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The paper grid method: solving Expert with 9 clues

Expert puzzles have 5 digits and 9 clues — too much to hold in your head. Draw a 10×5 grid, and the same six techniques become almost mechanical.

Why Expert needs paper

At Easy or Normal, the six core techniques fit in your head. At Expert, 9 clues touch the same digits from different angles, and keeping track of which digit is ruled out of which spot gets hard to hold in memory. A grid turns that memory problem into a simple lookup: rows are digits 0–9, columns are the 5 positions, and each cell only ever needs an X, a checkmark, or nothing.

The puzzle

A verified 5-digit Expert puzzle, 9 clues:

Step 1: mark the "nothing correct" row

08396 says nothing is correct. In your grid, put an X across the whole row for 0, 8, 3, 9 and 6 — they can't appear in any position. That already rules out half the digits 0–9 before you've reasoned about a single position.

Step 2: re-read the "wrongly placed" clues with those digits gone

86937 says one digit is correct but wrongly placed. 8, 6, 9 and 3 are already crossed out, so the one correct digit must be 7, and it is not in the last spot (where it appears in the clue). Mark an X in 7's row under that position. Do the same for 02698: 0, 6, 9, 8 are crossed out, so the correct digit is 2, not in the second spot.

Step 3: narrow the "two" and "three" clues the same way

69170 (two correct) has 6, 9, 0 already out, so the two correct digits are 1 and 7 — mark 1 out of position 3 and confirm 7 out of position 4. 13046 (two correct) has 0 and 6 out, confirming the same pair and ruling 1 out of position 1 as well. 24618 (three correct) has 6 out, and cross-checking with 2 and 7 already confirmed narrows the three in-code digits to 2, 1 and 4, each ruled out of the spot shown. 14208 (three correct) with 0 excluded points to the same trio, adding one more forbidden spot for 1 and 4 each.

Step 4: use the "well placed" anchor to finish the grid

86094 says one digit is correct and well placed. 8, 6, 0, 9 are out, so it must be 4, locked in its exact spot — position 5. That's a fixed anchor for free, and with it placed the forbidden-spot marks on 1, 2 and 7 leave only one open column each in positions 1–4.

One pair of positions still looks tied until you bring in 78935 (two correct, wrongly placed): 7 and 5 are the only possible in-code digits there, and the mark shows 5 out of position 1 and 7 out of nothing new — but combined with every other row already filled, it's the clue that tells you 5, the one digit untouched by any other clue, belongs in the single column still blank. That pins 7 to position 3 and closes the grid.

Check before you submit

51724 against every clue: 08396 ✔ none of those appear · 78935 ✔ 7 and 5 in, both moved · 86094 ✔ 4 well placed · 86937 ✔ 7 in, moved · 02698 ✔ 2 in, moved · 69170 ✔ 1 and 7 in, both moved · 13046 ✔ 1 and 2 in, both moved · 24618 ✔ 2, 1, 4 in, all moved · 14208 ✔ 1, 4, 2 in, all moved. All nine agree, and this is the only code that does.

Put it into practice

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