Vikram -
You are right that 9 different techniques is too many to try to remember!
I recommend you employ 4 main techniques only. For Inference questions it is process of elimination based on those answer choices that "could be false." For Paradox questions you need to explain how the surprising fact could coexist with the other side of the paradox. For Assumption questions you have the Assumption Negation Technique and you are always focused on what happens if you take the answer choice away. For S/ W/ and all of the minor types of questions you want to begin with the conclusion and put together the argument from there.
Do not over think or over analyze. Your instincts are correct that some people (some books) make this more complicated than it is...it is not easy of course but it can be understandable.
attached is a word document with various of my critical reasoning posts. I am not sure if you have seen these but it might help you to take some of the complexity out of critical reasoning by developing good habits.
also there is this article of mine that talks about how only certain parts of the argument are actually important and how to simplify things.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/02/ ... duncan-way
Oh and here is a Veritas Prep Blog entry on Sentence Correction that Brian Galvin wrote - I think it is pretty good!
https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2011/04 ... orrection/
