UVWXYZ-Wing

Level 10 · Brown Belt

Strategy:

Requires:

Learn after:

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

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

Example

Look for UVWXYZ-Wing.

Sudoku grid showing the initial puzzle state for Look for UVWXYZ-Wing.

1

UVWXYZ-Wing

Found a 6-Y-Wing pattern. The pivot cell R2C7 has candidates connected to a 5-cell wing group.

Sudoku grid illustrating step 1: UVWXYZ-Wing — Found a 6-Y-Wing pattern. The pivot cell R2C7 has candidates connected to a 5-cell wing group.

2

UVWXYZ-Wing

The wing cells R1C5, R1C6, R2C4, R2C5, R3C5 form an Almost Locked Set with the pivot.

Sudoku grid illustrating step 2: UVWXYZ-Wing — The wing cells R1C5, R1C6, R2C4, R2C5, R3C5 form an Almost Locked Set with the pivot.

3

UVWXYZ-Wing

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

Sudoku grid illustrating step 3: UVWXYZ-Wing — This is a 6-Y-Wing (also known as UVWXYZ-Wing) - the shared candidate is eliminated from common peers.

4

UVWXYZ-Wing

One of the 6 cells must contain 5, so eliminate from cells seeing all pattern cells containing it: r1c9.

Sudoku grid illustrating step 4: UVWXYZ-Wing — One of the 6 cells must contain 5, so eliminate from cells seeing all pattern cells containing it: r1c9.

5

Result after applying the technique.

Sudoku grid showing the 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.