After you have solved the easier puzzles and have started on the medium and killer level sudoku you may if you're like most people want to solve sudoku faster. While the more advanced tips can help you do that, often speed comes simply by practice. The term practice makes perfect applies to many different games and sudoku is no different. If you want to become fast at solving the puzzles you need to practice there is simply no way around it.
One of the more popular techniques that players new and old have used for years to help them solve sudoku faster is a technique known as cross hatching. Many of you may already be familiar with crosshatching but for those who aren't we will describe this strategy below. While it takes several different strategies and sudoku tips to solve sudoku fast, crosshatching alone won't make you a sudoku cup champion but it will help you speed up your game. In this article we assume that you already know how to play sudoku and are simply trying to increase your solving speed. If this is your first time playing you should take a moment to learn the general rules behind solving sudoku puzzles before continuing reading.
This is a diagram that shows crosshatching.
So let's learn how to use this technique effectively. This strategy is also known as what's commonly called 'Hidden Single' because, if you sat down and started to write out all of the different possibilities that each number could go for a given cell, The list of possible candidates for a cell could be {1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}. However, if all of the other cells in that mini grid contained all of the numbers except one than there is only one possible placement for that candidate.
While that seems a little complicated, the idea is to scan across the rows and columns to identify which candidate can possibly fit. If you find that all of the digits except one have already been entered into a given cell than it is obvious that the one number missing would fit in the remaining space.
Crosshatching is just one of many techniques you can use to help you in solving sudoku fast. Others that you may be interested in learning are, scanning or xwing which we may go into on future posts. As mentioned earlier really to get fast at solving sudoku you really just need to take the time to sit down and solve. In sudoku practice truly does make perfect as you will find out as you solve more and more puzzles. You'll become faster and faster and solving sudoku will be a breeze.
As you learn all of the various solving strategies be patient with yourself as often it does take the average person some time to become really good at any one particular technique. Usually you will have to master several different strategies to really get fast at sudoku. But for now just take it slow and before you know it you'll be solving sudoku faster than you ever thought before.