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#793, August 31 - September 6:
The Weekly Extreme Str8ts Puzzle

by Andrew Stuart
WARNING: This is the Weekly 'Extreme' Str8ts.
Only attempt this puzzle if you have time and patience.
Using the solver will not help you. (much).
Oct 18th 2024
The solver can now handle Str8ts variants. Yay! The solver button on the player will now pass an appropriate parameter.
Archive
Since there has been interesting strategy discussion on these puzzles and by popular request, I have opened an archive on the last thirty weeks. The discussion section is open for continued posting.
All Access Supporters can load all puzzles from number 1.
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Discussion...
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Please email me if you experience problems or bugs. Cheers, Andrew Stuart


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No full solutions please!

by: hepa

 31-Aug-2025, 09:21
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5
 

by: OneGuess

 31-Aug-2025, 18:20
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 difficult but nice as always - thanks hepa!
 

by: Auwei

 1-Sep-2025, 10:46
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Again a very nice puzzle, not too difficult. cand 6,7 and many setties were the clues. Thanks to hepa!
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by: acs
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2
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9
 The Weekly Str8ts X puzzle #185
 

by: optimator

 31-Aug-2025, 06:41
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 8' easier than most X
 

by: Martinus

 31-Aug-2025, 07:45
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 UR made it fast. Thanks!
 

by: tg

 31-Aug-2025, 08:23
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 Easy as soon as you discover the 2-fish in 7/8/9.
 

by: tg

 31-Aug-2025, 08:25
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 Sorry, the comment above was meant for the puzzle #793, not for the x-puzzle.
 

by: ThomasF

 31-Aug-2025, 11:29
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 nice, standard tools only
 

by: Cosmanita

31-Aug-2025, 16:11
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 I also used an UR like Martinus to delete one option from C9.
 

by: jgrab

 31-Aug-2025, 21:41
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Nice and solvable.
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by: acs
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1
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2
 The Weekly Str8ts B puzzle #185
 

by: optimator

 1-Sep-2025, 09:26
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 I needed a chain on e4 at the end
 

by: Hel

 1-Sep-2025, 13:56
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 33' WC (no chain needed)
 

by: Martinus

 1-Sep-2025, 15:40
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Interesting key for me: Small chain/UR combination. Thanks.
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by: acs
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5
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6
 The Weekly Str8ts puzzle #793
 

by: hp

 31-Aug-2025, 10:43
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 hard nut for me,
after Setti 5, xwing 3 and 3fish 3, Setti 3 and 3fish 2 see no progress
chain shows me, that 5 must be in J3
maybe missed a fish??
 

by: MrL

 31-Aug-2025, 11:18
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 @hp @tg (half page above). There is a powerful x-wing 4 in EF89, but first you must know that there is no 7 in rowF.
 

by: pax

 31-Aug-2025, 11:46
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 As far as I remember setti on 8 clarified, where the 8 must be in D1-3. Short HC excluded D3.
 

by: hhclimb

 31-Aug-2025, 15:39
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 @hp: start as you mentioned, but I see no 3fish2. Instead: CE in Row E (=E9 without 5), then setti 3 (clears Col 4). Assumption "no 8 in Col 4" leads to immediate contradiction, setti 8 does the rest
 

by: hp

 31-Aug-2025, 16:06
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 It all sounds a bit chainy to me,
8 has to be in Col 4 anyway?!
Some people write that Setti and fish are sufficient, I'd be interested to know more about that.
 

by: MrL

 31-Aug-2025, 16:43
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 @hp @hhclimb. Assumption "no 8 in Col 4" should be "no 8 in Col 3". Short HC clears all candidates in A4 => contradiction, rest is easy. Nice!
 

by: hhclimb

 31-Aug-2025, 17:10
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 @MrL: you are right, sorry for my typing error
 

by: hp

 31-Aug-2025, 18:52
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 Agreed, but a (head) chain is neither a Fish nor a Setti
 

by: David

 31-Aug-2025, 23:54
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 @hp: I'm also not satisfied with the current solution, maybe we can work together to find a chain-free one?

After your steps, I found a UR in GHJ3: if it's 234, you could exchange G123 and J123, so GHJ3 is either 123 or 345. This excludes 4 from J3. It's not much, but it's honest work.

At this point there a several short HCs excluding 1 from J3. The best one for me so far is:
For the case of GHJ3=123 there is an X-Wing on 2 that results in J4=6, excluding 1 from J3. However, I'm not sure if this can be seen as chain-free.

After eliminating 1 in J3, due to my first argument, G3 can not be 2. This solves 4 more cells.

My gutfeeling tells me, that a combined Setti on 2 and 7 could become important at some point, but currently, not everything is set for it, maybe you see something here?

@all The contradiction to the assumption "no 8 in col 4" is rather long. I prefer excluding 4 from B3 by the same argument that all candidates in A3 would be eliminated. After this, Setti 8 can be performed as pointed out by hhclimb.

