{"id":431,"date":"2025-12-16T16:53:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T03:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/?page_id=431"},"modified":"2025-12-19T12:30:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:30:23","slug":"last-possible-cell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/last-possible-cell\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Possible Cell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group content-wrapper has-base-background-color has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"min-height:90vh;margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-b5150c35 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:0;padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\">\n<p class=\"is-style-default\" style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.392), 18px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/sudoku-rules\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"73\">&lt; Back<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8dd13e6d wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\">\n<p class=\"is-style-text-display is-style-text-display--1\" style=\"font-size:clamp(17.905px, 1.119rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.99), 28px);font-style:normal;font-weight:800\">Last Possible Cell<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.392), 18px);\">A simple strategy to find the cell where a number must go because it has only one possible place left in the unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.392), 18px);\">Have a look at this block. Do you see the only cell that can contain the number &#8216;8&#8217;?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized is-style-default\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-right:0;margin-bottom:0;margin-left:0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"697\" height=\"697\" src=\"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7519.png\" alt=\"Last possible cell initial Sudoku grid example\" class=\"wp-image-432\" style=\"object-fit:cover;width:349px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7519.png 697w, https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7519-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7519-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 697px) 100vw, 697px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"2\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.392), 18px);\">As you can see, number 8 can not be placed anywhere in the block except the highlighted cell.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized is-style-default\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-right:0;margin-bottom:0;margin-left:0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"697\" height=\"697\" src=\"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7520.png\" alt=\"Last possible cell technique applied to a Sudoku grid\" class=\"wp-image-433\" style=\"object-fit:cover;width:349px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7520.png 697w, https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7520-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7520-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 697px) 100vw, 697px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"3\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.392), 18px);\">Have a look at another example. Here you can see that number 9 can\u2019t be placed anywhere inside the row except the highlighted cell.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized is-style-default\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-right:0;margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);margin-left:0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"697\" height=\"697\" src=\"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7521.png\" alt=\"Last possible cell in rows and columns example\" class=\"wp-image-434\" style=\"object-fit:cover;width:349px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7521.png 697w, https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7521-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-7521-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 697px) 100vw, 697px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-content-justification-space-between is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-7f2ee5f7 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\">\n<p style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.392), 18px);font-style:normal;font-weight:600\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/last-remaining-number\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"409\">&lt; Last Remaining Number<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.392), 18px);font-style:normal;font-weight:600\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/naked-single\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"438\">Naked Single &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&lt; Back Last Possible Cell A simple strategy to find the cell where a number must go because it has only one possible place left in the unit. &lt; Last Remaining Number Naked Single &gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-no-title","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-431","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-easy-techniques"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Last Possible Cell - TheSudoku.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesudoku.com\/blog\/last-possible-cell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Last Possible Cell - TheSudoku.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&lt; 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