GridWits
Hard tier Technique 6 of 46 Used by Smart Hint

Naked Triple

Three cells in a unit whose candidates combine to exactly three digits — eliminate those digits from the rest of the unit.

How it works

  1. 1A7, D7 and H7 draw only from {2, 4, 9} between them — a Naked Triple, even though no one cell holds all three.
  2. 2They land in three different boxes, and row 7 still has seven empty cells, so no single, no locked candidate and no Naked Pair reaches these marks first.
  3. 3Those three digits fill those three cells, so they leave every other cell in the row — E7 loses 2, 4 and 9 and is left a plain 7.

Play a Sudoku that needs this technique →

A 1 B 2 C 3 D 4 E 5 F 6 G 7 H 8 I 9 2 4 3 5 7 6 4 9 2 4 7 9 3 8 1 2 9 5 7 8 2 4 9 2 4 9 2 4 9 2 4 9
  • Cells that establish the pattern
  • Where the conclusion lands
  • Candidate ruled out
Next in the ladder Hidden Pair →

Two digits appear as candidates in only the same two cells of a unit — strip those cells down to just those two digits.