These are my 2 cents as for today. This one is challenging, I like it and will certainly come back later this week :)
 

by: hhclimb

 1-Sep-2025, 08:45
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 assumption "no 8 in col 3" leads to a cintradiction in exactly 3 steps (in HC or solver). I would not regard this as "too long" for a chain.
When should a chain be regarded as "too long" and when as a "guess"?
 

by: aw

 1-Sep-2025, 09:59
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 Trial and error: The wrong choice in A7 leads to a 6-cell-UR (34) in the upper right (or, later, missing digits in the lower left), the right choice finishes easily.
 

by: hoke

 1-Sep-2025, 14:24
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 3 steps of a hhclimb hc: 4 must be in col 3, so a3 is 5, d1 is 8, so a5 is 5.
 

by: hoke

 1-Sep-2025, 14:33
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 typo: d1 is 8, so a1 is 5. But still it is neither a fish nor a Setti ;-)
 

by: David

 1-Sep-2025, 23:34
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@hhclimb and hoke: to me it seems that the first step after the assumption 'no 8 in col 3' is setting B3=4. Starting from this, one can proof in different ways that this leads to a contradiction (either showing that there is A1=A5=5 or that no option is left in A4, sorry for the typo in my previous comment).

However, one can also just directly proof that B3!=4 with the no-options-in-A4-chain or showing that if A3=5 a short HC (A7=4,A4=3) leads to B4=4. If 4 is excluded from B3, 8 must be in col 3 and one can proceed with the Setti 8.
Long story short: Directly showing B3!=4, leads to the same result as the assumption 'no 8 in col 3' but there is one step less in the argumentation chain. This is why I find this way a bit more elegant.

Regarding the question 'When is a chain too long': I think everyone has to answer this for him/herself. Personally, I would love to find a solution without even a small chain based on (combined) Settis, fishes, URs and wild combinations of these. If someone is interested to do so as well, I'm open for discussions on how one could proceed. I tried a few things today but couldn't progress.
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by: acs
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10
 The Weekly Str8ts BX puzzle #185
 

by: WolfgangL

 31-Aug-2025, 00:06
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 Develops very nicely, standard tool only, thanks!
 

by: Aubinger

 31-Aug-2025, 02:59
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 50' wc
 

by: optimator

 31-Aug-2025, 06:32
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 5', didn't need X
 

by: Martinus

 31-Aug-2025, 07:39
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 Like WolfgangL, thanks!
 

by: Hel

 31-Aug-2025, 08:30
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 22' WC
 

by: kmr

 31-Aug-2025, 09:31
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 Like WolfgangL and Martinus. Nice puzzle, developing smoothly. Thanks!
 

by: ThomasF

 31-Aug-2025, 09:43
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 like WolfgangL
 

by: pax

 31-Aug-2025, 19:48
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 25' WC
 

by: jgrab

 31-Aug-2025, 22:04
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19' done.
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  • 33';
    - jim
  • 37" not to bad
    - Maven
  • a couple hours. Lots of chains.
    - puzzled
  • 15min mit Tipp von S. Walt, danke!
    - humpti dumpti
  • 43 min - alle Hinweise gebraucht
    - Rot
  • 20 min
    - relijo
  • Very enjoyable.
    - Essie
  • 1h, Test D3=8 führt schnell zu Widerspruch. Settis. Danke für das interessante Rätsel.
    - S. Walt
  • 30 mins with J3 clue.
    - EddyBear
  • Pax' little move on 8 did it.
    - jgrab
  • 17' I used one short interaction as described by pax
    - Cosmanita
  • done with h/l-decision in J
    - chris1
  • 72' - did not see a way w/o small HC. Thanks!
    - triemers
  • Hi/Lo decision in H4/J4, settis, x-wings. Then careful elimination.
    - Solver_3
  • 20min - pure luck with a good guess on the HL in col 1
    - Latimer
  • 60 min - Settis und x-wings
    - wjanet
  • 44min, 1 lucky guess.
    - 7iron
  • 25' wings and settis
    - optimator
  • 33 min - a lot of wings and 2 settis; very nice level for me
    - Michael
  • 26'30 min - very nice indeed
    - Beate
  • Not easy but done.
    - MrL
  • 28' Settis and X-wing
    - Emma
  • 2 h with BCA and x-wings.
    - E.H.
  • 55 min. Had to use a chain to decide, where the 2 goes in row 3 or 4. Settis, wings. Nice.
    - juehe
  • 27 min. Very nice, just as i like it. Settis and wings, no chains
    - charliepat
  • 30 min
    - Loser
  • not too easy, but nice, wings, settis, fish. But I needed a short HC in Col3 (test a high number).
    - hhclimb
  • 40'. After some settis, a wing and a fish, a short HC to exclude sth. would solve it immediately.
    - MartinL
  • 46‘
    - Greg
  • 26' WC, one small HC
    - pax
  • 57 min - started with logic G6/H6, then finding 2 in last column
    - Susi
  • 32' nice, some wing, fish and setti
    - ThomasF
  • 29’ in 2nd attempt after wrong choice for missing 8 in 1st attempt
    - marwis
  • 50 minuten,reihe 1 und 6 waren irgendwann logisch.
    - dersoloist
  • 0:24:39 nach 3. Anlauf nicht schwer
    - zoo-pony (Tartlau)
  • Chainless, after analyzin column 1 and 3, settis
    - Alois
  • 39' with one lucky guess. Good morning!
    - A B Traherne
  • Used a chain to determine if the 2 is in 3 or 4.
    - Greg