foly Rated puzzle: EasyCompletion time: 26:18Used 'check puzzle' when incorrect
I got stuck after filling up all 6s. I removed options from the > operators, and ended up solving everything by guessing a number, and following from there. That can´t be the right way, right? Can someone point me to some techniques in Futoshikis for a newbie that would help me learn?
Posted 24th Jun 2026 at 22:08
gareth Administrator Daily subscriber Has started but not yet finished this puzzle
Futoshiki solve mostly using 'standard' sudoku techniques, including: * Hidden and naked singles (the only place a number fits in a row or column, or the only number that fits in a particular square) * Naked and hidden pairs and triples, where a set of digits only appears in certain squares, or conversely doesn't appear in a set of squares
In this puzzle, for example, you can quickly observe that once you have the 6 in the 3rd column (forced by the inequality) there is only one place a '1' can fit in that column due to the inequalities.
And because of that 6 you know the two rightmost cells in its row (the fifth down) must be in the sets [234] < [345], which forces the options to be [123] in the fifth square of the bottom row. But you already know the second and third squares must be [12] < [23] (since the 23 is forced by the 1546 already placed in that column) - and you then have a naked triple of 12, 23, 123 meaning the other squares in that row can only contain 456. And so on.
What's common in futoshiki, but less so in sudoku, is needing an 'x-wing' to solve. This is where there are a pair of digits that can only be placed in the same positions in two rows, meaning you can eliminate them from all crossing column positions - or vice-versa with row and column swapped.
Posted 1st Jul 2026 at 09:29
foly Rated puzzle: EasyCompletion time: 26:18Used 'check puzzle' when incorrect
I got stuck after filling up all 6s. I removed options from the > operators, and ended up solving everything by guessing a number, and following from there. That can´t be the right way, right? Can someone point me to some techniques in Futoshikis for a newbie that would help me learn?
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A yellow/light blue highlight in the time distribution charts highlights your time, where relevant.
Rating scores out of 10.0 show the average difficulty rating chosen by users, where 1.0 is "Easy" and 10.0 is "Hard".
If a puzzle is opened more than once, including by loading from a saved position, then this is potentially a significant aid so it is listed as being completed with 'multiple sessions' for the purpose of the best time/average rating displays above.
Minor aid is defined as no more than one use of 'Check solution' when incomplete and/or no more than one use of 'Check solution' when wrong; and/or using highlighting aids (show repeated digits, show broken inequalities and show valid/invalid placements [slitherlink] only). Major aid is any and all other use of the solving aids except for 'show wrong'.
* Hidden and naked singles (the only place a number fits in a row or column, or the only number that fits in a particular square)
* Naked and hidden pairs and triples, where a set of digits only appears in certain squares, or conversely doesn't appear in a set of squares
In this puzzle, for example, you can quickly observe that once you have the 6 in the 3rd column (forced by the inequality) there is only one place a '1' can fit in that column due to the inequalities.
And because of that 6 you know the two rightmost cells in its row (the fifth down) must be in the sets [234] < [345], which forces the options to be [123] in the fifth square of the bottom row. But you already know the second and third squares must be [12] < [23] (since the 23 is forced by the 1546 already placed in that column) - and you then have a naked triple of 12, 23, 123 meaning the other squares in that row can only contain 456. And so on.
What's common in futoshiki, but less so in sudoku, is needing an 'x-wing' to solve. This is where there are a pair of digits that can only be placed in the same positions in two rows, meaning you can eliminate them from all crossing column positions - or vice-versa with row and column swapped.
You can however view other players' statistics and comments in the tables above.