The Trouserlegs of Time

I borrowed the idea of calling bifurcation "trousering" from Terry Pratchett's concept of how the multiverse works, but in sudoku the results are a lot easier.

Any time you take a decision point -- either a two share or a pair -- and begin to look at what happens when you bifurcate, you're going to find one of four consequences.

Contradiction -- one trouserleg will prove itself wrong when a symbol appears twice in one set, or can't appear in any of the sets.  You can eliminate the starting symbol for that trouserleg and place the other starting symbol as correct.

Confirmation -- both trouserlegs will lead to the same symbol in the same space.  You can place that symbol as definitely true.

Conclusion -- one trouserleg will solve the puzzle all the way to the end.  Hooray!

Confusion -- both trouserlegs will peter out into frustration, where no more deductions can be made.  Whoops!  Try pulling a different zipper!

So, here are some pictures to see what happened as I went along.

Confluence in TRbc

Both trouserlegs led to a confirmation -- which I also call a confluence, or a convergence, depending which metaphor I'm using at the moment.

two legged arrow in MRl

I can also find a situation where I have assigned a symbol in two spaces in one of the sets, thereby eliminating that symbol from every other space in that set.

spare in BLmc

I also sometimes find that I can make a deduction on one leg of the trouser about a symbol I haven't marked on the grid, too.

finished puzzle

But eventually I solve the darn thing.