Mental Royale
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Crane

Advanced Logic24 / 32

A box link and a line link, joined at the neck.

The third member of the turbot family, next to the Skyscraper and the Two-String Kite: one strong link lives inside a box (only two spots for the digit there, not lined up), the other in a row or column — and one end of each sees the other.

The two joined ends can't both be true, so one of the two free ends must be. Everything that sees both free ends drops the digit.

See it in action

123456789
2
7
1
8
123456789
4
3
5
1
5
123456789
123456789
123456789
3
123456789
123456789
7
3
123456789
123456789
123456789
7
5
123456789
1
2
7
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3
9
123456789
123456789
123456789
1
2
123456789
123456789
7
1
4
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5
123456789
123456789
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1
123456789
5
8
123456789
7
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4
1
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123456789
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7
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123456789
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8
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123456789
123456789
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4
123456789
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123456789
123456789
123456789
123456789
1
7
2
123456789

Step 1 of 4

The setup

Find boxes where a digit has exactly two spots on different rows and columns. Then look for a two-spot row or column with an end seeing one of them — the free ends aim at your elimination. Step through this real position to see it happen.

Practice

Find the Crane and remove its digit from the cells seeing both free ends.

Drill 1 of 29

Tap a cell, then the candidate digit you want to remove.