GridWits
Expert tier Technique 26 of 31 Used by Smart Hint

Swordfish

Three rows whose homes for a digit occupy just three columns — the digit falls from those columns elsewhere.

How it works

  1. 1X-Wing one size up. Find three rows where a digit's remaining cells fall within the same three columns.
  2. 2Those three rows need three of that digit between them, and only those three columns can supply them.
  3. 3So the digit is impossible everywhere else in those three columns. Works with rows and columns swapped.
Next in the ladder Simple Colouring →

Two-colour a digit's conjugate-pair chain; a colour that contradicts itself dies, and cells seeing both colours lose the digit.