Strategy tips on solving ABC puzzles?
The main strategy is simply to work out as much as you can from the placement information you are given, and to use pencilmarks to record this information.
Let's say for instance on a 5x5 ABC puzzle that you are told an 'A' comes first in row one.
This means we know that the 'A' must go in position 1, 2 or 3 of that region. So we can remove it as a candidate for cells 4,5.
In fact, we know that the first cell in the region can ONLY be either an A or a blank, which it is useful to denote with an 'x' and so you can remove the candidates B and C from that cell.
By going through and recording all the information from the start position like this you should see some immediate eliminations.
When you are suitably progressed in the puzzle you can start using the rules that each letter can only appear once per region along with two blanks to make eliminations using the simple logic rules you use in sudoku.
The ABC logic puzzle has some quite subtle logical ideas that will come to you with practice and experience that allow you to make logical deductions about what goes where.
Particularly think about the logic of what combinations are valid where regions crossover for which you have information about the first letter for both regions.
Most popular questions in puzzle category:
Strategy tips on solving ABC puzzles?
The main strategy is simply to work out as much as you can...
What is an ABC puzzle?
An ABC puzzle is not actually a word puzzle as the name may...
Where can I buy ABC logic puzzles?
To buy them for publication, view our Buy ABC puzzles...
View a list of puzzles for publication with pictures of each.
Contact us about buying puzzles
Individuals:
Play hundreds of puzzles for personal enjoyment online at the Puzzle Club
Large range of printable puzzles for personal use downloadable at Puzzle Magazine website.
Search Puzzle FAQ