BeginnerUsefulness: High
Cross-Hatching
Disciplined scanning aimed at one box: use the rows and columns crossing it to eliminate cells until a digit has exactly one home.
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Rows and columns carrying a 3 slice through the box, leaving one legal cell.
patterneliminatesolved
How to spot it
- 1Focus on a single box and a single digit.
- 2Draw lines from that digit's occurrences in the intersecting rows and columns.
- 3Whatever cell survives the crossfire is the placement.
When to use
When a box is nearly full — cross-hatching finishes it fast and cleanly.
Common mistake
Jumping between boxes mid-scan. Finish one box before moving on to keep your search organised.