Beginner

Start here. The foundational techniques and terminology you'll meet on every Sudoku and Killer Sudoku puzzle — singles, pencil marks, units, cages, the basic vocabulary of the grid.

25 entries

  • Box-line reduction (locked candidates)

    When a digit's only possible cells inside a row or column all sit in the same 3×3 box, that digit can be eliminated from the rest of that box.

    Techniques
  • Cage

    In Killer Sudoku, a contiguous group of cells outlined by a dotted line, with a printed sum the digits inside must add up to. Replaces the classic Sudoku given.

    Rules & terminology
  • Cage completion

    In Killer Sudoku, placing the last digit of a cage by subtracting the digits already in it from the cage's sum. The cage's leftover arithmetic does the work.

    Techniques
  • Cage single

    In Killer Sudoku, when a one-cell cage's sum directly forces the cell's digit. The simplest possible killer deduction — the cage's sum is the cell's value.

    Techniques
  • Candidate

    A digit (1–9) a cell could still legally hold — one not yet ruled out by anything in its row, column, or 3×3 box. Every empty cell has between one and nine.

    Rules & terminology
  • Clue cell

    The dark cell in a kakuro grid carrying the target sums for the runs extending from it — usually one or two numbers separated by a slash.

    Rules & terminology
  • Entry cell

    A white cell in a kakuro grid that the player fills with a digit. Each entry cell belongs to exactly two runs — one horizontal, one vertical — and must satisfy both.

    Rules & terminology
  • Given

    A digit pre-filled into a cell at puzzle start — a clue placed by the puzzle's setter. Givens cannot be changed by the player; the rest of the grid has to be solved around them.

    Rules & terminology
  • Hidden pair

    Two digits whose only possible cells inside a unit are the same two cells — even if those cells still show other candidates. The digit-first sibling of the naked pair.

    Techniques
  • Hidden single

    A digit with only one possible cell within a unit (row, column, or 3×3 box) — even if that cell could legally hold other digits. The unit-first sibling of the naked single.

    Techniques
  • Hidden triple

    Three digits whose only possible cells inside a unit are the same three cells — even if those cells still show other candidates. The digit-first sibling of the naked triple.

    Techniques
  • Kakuro

    A Japanese number-placement puzzle. Cross-sums act like a crossword grid; players fill white cells with digits 1–9 so each run sums to its target without repeating a digit.

    Rules & terminology
  • Kakuro sum combinations

    The reference table mapping each (cell-count, target-sum) pair to its valid digit combinations. The foundational lookup that anchors most kakuro deduction.

    Techniques
  • Killer pair

    In Killer Sudoku, when two cells in the same unit are confined to the same two-digit pair by their cage's arithmetic — eliminating those digits from elsewhere in the unit.

    Techniques
  • Killer triple

    In Killer Sudoku, when three cells in the same unit are confined to the same three-digit set by their cage's arithmetic — eliminating those digits from elsewhere in the unit.

    Techniques
  • Naked pair

    Two cells in the same unit whose candidate sets are identical and contain exactly two digits. Together they claim those digits across that unit and rule them out elsewhere.

    Techniques
  • Naked single

    A cell on the Sudoku grid that has only one legal candidate left — the simplest deduction in the game, and the one that solves most of an easy puzzle.

    Techniques
  • Naked triple

    Three cells in the same unit whose candidates collectively use only three digits. Together they claim those digits across the unit and rule them out elsewhere.

    Techniques
  • Pencil mark

    A small handwritten or app-rendered note inside a cell indicating which digits the cell could still legally hold. The visible representation of a cell's candidate set.

    Rules & terminology
  • Pointing pair (locked candidates)

    When a digit's only possible cells inside a 3×3 box all share a row or a column, that digit can be eliminated from the rest of that row or column outside the box.

    Techniques
  • Run (kakuro)

    A horizontal or vertical sum-segment in a kakuro grid. The white cells from one clue cell to the next, which must sum to the clue's target without repeating a digit.

    Rules & terminology
  • The 45 rule

    In Killer Sudoku, the fact that every row, column, and 3×3 box must sum to 45 — because 1+2+…+9 = 45. The foundational arithmetic identity behind most killer techniques.

    Techniques
  • Unique combinations

    In Killer Sudoku, cage sums whose cell count and total leave only one possible digit set. The arithmetic shortcut behind most killer pair and triple deductions.

    Techniques
  • Unique sum

    A kakuro run whose cell count and target sum together force exactly one valid digit combination — the most direct deductive move in the puzzle.

    Techniques
  • Unit

    Collective name for a row, column, or 3×3 box — the three groupings Sudoku's no-repeats rule applies to. Every cell sits in exactly three: its row, column, and box.

    Rules & terminology