FAQ

What’s this site for?

This is a collection of guides and articles on solving Skyscrapers, including techniques for tackling them, rules to apply in specific situations, and thoughts on the art of Skyscraping.

What are Skyscrapers?

They’re a Sudoku-like variety of puzzles. See Foreword.

How difficult are Skyscrapers?

Of course, how difficult you find Skyscrapers is subjective, so it depends on your experience and problem-solving capabilities. The objective ‘difficulty’ of a particular Skyscrapers varies hugely, and depends on the specifics of the puzzle.

Does size matter?

Absolutely! 7x7 Skyscrapers are significantly more challenging than 4x4s.

Why would you want to solve Skyscrapers?

They’re fun, make you think, and are a lovely intellectual treat for the mind. When you get somewhat proficient in them, speedrunning doable Skyscrapers gets really fun.

Where can I find Skyscrapers puzzles?

I’ve been using brainbashers.com for years, there’s daily Skyscrapers (and other puzzles!) on there. It’s awesome.

Why are some of these cases so niche?

I find a difference between a novice and an expert in a field is their intimacy with it – an expert has experience and familiarity which allows them to unlock a much deeper understanding. In Skyscrapers, when you’ve completed hundreds, even thousands of puzzles, you start to connect the dots and see complex patterns – much of this intuitively, and indeed only in hyper-specific circumstances.

The point of this site is to show many of those specific deductions, which you can only really learn through practice, exploration and experience, but can make or break solutions.

Why is Skyscrapers called “Skyscrapers”?

The numbers supposedly represent the height of skyscrapers, here referring to the tall buildings that tower high into the sky.

I don’t understand all this technical jargon…

A lot of it is just made up and unofficially coined by me. See Glossary for an overview of all the terminology used through Skyscraping.

Why do you love Skyscrapers so much?

I love solving Skyscrapers almost as much as writing integrals.

I found an error on the site!

Ah, blast! Please drop me an Issue on GitHub.