hello it's time for the September 11 2024 hard Sudoku by the New York Times so we are going to be looking for pairs that is a digit that will only fit in two cells in a Box Row or column let's get started so here we have two nines going across but that would put three nines here and I don't want to do that yet because that's three not two nothing else happens here nothing else happens here there's no duplic well there a duplicate four but no but that's three here and we have eight going across eight going across and eight going across that means there's an eight in one of these two places um I'm also noticing eights here means there is a naked eight there eight goes up eight goes down eight has to be there and notably we have a column in a box filled so that will narrow down what can go here and here both in the here and in here for example the four goes up here so the four has to be in these three the three goes up here that means the three has to go here and as a matter of fact since the three goes there that means that there's a three there I'm not going to put the four in so right now we know a four and a three go in this this column we don't know the third digit unfortunately we have the one and the five here but they can go here and here five goes across here here here we can't narrow that down yet eights go down here eights go across I'm going back a step but Eight's going across here that means this is a naked eight which means if we go down here now which is was the third stack we now have an eight and an eight means an eight has to go oop in here and I don't see any other digits uh besides the eight there are some good things going on here even I can see that so the four goes up here actually which is pretty nice because the four also goes up here so the only place for a four is here and since we've done that there's really only two digits that can go here and that is a one and a six and even better six can't go here so this has to be a one which means this has to be a six that's great so we actually now have narrowed have narrowed well we still the three can't go here it's here I thought we oh the eight nope can't see anything for sorry my bad nine can't go here though so nine has to go down here now I can't breathe nope so I love this cuz I always miss these things and this is Elementary um sudoku for the experts because it really narrows it down uh 4 two and three okay yes guys this is it finally 4 two and three so in this box we're missing a 1 2 3 4 and 7 1 2 3 4 7 but of those five digits three can't be in these two cells four 2 and three cannot be in these cells they have to be in these three cells and two going up means a two can't be here which means since this is just 34 this has to be a two I did see that when ranks did this it took them like 12 to do this puzzle so there must not be a lot of surprises that is a good sign that is good that means that these can only be the other two which I think I said was one and seven wonderful couple of things improve uh improve on that the three goes down the three goes up that means there's a three in here four goes down four goes down means a four somewhere in here but that's three cells I'm not going to fill them in uh but other uh the other thing this does does is puts the sevens down sevens down and since sev's across means there must be a seven in here similarly this is this is puzzle is too easy right well sort of one goes down and one goes across um means the ones in these in one of these four but I thought I was hoping it was just going to be one column still can't breathe uh definitely the crosses are uh helpful but in this case I'm not seeing necessarily oh so we got the three going I don't know why I didn't see that three going across three AC three going down blah blah blah that's a three uh 2 and8 go across here that doesn't help because we already have a 2 and8 placed up here however that does mean that the two is one of these two two is going across so I'm going to guess this is could be all be figured out if I was a smarter person uh we got the one going down the one going down means there's a one in here we're only Center marking at this point and again we have the three going up the three he is going down that means there's a three here and four going down four going down means there's a four here we're doing a lot of digits and God knows if it's going to help but hopefully it will there must be stuff to figure out here but as of yet I'm not seeing it um sorry so three three three three three three okay so uh I'm just going to okay yeah this is like a hard puzzle but for people with bad memories or bad sodoku skills this three goes up here this three goes up here three cannot be here three not cannot be three three has to go here somewhere for this Row three goes up three goes down three has to be here um because there has to be at least one three in this row so this was great that the three was here and the three was here narrowed it down to this and that and that meant it had to be there um I'm just trying to see if the three went anywhere else tree nope we either have here here here and here here and here or here and here right all right so now I've lost my momentum six goes I was going to say sixes go across