No chains. Might be a challenge though...

is.gd/morl523_2

Thanks morl, a nice level of difficulty.

Hi there - I am stuck at 8 solved cells - donts see a way without chain - anybody got a hint? Thanks in advance!

@Claus H. Tonelier: maybe some Setti can help. There's a combination of 3 digits which looks helpful. BTW: The same puzzle with a black cell in A4 instead of A3 has also a unique solution, but is quite chainy.

If F7 is 7 the F789 is 123. This is a UR. Therefore F7 cannot equal 7.

Sorry meant f1 cannot be 7.

@cole: I already have G1=7.
@morl: dont see it - I have full setti on 7 and 4 - no 3rd number?

It's Setti on 2, 5 and 8 (cols 2 and 6 give some information)

Another way is to note that E4 and F4 can't be 9. If either were 9 you would have a 79 UR in EF45. That makes 3 a must in all columns, so A1 = 3.

OK, but w/ the use of Setti, no UR is needed.

Great puzzle! Got stuck after a few cells, but then remembered Jeeve's strategy to consider the psychology of the individual, in this case of the puzzle creator. Recalling that morl is a great fan of combined settis was the key. The choice of 2,5,8 was rather obvious then. Thanks, morl, for this great challenge!

@Leren: thank you - thats a smart move that really started the final step!

@Leren: I can't follow your argument. I see that, if EFG4 was 789, E5 would have to be 7 or 9. But, at the point where I am, F345 might still be 567, so not necessarily 79 in F5. What did I miss?

Sorry, I have to correct my question: It should read: If E4 was 9, E5 would have to be 7. But F345 could still be 567, with 5 in F5.

I could understand Cole and Lerens way. To avoide FG89=ur12 F1 cannot be 47 and to avoide EF45=ur79 should 4EF without 9, which makes 3 secure. In addition some X-Wings and a Swordfish are to find.
Really a nice riddle, thx morl.

@Marya
If E4~9, then J2~8, G2~6, G1~7, G4~8, F4~7 and F5~9, getting ur79.

No chains, UR's or SI's.

is.gd/Leren_523_X2

Thanks, difficult till the end, but w/o chains as said. Only skewed wings.

Good step-by-step challenge! Don't ovberlook the simple things!

OK, so I must be overlokking something simple, then...

7 cells solved, three of them on the / diagonal, used the two obvious settis. What now?

Jan, I recall an x-wing or two.

@ Jan

Easy X moves action at 7 solved cells:

Pair of 9's J12 => H2 <> 9
Pair of 8's on / B8, D6 => B6, D8 <> 8
Pair of 9's on / B8, J1 => B2 <> 9
Naked Pair 25 on / F4, H2 => B8, D6 <> 25, F2 <> 2

Like morl, chainfree but difficult, took us a while to find all the neccessary wings.

A challenge once in a while:

is.gd/morl523_1

Nice difficulty; with standard tools only.

Very Relaxing 9 min

I'm not sure how jgrab and Susan found it so easy. After 18 solved cells I needed a chain.

Like Ben, stuck at 18 cells. Any hints, jgrab or Susan?

A whirl picture, which stopped after 18 solved cells too. I needed guesses together with bca2.

is.gd/ben_523_X

What a beautiful pattern! 8-)) Hard x-work! Took me far more than one hour.

A very easy start, but in the end I needed a head chain, and I used a (surpising) UR.

Easy start as pax said - got to 24 solved cells without an X move. A key move was a finned X Wing that solves E5.

J1 and later C9 were they crucial cells; assumptions lead quickly to conflicts. Afterwards smooth and relaxing. Great pleasure!

Beautiful pattern and beautiful puzzle. Whole toolbox and two 3-cell-SIs.

is.gd/Leren_523_X

again a very nice x-puzzle, needed a tiny SI, thanks a lot

Very good challenge. Needed whole toolbox including 2 tiny SIs. Many thanks.

Were are the SI? I do not get further.

@ Cosmanita

Early on at 7 solved cells have a good look at AJ89.

..that helps me to solve A9, but how to get the other cells solved?

@ Cosmanita

My solution path obviously differs from yours but here goes anyway.

The SI => A9 <> 4. NT (789) ABC9 => F9 = 6 and then D4 = 6 is a single on \, which also solves D23.

A bit further on there is a regular 7 Fish of 4's in c2346789 / rBCDEGHJ. So 4 is in J789 so 1 isn't => C7 = 1 is a single in Column 7, H8 = 1 is a single on \ and E3 = 1 is a single in Column 3. Solved cells at that point are 14.

I'll stop there. Hopefully that is enough hints to see you through to the end.

Thank you Leren for the hint...so was missing the 7-fish of 4's.

is.gd/Leren_523

Fishes and bca conclusion, thx.

Thanks. Some Setti interdependencies made it quite complex for me.

Tough. Besides setti considerations I needed 2 SIs and an UR. Thanks, Leren.

After a jelly2 and a wing4 I used bca3, jelly5, sword8, wing7 and wing4.
Then bca8: 8 is missed in rowA, so 8 is missed in col1 or col2 too, which indicates missed 4 in col1, or missed 1 in col2.
This is exactly the same question in rowA, where 1 or 4 is missed.
The clou is, therefore 4 must be in rowG, G2=4 ... ready.

Similar to BP, but no UR.

Reserved for discussion of Andrew's puzzle.

This week's puzzle was easy to solve. I do not shy away from using Setti's rule, because it is also pure logic. This time I use Setti on 6, Setti on 7, X-wing on 6, X-wing on 1, as well as naked triple in column 1. There was no problem anymore.

Again one of those puzzles that is automatically completed by the solver...