The Quiet Grid, Issue 3: The Answer

Square b, row 5 and column 6, and the digit is 2. A tip of the cap to everyone who spotted the lonely candidate.

Here is why it was alone. That square’s row already held 6, 5, 8, 3, 9, and 7. Its column held 1, 3, 9, 5, and 4. The box added 7, 5, and 3. Every option but 2 was gone before we even wrote the pencil marks. The other three squares still had company, which is why they had to wait their turn.

Your one-day records

[Reader stories about the most puzzles solved in a day, with first names and permission, go here. Placeholder until they exist.]

Issue 4 arrives Monday, October 26, and its square hides in plain sight.