Medium puzzles have no given digits. The cages are a little larger than on easy, and at least one step is not a plain single. Usually that step is a one-cell innie or outie — the 45 rule leaving exactly one digit — or a naked or hidden pair created by a cage. Pointing, where a digit in a box is trapped on one line, belongs here too.
The opening should still be friendly. If you cannot find three ordinary singles or unique cages in the first minute, the puzzle was graded wrong and you can report it. We would rather refile a puzzle than ask you to stare at a blank board. After that opening, expect one or two moments where adding a row to 45 is quicker than listing combinations.
A practical order: unique cages first, last cells second, then one tour of the nine boxes looking for a border crossed by a single cell. That tour is the medium skill. Players who skip it try to brute-force a three-cell 15 and conclude the puzzle is hard. It is not. The digit was sitting on the box edge.
Most medium games here land between twelve and twenty minutes once the 45 rule is familiar. If you are regularly past thirty, drop back to easy for the combination list, not because you are slow, but because the list is still costing you attention that the 45 rule needed.
Hints on medium will name the house. “Row 6’s outie is 7” is the whole step. The second press fills the 7 if you want it filled. The link under the hint is the 45-rule page or the pairs page, depending on which one produced the step.
Related reading: how to play, the 45 rule, and the combination table.