The following solver techniques have been added and tested:

• XYZ-Wing
• Finned X-Wing
• BUG+1

The ‘Peers’ tool has been added. This tool could be placed between Focus and Markup. It focuses the view to the selected cell and it’s peers. The candidates for the selected cell only are visible and can be maintained. The tool is aimed at people who want to maintain candidates, but do not like the spoiling effect of seeing all the candidates in the entire grid.

Rating system implemented. This rating system must be tested and calibrated. We probably need to add something like mode-change scores, e.g. when pencilmarks are required, or when value patterns need to be examined.

As an option, markup can be combined with the watch and color tools. This combination can be useful for those accustomed to the Simple Sudoku interface. Markup can be toggled on and off independently when watch or color tools are selected.

Fixed a bug that left the previous menu item available when opening single puzzle after a collection. The statusbar panel no longer shows 1/0 or 1/1 when no collection is loaded.

The analyzer has been split into a separate status dialog, with the current situation (filled cells, remaining candidates, etc) and the Analyzer with required solving techniques and ratings.

To avoid confusion with true pencilmarks, pen and pencil have been remaned to Pen 1 and Pen 2. The latter has a dark green color. The erase and confirm functions are still available for pen 2.

New scramble function. Permutate the current puzzle without changing the difficulty. Nice tool to play a variation of an interesting puzzle (which is a whole new puzzle) or avoid copyright claims. Not that the sudoku vault masters would like it (or Wayne G) but this feature will not operate on batches, just single puzzles.

I have decided to introduce a beta testing period, due to the many changes. I want to make sure this all works, before I throw it at the large audience.