Now back to Lesson 3, Intersecting lines.

Here is the basic rule, Starting with the number 1 and working through to the
number 9, look for a block that does NOT contain that number.
Then look for rows and columns WITH that number that intersect into the block.

To illustrate intersecting lines, lets have a look at this easy level puzzle.
We can start solving the puzzle using the scanning and counting techniques we
covered in Lesson 2, and we fill in as much of the puzzle as we can.
I’m just using the scanning and counting methods here. And now I have the puzzle
as far as I can get using simple scanning, although some of you might have been a
bit sharper and filled in some additional cells along the way, but for the most part
this is where we would be if we only scanned the puzzle.
The next technique, counting, is not very useful since there are no rows,
columns, or blocks with 8 cells filled in, so that’s not much help.
Now what? This is where the technique of intersecting lines comes in.
It helps you to fill in any numbers you might not have seen using the scanning
method.
What you do is, starting with the number 1, look for BLOCKS that DON’T have
that number, and then look to the rows and columns that do have the number,
and see how they intersect in the block to eliminate cells.

So let’s start with the number 1, and looking for blocks that don’t have the
number 1 in them, we see only this block, block 4.
 Now if we look across the rows and columns for the number 1, drawing lines to
intersect with block 4,
we can eliminate all the cells that the lines cross over, and we are left with only
one possible cell, so the 1 must go here! Now all the 1s are accounted for,
so lets move on to the number 2, and look for a block missing the number 2, and
we see that the 2 is missing from blocks 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9

….in fact there are only three blocks that have the number 2 in them.
Let’s have a look at block 8, … we can take this 2 and draw a line across, and then
this 2, and draw a line down, and now all these cells are eliminated, so what’s
left? Only this cell is left, so let’s put a 2 here.

Let’s see if we can place any more 2s. Yes, if we look at block 5, we now have two
2’s in this stack, so we can place the third 2 here!
Can we do anything with block 4? Well we have a 2 here, and a two here, so
drawing lines up and across we can eliminate all the cells except for these two, so
let’s leave that alone for now.

What about block 6? Again, we can follow the lines from the 2’s, down, and
across, and this way we eliminate all but two possible cells, so we’ll leave that
alone for now as well.
In the next lesson, lesson 4S, I’ll show you how to use pencil marks to write in
candidates, but lets leave that be for now.

The same goes for block 9, using intersecting lines from this 2 down, and this 2
across, we can eliminate all the cells but these two. So now we’ve done the
numbers 1 and 2,
let’s move on to the number 3, and we see there is only one block that doesn’t
have a 3 in it, and that’s block 9. So using intersecting lines, let’s find the 3’s
outside the block and draw lines through it, There are lots of 3s outside the block
to draw lines….and once we do that we can easily see that the only cell a 3 can go
in is here, and so now all the 3s have been placed.

On to the number 4, we can see that block 2 needs a 4, but intersecting lines
won’t help us there until we find another 4.
Let’s look at block 9, we can use the 4 above and draw a line down, and then the
4 here in block 7 and draw a line across, and now we see that the only place a 4
can go is here.

I can backtrack now and place the 2 in this block as well, you can see the number
2 intersects from rows G and J and down from column 9 to eliminate all the cells
except this one, so we can place a 2 here.
Now let’s look at block 4, we can easily place the number 4 here.

Okay, let’s move on to the number 5, remember we are working our way through
all the numbers from 1 through 9 sequentially, and we see that only blocks 8 and
9 are missing the number 5,
so lets see if we can use intersecting lines to place the 5.
Here in block 8, we can see that the lines don’t help us place the number,

but in block 9 we can place the 5 here.

NOW can now go back to block 8 and place the 5 here, and now we have placed
all the 5s.

Now I can continue on, but I just noticed that block 9 has 8 cells filled in, so only
one number is missing, and using counting, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, we see it’s the 9, so
we can place the 9 here, and this block is done.
And if we look at row G, only one cell is missing a number, and using counting, we
see it’s the 1,2,3,4,5,6, it’s the 6 that’s missing, so now we have row G complete.

