W-Wing

Hard

Two bivalue cells with the same candidates are connected via a conjugate pair; their common digit is eliminated from cells seeing both.

How It Works

Two cells share the same two candidates {X,Z}. A conjugate pair of digit X connects them: if one cell takes X, the bridge forces the other cell to take Z, and vice versa. Either way, Z appears in one of the two endpoint cells — so any cell seeing both can have Z eliminated.

Example

849351762
123
4679
479
4679
49
58
5672
49
813
49
23
51
47
347
247
896
794865213
23
861
39
29
547
43258
69
69
71
615
479
2
479
38
49
978
46
13
46
25
Key cells of the techniqueCells where elimination is appliedCandidate to be placedEliminated candidate (crossed out)

Practice with a Real Puzzle

This 9×9 puzzle is solver-verified to require this technique on its solution path.

Medium26 givensStrict