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Prime Time

A prime grid puzzle

Solve a puzzle on a grid using prime numbers.

Here is a prime puzzle. It is a grid of 3 rows and 3 columns, with a number to the right of each row and a number below each column. The rules:

  • Fill the grid with prime numbers only.
  • The three numbers in each row multiply to the number beside that row.
  • The three numbers in each column multiply to the number below that column.

The book shows a solved puzzle.

  • Top row: 5, 5, 3, and 5 × 5 × 3 = 75.
  • Middle row: 2, 3, 7, and 2 × 3 × 7 = 42.
  • Bottom row: 17, 2, 3, and 17 × 2 × 3 = 102.

Now the columns, from top to bottom:

  • Left column: 5, 2, 17, and 5 × 2 × 17 = 170.
  • Middle column: 5, 3, 2, and 5 × 3 × 2 = 30.
  • Right column: 3, 7, 3, and 3 × 7 × 3 = 63.

How do you solve one? First find the prime factorisation of each row number and column number, since the cells must hold exactly those primes. For 102 = 2 × 3 × 17, the bottom row must hold 2, 3 and 17 in some order. For 170 = 2 × 5 × 17, the left column must hold 17 somewhere. The only cell in both is the bottom-left one, so 17 goes there.

Another useful check: a prime that does not divide a column's number can never go in that column. Place the primes that fit in only one cell first, and the rest fall into place.

Remember that 1 is not a prime, so it can never go in the grid.

In the prime puzzle, each row and column holds exactly the prime factors of its number, so start with the prime factorisations and look for the cell a row and a column share.
A prime grid puzzle.

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