here but that's three here so I'm not going to put it in but I wonder if we can soon figure out what goes in those cells um sorry so here we have four digits and it's one two sorry two three 4 and nine the fours can't go up here the threes can't go up here but I don't see anything else I mean the two can't two and four can't go here so this is three and N this is 24 239 and these are 249 actually uh let's that might be worth putting in uh since we have the three here and the four here it means again there were four digits that could go if I put these in here I'm not going to do it uh if I put the four digits that are missing here again it was two three we already put in four well I'm going to type it in but I it won't be there n nine so obviously since there's a four already here this these can't be four this can't be a two 39 239 and these cannot be three but they can be 249 CU three is here so they can only be the other three uh what that means is the four we know the four is down there the three's up here but at least here we have we have a a quad but there's only um three posses in each cell or fewer so I'm going to pencil them in therefore uh I said these were fours down here sorry I'm just yeah this is where I get lost because I start okay just wanted to see all right similar similarly the four can't go here there can't be a four here there's going to be a four here uh two can't be here it's either here or these two places I'm not going to put it in because that's three places um sorry let's turn in let's turn this on its side and see what we need here one can't go here can't go here and here all right let's see what we need here 1 four 1 4 6 1 4 5 6 1 four five six well four can only be out here cuz it can't be here or here can't be uh can't be a one here 1 1456 this can be 456 this can be 156 unfortunately this can be all four let me just see by typing it in 1456 honestly I was just looking to see whether there were any of the digits that only appeared in two cells cuz I couldn't see it with my bare eye again fours are out here which doesn't really mean anything we know fours are up here um I was hoping that like ones were just in here so I'm just taking a quick look don't get mad at me uh I'd love to see if there were three more uh I know there's more low hanging fruit and I know you see it even though I don't so this is not enough here there just isn't I'm just going to type it in don't don't get mad at me 1 two 3 four five six seven 8 n okay I'm getting rid of that sorry um well I did the 23 and the 39 um 239 and five 2359 threes can't be there we know two and N so this these three this this we nowar down to just two 2 35 9 no they can be more than that they can also be five what about these uh two three oh two three 5 9 2359 sounds right so was worth filling in right um because there's only two in each so that hours that down five here five here two two two two two here twos are here they're not here which we know twos are here well that doesn't matter okay uh moving on moving on we're up to 12 minutes so what about down here we have that filled so we have these three one I'm just going to fill in two three 4 5 six 79 this can be everything I'm not going to put that in this this two5 two and N here all right so yeah I am going to so I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't done that this can only be two digits it can't be one can't be it can be two cannot be three four 5 6 7 and8 so only 29 here and wouldn't you know it this is a triple right 259 have to be in these three two's down here by the way five is up here if five five can't be uh uh of these three though the fives are up here not here so a couple of things are happening first that leaves only two here which is a six and seven hopefully uh and this is 259 more and just as importantly since the five has to be here out of these three the five has to be up is up here it's not here but it's up here that means these can't be five um so that's helpful so we got a 23 and a 39 interesting interesting interesting and we've got another triple here a 239 triple so these are 167 167 here ones can only be here which is we already know from here and here um so against my I against all this cannot be I mean this can be two three four five six seven not four eight nine I'm just seeing six 7 seven just see if anything pops out too many digits so we're not doing that we got pretty far right right guys okay I'm just taking a quick second we're already up to 15 minutes so 3434 here in the 265 means five out of the nine in this column are filled in the remainder ones we see the eight and the sevens here the one here goes here goes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 n three digits and then these are going to be 1 7 89 we have the seven here the eight here uh one can't be here so this is N9 1789 17 oop 7 9 1 77 9 here so and similarly we have these which means we have to fill in these three and this we're going to do because it's in the same box we got 1 2 3 4 five 5 6 7 8 9 right this can this so this is a n all right so going here can't be one so it uh can't be 2 3 4 can't be 5 6 7 8 this is a naked nine this cannot be a nine is it naked this is a 5'8 as well since that's the only digits that are left