Obvious Singles

A cell with exactly one candidate left. Also called a naked single.

Once you keep pencil marks, some cells end up with a single candidate written in them. That digit is the answer — there is no other digit it could be, by definition of what a candidate is.

The name matters less than the habit: after every entry you make, check the cells that shared a row, column or box with it. Removing one candidate from twenty neighbours is what creates obvious singles, and they usually appear in twos and threes.

A grid that keeps producing obvious singles is a grid you are solving correctly. When they dry up, that is the signal to move to hidden singles and pairs.

Stuck on the grid in front of you? Type it into the Sudoku solver to see the answer — then come back and work out which technique would have found it.