An Easy 6×6 Puzzle Solved with Paired Regions in 8 Steps
Play this board yourself →A
B
C
D
E
F
1
2
3
4
5
6
1×
×
2×

3×
×
4×

×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
5×


×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×

×
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6×

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This 6×6 board rates as easy (difficulty score 638). Solving it from scratch takes 8 logical steps, using 5 techniques: Single cell, Row/column exclusion, Adjacency clear, Region confinement, Paired regions. Every step below is forced: nothing here is a guess.
- First, every open cell left in this region sits in row 6, so its marker has to land there; that clears every other open cell in the row.
- Next, together, two regions have open cells only in rows 1 and 2; with one marker each, those two markers have to fill exactly those two rows, so every other region's open cells there can be cleared.
- Then, place a marker at F3. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 3, column F, and its region. Placing here also clears its 1 touching neighbour.
- After that, place a marker at E5. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 5, column E, and its region. Placing here also clears its 1 touching neighbour.
- Now, place a marker at D1. Column 4 has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 1, column D, and its region.
- From there, place a marker at B2. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 2, column B, and its region.
- Following that, place a marker at C6. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 6, column C, and its region.
- Finally, place a marker at A4. Region has exactly one open cell left.
The key move here was Paired regions. Once you can spot that, this board falls quickly. ∎