Here we continue a salute to Dave Green in the current Sysudoku Basic clinic by illustratively checkpointing a highly challenging Sunday 5-star published in the Akron Beacon Journal on June 29, 2014. Box marking goes nowhere in this gem, leaving it to alert line marking to keep the puzzle within basic boundaries.

Assuming you took up the challenge, how did you feel when you finished box marking  with no clues and 6 slinks?  I felt puzzled. What was this mini monster doing here? Dave does the 6-stars in the LA Times. Did this one escape to Akron?

It put me on the alert to be especially careful in line marking. We start in ”4f:” and with six blank lines. Take the paper up and transfer the givens to the ©PowerPoint grid. Its going to be a long Sunday afternoon.

But then, a naked single on the first line and a productive naked pair on the second put me in a more positive mood. The good vibes continue as I trace out:

Among the resources explicitly held in reserve as I go to the next line, are two naked pairs, two X-wings and a naked triple.

I leave the X-wing icons in place on the grid as an aid to further line marking.

Continuing the trace as it runs off the page, I copy the last effects list to the left, adding the X-wings as possible causes.

Wadiyaknow? I never had to face the line marking of those blank lines.

If you haven’t done so already, please try out your dublex bypass, box marking, and line marking skills on this typical Dave Green 5-star from the paper just this past Sunday, October 19, 2014. There is moderate progress on the first two stages, but it requires a very careful line marking. Look for some Green whimsy, and a rarely seen trigger for the collapse. It’s my final Dave Green checkpoint in the current Sysudoku basic clinic.