep on doing that all over. Eventually you will have some that work themselves out for you.

I always start mine in the bottom right hand corner by the way, and do the verticals first.

Do this. You might find some rows/columns/cubes that have two cells with, for example 1 and 3. So you know those two have to be in some order and can scribble out any other 1s and 3s in other cells in that same row/column. If that makes sense! Mine always look a mess when I'm finished but addicted.

I love the killer sudokus too

Sorry just realised you said you didn't like doing the little numbers. It's the only way I know how. Anyone else find them weirdly relaxing? I do them before I go to sleep

@Sew3stitch

Sorry just realised you said you didn't like doing the little numbers. It's the only way I know how. Anyone else find them weirdly relaxing? I do them before I go to sleep

I do them to wake up, it's part of my morning routine coffee, ciggy, sudoku and ready for the day

@SmolCat

I solved it by putting multiple maybes in and then just picking one of the options and seeing what knock on affect it had.

Not as satisfying doing it that way but I wonder if it’s the only way with ones as tricky as this.

If you put in all the maybes, as I did in the photo upthread, that allows you to work out what the numbers are going to be. You shouldn't have to guess!

That's exactly how I solved this puzzle. (I'm obviously not going to post the solution because that would give it away to @A580Hojas!)

@BIWI @merryhouse

You work out which number pairs give a result (In really tricky ones its it triples, not pairs).

The pairs I gave work.