XYZ-Wing
Expert
Used by Smart Hint
A three-candidate cell links to two two-candidate cells whose combined candidates match it exactly — the shared height can't be in any cell all three see.
- Cells that establish the pattern
- Where the conclusion lands
- Height ruled out
How it works
- An XY-Wing whose pivot keeps a third candidate: {1, 2, 3} here, with wings {1, 3} and {2, 3}.
- Now the pivot itself might be the 3, so the guarantee widens: one of the THREE cells is a 3, not just one of the two wings.
- That means only cells seeing all three can be eliminated from — and here all three sit in one row, so those are the row's remaining cells. Strike their 3s.
- Worth knowing the limit: Skyscrapers has no boxes, only rows and columns. Work it through and a common peer of all three exists only when all three share one line — and three cells in a line covering three heights is a Naked Triple, which this guide lists as easier and which strikes all three heights rather than just the shared one.
- So in practice the Naked Triple gets there first. The shape is here because you'll recognise it from Sudoku, where boxes give it room the Skyscrapers grid doesn't.