Learn · Practice

A four-week practice ladder

Most players improve by accident: they play the same difficulty for years. This plan is deliberately boring — one skill per week, at a difficulty where you can actually practise it.

Week 1 — Singles only

Goal: Finish an Easy puzzle without writing a single candidate.

• Play 3 Easy puzzles a day, untimed.
• Cover the timer. Speed is not the metric this week.
• After each puzzle, write down which of the three questions found your last five digits.

→ Easy puzzles

Week 2 — Candidates and eliminations

Goal: Use locked candidates to break a Medium puzzle you would previously have abandoned.

• Move to Medium. Start candidates the moment singles dry up.
• Every time you erase a candidate, say which unit caused it.
• If you stall for 5 minutes, take one hint — read the technique name, do not click “place”.

→ Medium puzzles

Week 3 — Pairs, triples, fish

Goal: Spot a naked pair and an X-Wing without being told.

• Alternate Medium and Hard.
• Before each move, check for a pair in the unit you are looking at.
• When stuck on Hard, scan each digit for a two-row rectangle (that is the X-Wing).

→ Hard puzzles

Week 4 — Wings and chains

Goal: Finish one Expert puzzle with at most two hints.

• One Expert puzzle every other day — not more.
• For every two-candidate cell, ask: can I make this a pivot?
• Log the technique that finally broke each puzzle open; patterns repeat.

→ Expert puzzles

Still stuck? Diagnose it

Symptom	Likely missing skill	Drill
You can finish Easy but Medium feels impossible	Locked candidates	Pointing pairs, then 5 Medium puzzles
You write candidates but still see nothing	Naked pairs / triples	Pairs and triples
Hard puzzles stall late, with 15 cells left	X-Wing / fish	X-Wing, then Swordfish
Expert puzzles feel like guessing	XY-Wing	XY-Wing, then revisit Expert
You run out of time rather than logic	Scanning speed	Play Easy untimed for a week, narrate every move