Hidden Triple
Three values only fit in the same three cells of a row or column — strip those cells down to just those three.
The solver does not attempt this technique, so Smart Hint will never suggest it. It is documented because you may still want to spot it yourself.
How it works
- 1Ask where 1, 2 and 3 can go in the top row. Every occurrence of those three candidates is confined to the first three cells.
- 2That reserves the same three cells for 1, 2 and 3, even though the cells also carry distracting 4s and a 5.
- 3Strip the distractions from the reserved cells: remove 4 from the first and third, and 5 from the second.
- 4The two cells left over read {4,5} and {4,5} — a Naked Pair that strikes exactly those three candidates, and the ladder tries it first, so a live hint will say Naked Pair here.
- 5That shadow cannot be escaped at this game's sizes. A hidden triple among b blanks is a naked set on the other b − 3, and even a full seven-blank row leaves four — a Naked Quad. Learn the reading anyway: it is how you find the move in Sudoku, where the complement is too big to have a name.
- Candidates this technique rules out
- Cells read together — The connecting line shows which cells combine to make the deduction.
- Conclusion — The coloured candidate, or the final arrow when it lands outside the pattern, shows the result.