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Locally minimal

A Sudoku puzzle is locally minimal when removing any of its givens results in a puzzle that has multiple solutions.

Locally minimal is not the same as minimal. The same solution grid can contain a puzzle with fewer givens, but that puzzle will contain at least one given which does not belong to the locally minimal puzzle.

A puzzle is symmetrically minimal when it cannot be reduced within the symmetry restrictions.

This page was last modified 18:38, 16 November 2006.  

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