Dr. Sudoku Prescribes #1 – Sudoku

Sudoku by Thomas Snyder

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

Theme: Countdown to 2013 – this theme is primarily visual, unlike Dr. Sudoku’s earlier Countdown sudoku theme here.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 3rd column from top to bottom, followed by a comma, followed by the 7th column from top to bottom.

Time Standard: Sudoku Master = 2:10, Expert = 6:30, Novice = 21:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on. More classic Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku, The Art of Sudoku 2 and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

Welcome to Grandmaster Puzzles!

A logo, and a puzzle

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

Welcome to the new puzzle blog from Thomas Snyder, aka “Dr. Sudoku”, 3-time world sudoku champion and author of many books of puzzles including “The Art of Sudoku”. Here you will find a range of logic puzzles including number placement puzzles (such as Sudoku and TomTom), object placement (such as Battleships and Star Battle), region division (such as Fillomino and Cave), shading (such as Nurikabe and Tapa), path/loop (such as Slitherlink and Masyu) and many more.

Puzzles will get progressively harder throughout the week, so there will be easy puzzles for beginners on Monday and Tuesday to start the week and much harder puzzles by Friday and Saturday. Eventually there will be a random mix of many puzzle types every week, but as I start I will focus on two types each week, with Sudoku and TomTom leading the way. Puzzles will typically post at 9:00 AM Pacific Time.

This puzzle blog will have a few unique features. First, I want to actively track (and reward) the puzzle solvers. At the bottom of each post is a “solved” button. If you enter the correct answer string, your solution will be logged in. Eventually there will be leaderboards, contests, and prizes for people solving the puzzles. So if you solve the puzzles, log your success here. Mark your favorite puzzles too. So if a lot of solvers for example like TomTom over other styles, then you’ll see more of them here — and more TomTom books published.

Each puzzle has a “difficulty” posted too. This is just a recommendation from the expert/World Puzzle Championship level solvers who have helped test all the puzzles. The time has three values: the “Master” time, and then an “Expert” time (3x) and a “Novice” time (10x). Whatever level solver you are, these ratings should give you a sense of how hard a puzzle might be, and also give you a real sense of how well you are solving if you want to time yourself. But don’t start the stopwatch if you are just here for fun!

For any puzzle you really like, click on the tags to the left for more examples. Besides the posted puzzles, I will be releasing books with all of these puzzle styles. For Sudoku and Sudoku Variations and TomTom I already have books available for purchase. For the other styles, new titles like “The Art of Puzzles” will be coming soon.

This will be an exciting project, and I hope to see you visiting here a lot in the future. And if you have any recommendations for new puzzle styles, or want to make your own puzzle contributions here, just email me to start a dialogue.

Rules: The puzzle in this post is in the GMPuzzles logo. This is a Wordoku with a repeated letter so follow standard sudoku rules with a slight twist.

Time Standard: Sudoku Master = 2:30, Expert = 7:30, Novice = 25:00

Answer Check: USING CAPITAL LETTERS, enter the 8th row from left to right, followed by a comma, and then the 5th column from top to bottom (e.g. “GMPUZZLES,GMPUZZLES”)

Solution: PDF