Sudoku solution - New York Times 17 January 2025 Hard level

The New York Times Hard level sudoku game is at this link: www.nytimes.co...
I used the solver on the sudokuexchange... website to play this game.

[@johnmiller5629]

At 19:00, the 7s were locked in Col 9 of Block 6 and Col 8 of Block 9, thus the 7s were locked into Col 7 of Block 3, therefore r3c8 can only be an 8. That gives you the 8 in Block 9 and the 7,8 pair and the 2 in Block 6.

[@claytonthomas-u5o]

I got stuck halfway but then managed it. 13 mins. notation free.

[@sidaliahmedsaadi3979]

No pencil marks. Spent some enjoyable tens of minutes.