Six puzzle types, six useful habits.

Daily routine

Begin with constraints, not guesses.

Read the puzzle’s objective before making the first move. Identify the units that must be completed—rows, columns, regions, paths, or basins—and find the unit with the fewest possibilities. When a move is forced, update every connected unit before moving on. Sixer includes hints and progress feedback, but a consistent scan order will solve many apparent stalls.

Puzzle 1

Crowns: use rows, columns, regions, and spacing together.

Crowns requires one crown in every row, every column, and every colored region, with no two crowns touching. A confirmed crown therefore excludes the rest of its row, column, and region, plus every adjacent cell. Mark all of those exclusions immediately.

Scan for a row, column, or region with only one legal cell. Then look for regions whose remaining candidates all lie in one row or one column. Even if you cannot place that region’s crown yet, you know the shared row or column must receive its crown inside the region, so candidates outside it can be removed.

Example: a green region has candidates at row 2 column 4 and row 2 column 5 only. Row 2’s crown must be one of those cells. Any other candidate in row 2 is impossible. If a crown elsewhere later touches column 4’s candidate diagonally, column 5 becomes forced. This is the same overlapping-constraint logic used in Kingfisher.

Puzzle 2

Futoshiki: combine Latin-square limits with inequalities.

Fill the grid so each row and column contains every required number once while satisfying all greater-than and less-than clues. Start with missing-number lists. If a row already contains 1, 2, 4, and 5 on a five-value board, its blank must be 3. Then remove 3 as a possibility from the rest of that column.

Inequalities reduce ranges before they identify exact values. In a five-value puzzle, a cell that must be greater than 4 can only be 5; a cell that must be less than 2 can only be 1. Longer chains tighten the ends. If A < B < C, then A cannot be one of the two largest values, and C cannot be one of the two smallest.

Use both rule families at once. Suppose a row is missing 2 and 5, and the left blank must be less than the right blank. The left blank is 2 and the right blank is 5. Neither the missing-number fact nor the inequality alone gives both values; together they do.

Puzzle 3

Tally: track what each line still needs.

Switch cells on so every row and column reaches its target total. For each line, compare three quantities: its target, the number already switched on, and the number of undecided cells.

If a row’s target is three and three cells are already on, every other undecided cell in that row must be off. If the target is three, one cell is on, and exactly two undecided cells remain, both must be on. Apply the same tests to columns after every change.

Example: a row needs four active cells. It currently has two active, one confirmed inactive, and two undecided cells. Both undecided cells must turn on. One of those placements may bring its column to the column target, forcing the rest of that column off. Tally becomes much faster when you write the remaining need mentally—“two needed in two spaces”—instead of recounting from scratch.

Puzzle 4

Trail: protect one continuous route.

Trail asks for one unbroken path that visits every cell exactly once. Treat premature dead ends and isolated groups as warnings. When a path segment leaves only one legal continuation, extend it. When an extension would cut unvisited cells away from the rest of the route, reject it.

Work from constrained areas such as corners and narrow passages, where fewer connections are possible. Before committing a segment, ask two questions: can every unvisited cell still be reached, and have I created a closed loop before covering the board? If either answer fails, that segment cannot belong to the solution.

Avoid extending one attractive route too far without checking the remaining board. Trail is global: a locally valid turn can make the final cells unreachable. Alternate between advancing forced segments and checking connectivity among all cells still to be visited.

Puzzle 5

Ripple: account for each number clue.

Ripple uses number clues to determine what is hidden in the grid. Begin with clues that have the smallest unresolved area around them or the least remaining flexibility. Record cells a clue makes certain, then update every other clue affected by those cells.

The useful question is always “What does this clue still need?” Separate what has already been confirmed from what remains undecided. If all of a clue’s remaining requirement must come from its remaining candidate cells, those candidates are forced. If the requirement has already been met, its other candidates can be excluded.

Do not solve each number in isolation. Candidate cells can contribute information to neighboring clues, so a result from one clue may complete another. Recount nearby clues after each definite mark and keep confirmed hidden cells visually distinct from excluded cells.

Puzzle 6

Tides: solve the most restricted basins first.

Tides asks you to flood each basin to the correct level using clues around the board. Start with a basin whose possible levels are most limited by the visible clues. Fix a level only when the alternatives conflict with a clue, then carry that information into adjacent parts of the board.

Compare neighboring basins and shared clue boundaries rather than treating each basin as independent. A level assigned in one area can remove options from another. Keep a running distinction between confirmed water levels and levels that merely remain possible.

When progress stops, audit each clue against the levels already fixed, then check how many possibilities remain for every basin. A clue that looked loose earlier may become exact after a neighboring basin is resolved. As in the other Sixer puzzles, the next move usually comes from updating old clues with new information.

Finish cleanly

Verify the objective before submitting.

For Crowns, check every row, column, region, and touching pair. For Futoshiki, check repeated values and every inequality. For Tally, recount each line. For Trail, trace one continuous route through every cell exactly once. For Ripple, confirm that every number clue agrees with the marked grid. For Tides, compare every basin level with the surrounding clues.

Practice mode is useful for learning a puzzle type without waiting for the next daily set. Hints can show where your reasoning stalled, but try to name the applicable rule before requesting one. That turns the answer into a reusable solving pattern rather than a single cleared board.