Two-String Kite

The 2-String Kite is a close cousin of the Skyscraper. Both are single-digit patterns built from two strong links, but where the Skyscraper uses two rows (or two columns), the kite uses one row and one column, joined through a shared box.

What is a 2-String Kite?

Pick a digit. Find a row where it has just two homes, and a column where it also has just two homes - the two "strings". If one end of the row-string and one end of the column-string fall in the same box, they're linked. Then one of the two free ends must be the digit, so any cell seeing both free ends can't hold it.

Row 1 has the 4 in two cells and column 2 has it in two cells; they share the top-left box (blue). One free end (amber) must be the 4, so the red cell - seeing both - can't be 4.

Step by step

Choose a digit with a two-cell row and a two-cell column.
Check the box link. One end of each must sit in the same box.
Identify the free ends - the cells not in the shared box.
Eliminate the digit from any cell seeing both free ends.

Kite vs Skyscraper

The difference is just geometry. A Skyscraper's two strong links are parallel (two rows or two columns) and share a cross-line. A kite's links are perpendicular (a row and a column) and share a box. Both are Turbot Fish patterns, and once you see one the others come easily.

Common mistakes

No shared box. The row and column strings must overlap in a single box, or there's no kite.
Wrong ends. The elimination is at cells that see both free ends - the ones outside the shared box.

Which Sudoku types is this best for?

The same logic applies across variants, but it pays off more in some than others.

Works Classic Sudoku A neat single-digit elimination for harder Classic grids. → Limited Killer Sudoku Seldom the quickest route in Killer. → Works Sudoku X Diagonals add strong links to build a kite from. → Limited Samurai Sudoku Rarely needed on Samurai. →

Where to practise this

This technique starts paying off at Hard, which is where puzzles first stop yielding to anything simpler. Reading about a pattern and spotting it on a live grid are different skills - the second one only comes from playing.

Play Hard Sudoku About Hard Sudoku

Related techniques

Skyscraper Sudoku Technique Explained Two rows where a digit sits in only two cells, sharing one column; the digit is cleared from cells that see both far ends. Innies and Outies - Killer Sudoku Technique Sum whole cages against the 45-per-unit total; the single cell that pokes in (innie) or out (outie) is fixed by the difference. Hidden Triple in Sudoku - How to Spot It Three digits that can go in only the same three cells of a unit - every other candidate can be cleared from those cells. Naked Quad - Sudoku Elimination Technique Four cells in a unit using only four candidates between them claim those digits, removing them elsewhere in the unit.