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Strategies for Popular Number Puzzles

Triple Pointing Pairs

There is a pattern in between Naked Triples and Y/XYZ-Wings unique to Windoku and other puzzles with an extra constraint. And also to Jigsaw Sudoku because of the irregularity of the boxes. If you are solving any of these puzzles it is worth knowing about, it is easy to spot and deserves to be one of the first strategies. Credit to Stefan in the Netherlands for picking out this pattern.

The Jigsaw Variety

Jigsaw Triple Pointing Pair
Jigsaw Triple Pointing Pair : Load Example or : From the Start
Have a look at the green candidates in this first Jigsaw Sudoku. It is clearly a Naked Triple, so why does the solver spin it out as a separate strategy? Your traditional Naked Triple pair operates in one unit. It has to be aligned along a row or columns, or be within a box. It eliminates within that unit (although a box can align with a row or column).

This example in BHJ6 would normally work in the column. But take a closer look at where the 4s are. There is no 4 in B6, only H6 and J6 but we know one or the other must be a 4. So any other 4 that can see this pair can be removed. There is one at H9.

This only works because of the shape of the boxes.
Triple Pointing Pair
Triple Pointing Pair : Load Example or : From the Start

Just to give you an idea how this pattern can stretch a Naked Triple and the idea of a "pointing pair", take this example. It is really a Naked Pair plus an extra cell. However it adheres to the formula "three candidates in total in three cells" and is a triple locked set.

This would not be a situation in vanilla Sudoku but here the 2 is a necessary 2 (and a solution to J3 making it a Hidden Triple if you like removing 3 and 9). But going with the "pointing" idea we can eliminate the three high-lighted 2s shown.

The Windoku Variety

Windoku Triple Pointing Pair
Windoku Triple Pointing Pair : Load Example or : From the Start
Here we can see why this pattern is related to Y-Wings. At first sight it conforms to the classic Y-Wing being a hinge on J7 with two pincers on D7 and E8. E8 and J7 are connected through the light green 'window. The difference which makes it special to Windoku is that the pincers can also see each other making this a "closed" Y-Wing. Which makes it a Naked Triple.

But the "Pair" part of "Triple Pointing Pairs" is the two 2s in DJ7 which point to B7. When the Y-Wing is "closed" like this there are three pairs of numbers to check in three directions. Make sure to so do.

Once you start seeing this pattern you'll see it a good deal.

The XYZ-Wing version of this simply has three candidates in the hinge but there is no reason why any of the three cells can't have three since this is a locked triple.


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Article created on 26-October-2025. Views: 46
This page was last modified on 27-October-2025.
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