Sudoku Naked Pairs Explained: Learn to Solve Puzzles Faster

Naked pairs is a basic Sudoku technique that’s easy to learn and use to help you solve puzzles faster. 

So let’s take a look at what a naked pair is and how it’s helpful. 

What is a naked pair in Sudoku?

A naked pair is when you have exactly two cells within a row, column, or 3×3 block that only have the exact same two candidates.  

Such as in the example below that has all possible candidates pencil marked in.

In this example, the two unresolved cells on the right only have 1 and 7 as their possible candidates. This means these two cells form a naked pair. 

The reason it’s referred to as being ‘naked’ is that the pair of candidates is by itself. If there were other candidates in addition to the 1 and 7, then it could possibly form what’s known as a hidden pair. 

While this example uses a 3×3 block, it’s important to remember that naked pairs can also occur in rows and columns. Such as in the example with a row below.

How to use naked pairs to solve Sudoku puzzles

So how does this help you solve your Sudoku puzzle? 

Well, once you identify a naked pair in a row, column, or 3×3 block, you immediately know where the digits that form the pair go. You just don’t know which order they go in. 

In the example above, we know that 1 and 7 must be placed in the two cells that form the pair. 

This means we can eliminate all other 1 and 7 candidates from the 3×3 block. This is because if we were to place either the 1 or the 7 in the top-left cell, then we would not have enough digits to fill both the cells that form the pair.

This leaves us with the 3 as a single candidate in the top left corner (also known as a naked single). Meaning that we can immediately place a new digit in the grid. 

Hopefully, this demonstrates the power of finding naked pairs in your Sudoku puzzles. 

Just remember to look for naked pairs within rows, columns, and the 3×3 blocks. 

If you want to take your Sudoku solving abilities a step further, you might also want to learn about naked triples and naked quads.