Tag Archives: Manuel Castillo

Only Extreme 390 – a Fitting Finale

Posted on December 26, 2017 by

In this post, the last preselected Sudoku of the review, Only Extreme 390, is solved by only advanced methods, but by an extremely thin margin.  The first crack in the armor is an irregular XYZ-wing. At first I missed an … Continue reading →

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A Coloring Trial for Only Extreme 347

Posted on December 19, 2017 by

Here a Manuel Castillo Sudoku sends me directly to last resort city.  Although the bv field eludes productive XY-chains or AIC, coloring is decisive enough to solve 347 in a single trial. Your first view of the grid comes with … Continue reading →

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Dragging in Only Extreme 304

Posted on December 12, 2017 by

This post continues with three more trials, two to reach a solution, and one to guard against multiple solutions, in Castillo’s Only Extreme 304. This is getting reeeaallly extreme. Last week, we managed to extend and XY-chain across the grid … Continue reading →

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Definitely Extreme 304

Posted on December 5, 2017 by

This post encounters what seems to be a monster in Castillo’s Only Extreme 304. A stingy basic leaves a near monster cloud of candidates resistant to the ordinary advanced repertoire. Following a theme of this review, a small coloring cluster … Continue reading →

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Pattern Coloring Not-Both on Only Extreme 261

Posted on November 28, 2017 by

On this post of the Manuel Castillo Only Extreme review, Only Extreme 261 justifies its “extreme” label. After limited advanced moves, a pattern based coloring suggests an extension via a not-both trial on a long AIC strong link. The not-both … Continue reading →

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Only Extreme 218 by SASdC Trial

Posted on November 21, 2017 by

This post demonstrates the Single Alternate Sue de Coq with Castillo’s Only Extreme 218. The opportunity for this kind of trial is spotted early in the bv scan, but is best deferred until it is needed as a last resort. … Continue reading →

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Only Extreme 218 Straight Up

Posted on November 14, 2017 by

Barely escaping the bypass, Manuel Castillo’s Only Extreme 218 gets tough, and brings out some seldom used methods. An alternative trial path by Single Alternative Sue de Coq, normally held in reserve,  follows in a second post. The bypass filled … Continue reading →

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