Register FREE

Naked Triples

Completed Sudoku grid
Naked Triples are an extension on naked pairs, but instead of looking for 2 candidates that are in 2 cells, you are looking for 3 candidates that are in 3 cells.
They are harder to spot, and don't occur as often as Naked Pairs, but they are a great technique to know how to apply.
Naked Triples
We are looking at the 1, 3 and 8 candidates in the second column.
These 3 candidates have to appear in the highlighted cells - we don't know exactly which number will go in which cell, but we do know that these 3 values have to appear in these 3 cells.
That means we can remove the 1, 3, and 8 candidates from all other cells in this column, i.e. the red highlighted pencil marks.
Naked Triples
As you'd expect, Naked Triples can also appear in rows, like this example.
Naked Triples are a little harder to spot - it's a little unusual for all 3 cells to have all 3 candidates, this makes them a little harder to spot.
Naked Triples
This Naked Triple does have the 3 candidate values in all 3 cells, but this isn't very common.
Naked Triples
Can you spot the naked triple in this Sudoku?
There are 2 examples to find!
Naked Triples
Did you spot this one?
Naked Triples
What about this one?
Naked Triples
Can you spot the naked triple in this Sudoku?
Naked Triples
Did you find it?
Naked Triples
Last one, can you spot the Naked Triple in this Sudoku??
Naked Triples
Did you find it?
Naked Triples
That's everything you need to know about Naked Triples!
It is possible to find Naked Quads (i.e. four values contained within four cells), but those are very rare in 9×9 Sudoku Puzzles.

Next