Is there anything else we can fill in using counting? Yes, row H, so lets see what’s
missing…and its 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, it’s the 8, so we can fill that in as well, and now
row H is done!

Now block 7 needs just one number, and it’s the 6, so we can place it here and
block 7 is done!
Okay, lets get back to intersecting lines, we were done with 5, so let’s move on to
6, looking up the left stack we can see since we have two 6s, here and here,

then the third 6 has to go here in block 1.

I can’t place any more 6’s for now,
so lets move on to the number 7…and I don’t see anywhere I can place a 7,
so let’s move on to the number 8.
Block 1 needs an 8. Looking outside of the block we find 8s here, and here, and
using intersecting lines we see that these placed 8’s eliminate all the cells except
this one, so the 8 must go here.
Now looking across the top rank we see we now have two 8s, so we can place the
third one, here.

Once we place that 8, we can backtrack and place the number 6, here.
Always remember to backtrack to see if you can now place numbers you
couldn’t before since every time you place a number it has ramifications on
numbers that previously couldn’t be placed.

Looking at block 4, we see it still needs the number 8, and using the 8’s outside of
block 4 we can draw lines that intersect with the block and eliminate all the cells
except this one, so this must be the 8
. Now block 8 still needs an 8, so lets see where it can go…and it has to go here.

And now there is only one number missing from this block, and its 1,2,3,4, the
number 4, and now this block is done, and all the 8s have been place.
Next is the number 9. Are there any blocks missing a 9?

Right away we see block 1 is missing a 9,

and it can only go here, so lets fill that in.

Now looking at block 2, it still needs a 9, and looking outside the block for 9’s we
can draw lines and find that the 9 must go here.

Now block 5 also needs a 9, and it goes….here.

Now we need to backtrack a bit since we filled in quite a lot of numbers and
didn’t really look back to see how they affected our puzzle.
Looking at block 2, we see the 6 must now go here, there is no where else it can
go.

And now the 7 must go here….

and then the 4 here, and block 2 is solved.

Using counting we can complete Row A, the 2 is missing, so lets fill that in.

And in Row C we have one number missing, and also block 1 has one number
missing, and it’s the 7.

Block 4 needs some work….we placed a 2 in block 7, so that means the 2 must go
here.
And now just two numbers are missing from this block, the 7 and the 9.
Well, the 7 can’t go here because of this 7, so it must go here.

And therefore the 9 goes here….and now we are done with block 4.
Moving on to block 5, there are two numbers missing, those are the 4 and the 6.
But now if we look at block 4, we have a 4 here in row D, so there can’t be a 4
here, and so this must be the 6, and this the 4, and block 5 is done!

There’s one cell empty in Row D, and its 1, 2…the number 2, so we can place the
2 here, and now Row D is done!
Now looking at block 6, we have 1,2,3, so we need to place a 4, and using
intersecting lines, we see it must go here.

The 6 is missing, and again, we can look outside the block and use intersecting
lines to find where the 6 can go, and it must go here.

We still need a 7 and 9 to complete this block, the 7 can’t go here because of this
7,
so it has to go here, and therefore the 9 goes here, and the 7 here, and now block
6 is done!

Now we just need to finish up block 3, and we can easily do this by looking down
columns 7 and 9 and using counting. There is one number missing from column 7,
and that’s 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, it’s the number 7, so we can place that here. And that
leaves the last number, 9, to be placed here, and now the puzzle is done!

In the next video I’ll show you how to use pencil marking to make solving much
easier by writing in possible candidates. There IS a strategy to using pencil
marking correctly or you’ll end up with a very messy and marked up puzzle, so
please join me in the next video on pencil marking and click the subscribe button
so you know when I upload a video. I hope you enjoyed this video, and I hope you
learned something!