Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to a technique for blindly decoding interfering cell Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to acquire interfering cell Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmission information. A UE may determine, for one or more aggregation levels, sets of CCEs that potentially include the PDCCH, based on available CCEs for each aggregation level and identify a set of decoding candidates based on the determination. Once the decoding candidates are decoded, the UE may perform an error correcting procedure on decoded candidates and prune out unlikely candidates. Likely decoded candidates may be further pruned based on comparison of CRC calculated using information bits only and possible Radio Network Temporary Identifiers (RNTIs). The UE may then interpret content of the PDCCH of the interfering cell based on surviving candidates. The UE may then use the interpreted PDCCH information to determine PDSCH information.