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Help – ABC View 



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Objectives / Rules

See the Starting Ideas and Walkthrough below for extra tips and tricks.



ABC View Puzzle

What are the letters around the edge for?
These tell you which letter appears first in that row or column.

Click or move your mouse over the puzzle to see its answer.



Starting Ideas 



Idea 1
This square cannot be B or C.


Idea 2
This square must be blank.


Idea 3
These squares cannot be A (because B or C would have to be in the way).


Idea 4
X can be used to indicate a blank square (as could any other letter).


Idea 5
When there are pencil marks in the grid you can highlight, for example, all squares with an A. Either using SHIFT + 1, or selecting the option from below the puzzle.


Walkthrough 



Help 1
Step 1
This is the start of the puzzle. There are a number of different approaches to solving ABC View puzzles, this is just the one I used to solve this particular puzzle.

Solve this puzzle for yourself at the same time.


Help 2
Step 2
The C cannot go in any of these squares in Row 5 because the clues across the bottom could not be satisfied.


Help 3
Step 3
Therefore this square has to be A to satisfy the left clue.


Help 4
Step 4
Similarly these squares cannot be B (because of the bottom clues), which allows Row 5 to be completed.


Help 5
Step 5
Note: I've marked the two squares in Row 5 with an X to distinguish them from the other empty squares (but this isn't required to solve the puzzle).

The A in Row 1 cannot go in either of these two squares because of the top clues.


Help 6
Step 6
In addition, the A in Row 1 cannot go in these squares either, because the bottom clues could not be satisfied (since there would be a B or a C in the way).

Therefore the A goes in Column 4.


Help 7
Step 7
Which means that this square is X (because of the right clue).


Help 8
Step 8
Column 5 now has exactly three spaces for the A, B and C, so this square can only be A (to satisfy the bottom clue).


Help 9
Step 9
Which means that the B and C in Column 5 can only go one way around (because of the right clue).


Help 10
Step 10
The A in Column 3 cannot go in these squares as there is already an A in Row 1 and Row 4.


Help 11
Step 11
Nor can the A in Column 2 go in this square because the bottom clue could not be satisfied (as there would be a B or a C in the way).

Therefore the A goes in Row 3, and Row 4 is X (because of the bottom clue).


Help 12
Step 12
The B and C in Column 3 can go one way around as Row 2 already has its C.


Help 13
Step 13
The B in Row 1 can only go in one place to satisfy the top clues.


Help 14
Step 14
The A in Row 2 can only go in one place (because of the A's in Column 1 and Column 4).


Help 15
Step 15
The B and C in Column 1 can only go one way around to satisfy the left clue.

Column 2 is also complete.


Help 16
Step 16
The puzzle will now complete as there is only one place for the C in Row 4.


Help 17
Step 17
The completed puzzle.

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