UVWXYZ-Wing

Level 11 · Red Belt

Strategy:

Wings

Overview

UVWXYZ-Wing is a six-cell wing pattern with six combined candidates. It extends the wing family to larger sets, using ALS-like logic for eliminations.

How It Works

  1. Find six cells whose combined candidates use exactly six digits.
  2. A pivot cell sees all five wing cells.
  3. The restricted candidate is locked within the pattern.
  4. Eliminate it from cells outside the pattern that see all relevant cells.

Example

Starting position

Look for UVWXYZ-Wing.

1

Pivot R2C6 with a 5-cell wing

Found a 6-Y-Wing pattern. The pivot cell R2C6 has candidates connected to a 5-cell wing group.

2

Wing cells form an ALS with the pivot

The wing cells R3C1, R3C2, R3C3, R3C4, R3C8 form an Almost Locked Set with the pivot.

3

6-Y-Wing, also called UVWXYZ-Wing

This is a 6-Y-Wing (also known as UVWXYZ-Wing) - the shared candidate is eliminated from common peers.

4

Remove 4 from common peers

One of the 6 cells must contain 4, so eliminate from cells seeing all pattern cells containing it: r2c1 and r2c3.

5

Result

Result after applying the technique.

Tips & Patterns

  • UVWXYZ-Wings are extremely rare in practice.
  • They are part of the N-Y-Wing generalization where N cells have N candidates plus a pivot.
  • Understanding ALS theory helps recognize these patterns.