My solve was identical up until the end. Instead of finding the 59 pair in C7 which collapsed the rest of the puzzle, you can find pointing 1's and 3's in box 9 col 9
First kind comment. I really enjoyed this one, and for once followed a different strategy that worked really well for me. Spoiler follows ... - - - - - - I noticed an "NYT Trick" on row 5 on my first inspection, letting me put a 3,4,9 triple into c1, c3, and c5. Those cells immediately collapsed, leading to a 1,2,7 triple in box 6. That, in turn, immediately collapsed to the 7 in c8 with a 1,2 pair left on the row. The next big find for me, after my usual corner-marking, was the totally fun and cool sequence of pairs in c8 (the same pairs you found) -- (3,5) in r2c8, (3,4) in r3, (5,6) in r4, and (4,6) in r7. Four cells, four pairs -- leading to the hidden single 8 in r9c8. My solve immediately collapsed after that. The two key steps for my solve were therefore the NYT trick at the beginning and the four cascading pairs leading to the hidden single 8 in c8. I really enjoyed both your solve and mine.
11:55 for me, pretty much the same solve path, except that I spotted the 46 pair earlier. Alternatively you might have spotted the quadruple you had in row 8, which would have given you a 46 pair in box 8.
My solve was identical up until the end. Instead of finding the 59 pair in C7 which collapsed the rest of the puzzle, you can find pointing 1's and 3's in box 9 col 9
First kind comment. I really enjoyed this one, and for once followed a different strategy that worked really well for me. Spoiler follows ...
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I noticed an "NYT Trick" on row 5 on my first inspection, letting me put a 3,4,9 triple into c1, c3, and c5. Those cells immediately collapsed, leading to a 1,2,7 triple in box 6. That, in turn, immediately collapsed to the 7 in c8 with a 1,2 pair left on the row. The next big find for me, after my usual corner-marking, was the totally fun and cool sequence of pairs in c8 (the same pairs you found) -- (3,5) in r2c8, (3,4) in r3, (5,6) in r4, and (4,6) in r7. Four cells, four pairs -- leading to the hidden single 8 in r9c8. My solve immediately collapsed after that.
The two key steps for my solve were therefore the NYT trick at the beginning and the four cascading pairs leading to the hidden single 8 in c8.
I really enjoyed both your solve and mine.
Nice spot :)
8.55, pleased with that as I aim for under 10 minutes nowadays for the NYT
11:55 for me, pretty much the same solve path, except that I spotted the 46 pair earlier. Alternatively you might have spotted the quadruple you had in row 8, which would have given you a 46 pair in box 8.
Random but you have a very soothing voice haha. Thanks for helping me with today's sudoku!
Thanks!
12:41 to solve.