Menu Descriptions

Hint and Solve

Note that these have the same list of strategies. The difference is that the solve menu immediately makes all changes possible with that strategy, while the Hint menu finds where the next change could be made. At that point it displays a message describing the strategy and changes it would make. The user can choose how to proceed:

• "Change and Continue": let the computer make the suggested change, then continue to find the next hint
• "Change and Stop": let the computer make the suggested change, then stop looking for hints
• "Stop Without Changes": stop without making any changes, so the user can resume solving the puzzle themselves

Both menus are divided into two parts. The first section contains strategies that do not require all impossible numbers to be marked, while strategies in the second part do require all impossibles to be marked in order to work properly. Note that under either the Hint or Solve menu, "Mark Conflicts As Impossible" will mark all unsolved cells without any hints.

Marking Conflicts as Impossible

Use Menu/Solve/Mark Conflicts as Impossible to mark all impossible numbers if they have not already been marked by the user. This is required before using advanced and intermediate strategies on the Hint or Solve menus. Any number already marked impossible by the user is left marked impossible (no testing is done to see if it is wrong). Any number not solved or marked impossible is marked possible. Impossible numbers are indicated with small red numbers, and possible numbers are indicated with small green numbers.

The following strategies are described in detail under "Strategy Descriptions":

• Only 1 Unsolved Cell in Group
• Basic Intersecting Groups
• Linked Intersecting Groups
• Solve Cell With Only 1 Number
• Solve Only Cell With Number in Group
• Find Box Intersections
• Find N-tuplets
• Find Hidden N-tuplets

Loop Through All Strategies

This searches for solutions starting with the easiest strategies first and using more advanced strategies as needed. This is the best selection on the Hint menu when stuck solving the puzzle yourself. On the Solve menu, this selection will solve the entire puzzle before stopping (unless picking a trial number is needed).

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