this cannot be a nine um this is coming along swimmingly so I haven't filled in these two uh I think oh we'll do that in a second let me just see if this if this is 1858 this is going to be these could be 1358 it can't be8 cuz Eight's going down so these are 135 I believe 135 so we got the On's going down the one's going down the ones go down so the ones go down here well wait a minute sorry there is a one here sorry 35 the threes are here we know that for sure that's too bad I thought we had something else yeah the ones can be either of the oh so I might well just fill that in I don't need it anymore but one goes down one goes over and one goes over means there's a one and either and one of these two not either want sort of either but what I didn't see was this so since I filled in the nine here this can't be a nine and since I've already isolated that to be just two git that's a two which means these are a one and a four this cannot be a one that means this is a one this is a four come on move faster uh this cannot be a two this cannot be a these two cannot be a one so this is a 56 this cannot be a 56 therefore it can be a 14 this can't be a 56 so it's a naked four that means this is a one uh we still got the 56 in here got the sixes here got the fives all over the place amazingly this can this has to be a this one was too easy right this is a three this is a two I'm not sure where the there were no tricks in this oh there were no tricks in this one um we can all feel smart this can't be a four 39 39 this can't neither of these can be nine by the way apparently that means this is a two this is a four uh we got the 67s we got a 167 uh I'm not going to fill in the rest I'm just looking I don't want to get too excited this is oh one two three three 4 7 this has uh this has to be the seven this has to be the four we got two left which is five and six still a pair with the 6 SS the 39s uh the 58s come on I don't want to sevens are in here when the Sun goes down all right I'm going to fill these in hold on come on there's going to be an easier way to do this I'm going to fill these three in and I'm going to do it in the middle 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 than 569 667 167 569 5679 5679 we got so close and then disaster the nines are here we got a one in the middle there 1 5 6 79 one 1 2 3 4 in the middle 1 2 3 four five six 78 9 five six 56 this is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 n and we have 1 two three 4 5 six 7 89 the uh the threes are here uh 1 3 5 6 4 5 6 1 56 7 89 uh I'm not seeing it one ug one 2 3 4 [Music] five 6 n yeah I know I'm messing it up okay two can't go down two can't go across means there the only place for two is here uh if there was an easier way to see it I don't know I mean basically two goes across two goes across but more importantly there's no twos here there's no two here there's only one place for two and that's here 5 6 8 9 is here eights are down here uh we got the two now going up uh these three are one two 3 four five six and nine we got a 569 569 56 this means this is the other two which is is 2 and eight and since this is a can't be a two this is eight this is two uh let's fill in these two 5 six these are N9 and seven and 569 this can't be a nine any longer it's a 5656 uh we got a 569 569 this cannot be an eight so it's a five this is an eight this is a nine this is a seven this is a one this can no longer be a one we got a 56 56 this is a four five can't be either either of those this is an eight this is the one 3 13 6 five can't be a six uh where is the next digit this is a six this is a five these can't be 5 six they're are seven nine pair this can't be a seven so it's a nine this is a seven this is a six this is a five this is a six this is a five 9 1 6 7 3 1 9 7 3 9 5 six a a fantastic solution um not the hardest right if I could get it um yeah I did go straight through uh I didn't get gummed up with putting Corner marks after doing the center marks that's because pretty much every cell only had two or three possible digits as you went along uh there were no tricks that I know of there might have been one or two there was that one very single thing where um it was either here or somewhere where all the numbers yeah all the digits came down so there was only space for three digits like I think the 234 here I mean yeah you can even see it here because this is a preset and these were preset well there's only nine numbers we got three going down here we got three already filled that means there's only one place three places for the three numbers and that goes in there so I don't think uh I don't look for those things in this case it seemed so evident partly be because it was up here in the first box and your eye goes to the left corner and uh how many final thing is how many three 5 8 12 15 16 17 20 23 preset numbers that's not that's not the most Alexa what's 23 divid 81 23 81 [Music] isim yeah I wish it was just a quarter that would have been even better but what I had noticed was this might have been intimidating at first because it's a box without any digits put in um yeah um consider yourself um a good Sudoku player and be encouraged next time you get a difficult puzzle that you'll be able to F solve it