How to Get Faster at Sudoku Without Sacrificing Accuracy

I am actually more quick witted when I take my time on a problem. The speed demons are often not actually using their brains to come up with the answer, but rather they have come across so many problems in the past that they can remember the answer. Thus the process of doing so many problems that they become memorized rather than actually having to solve them. Yay for the mundane answer.

I go through the numbers 1 to 9. Then I try to think of where each number could go. I try to fit in as many numbers as possible and then proceed with the problem. (pauses) Usually I used to write them all out. Now I do it in my head. It took a little bit of practice.

On easy puzzles I often find myself wanting to fill in the candidates, but I have decided to try to do them without writing in any answers. This forces me to think more about the puzzle and actually deduce the solutions, rather than just using my gut feeling. On harder puzzles, however, I have come to the realization that it is almost impossible to avoid filling in some candidates, and so I just choose to write in all of the possibilities that I can find.

Basic elimination: pointing pairs, box-line, naked pairs. After a while you no longer have to think – it's almost a reflex. Two cells in a column which have only 3 and 7 in, eliminate these from the other cells in the column. I can remember years ago struggling to do this when I was first starting out.

I run against the clock sometimes. Not against the clock of you or of him, but against my own clock. My own clock to see if I'm running slower or running faster. I compete against my own personal record, not against your personal record or his or her record.

The worst thing in the world is to stare at the same square in space for five minutes without seeing anything happen. If nothing has happened after five minutes, it's probably safe to look away and look at another square in the grid. I don't really understand why this works, but it seems to.