¹Definition: Remote Pairs are chains of Naked Pairs (i.e. Matching Bi-Value Cell (BVCs) pairs where one of the BVCs in one Matching Pair (MP) can see one of the BVCs in another MP). There must be at least 2 sets of Matching Pairs (i.e. 4 BVCs) for the pattern to work.

²Look For: Matching BVCs in the same house.

³Consequence: If you alternate the color of each BVC, and then you find one of the digits, outside the chain, that can see two different colored BVCs, that digit can be erased. Note that it is possible to find both digits matching the BVCs in this situation and both can be erased.

⁴Why it Works: Looking at our example, we scan for all BVCs. In Sue you can click on the BVC button in the Tools tab to highlight all of the BVCs on the board. We can quickly spot multiple BVCs of digits 1/6, so these are our most likely prospects.

⁵In Sue we can use the Drawing Mode in the Tools tab to highlight these cells alternate colors in the same house. We can start anywhere, so let's highlight the first one we find in yellow: F4. This cell can see two Matching Pairs in its house (one in its row and one in its block), which we will highlight in the alternate color blue. The cell at D6 can see the Matching Pair at D9, which we highlight in yellow.
At this point there are no more Matching Pairs for the 1/6 combo. When there are only 4 BVCs in the pattern (as here) we only need to look for the cell that can see the first and last cells of the Remote Pair chain. In this case that cell is H9. This cell sees H4 and D9, which have two different colors. Therefore, the 1 and the 6 in H9 can be erased.

⁶This works because we have a chain of doubly linked conjugate pairs. Each cell in the pattern influences every other cell in the pattern. For instance,

• If H4 resolves to a 1, then:
  • F4 must be a 6, which means that:
    • D6 must be a 1, which means that:
      • D9 must be a 6.

If we were to start with H4 resolving to a 6, then D9 would be resolve to a 1. So, we know that all blue cells will be one number, and all yellow cells will be the other number. If the yellow cells are 1, the blue cells will be 6, and vice-versa. Given this, it follows that any cell that sees both a blue and a yellow cell cannot contain a 1 or a 6 (because we know that one colored cell will be 1 and the other colored cell will be 6, leaving no 1 or 6 left over for the "seeing" cell.

⁷Your Turn!
Find the Remote Pair pattern in this puzzle. If you want, you can click on the Tool tab, then on its BVC button to highlight all BVCs, then click on Drawing Mode, and click on the cells you want to color (Sue will automatically switch between alternate colors, so clicking on the conjugate-pair ends in order makes it easier). When you have colored all the BVCs in the Remote Pair pattern, click on Entry Mode from the Tool tab, click on the Tutorial tab, and scroll to the bottom to return here. Erase the candidate(s) that the Remote Pair technique eliminates.

Hint