STEP 1

WE’VE given you the highlighted numbers as a starting point. First big clue: there are two chains of four cells linked by ‘greater than’ symbols. Take the lower one: the first cell has to be a 5 (because there’s already a 4 in that column). And the last cell has to be a 1 (because there’s already a 2 in that column). The others are either a 4 or a 3, and a 3 or a 2. If you can follow this reasoning, you’ll understand Futoshiki.