This Rossini Sudoku was originally written by Ashish Kumar for the 16th World Sudoku Championship, but it proved a bit too difficult for what we needed in the championship. So we kept it to be a Sunday Special on GMPuzzles, where we expect this puzzle works perfectly for solvers looking for a challenge.

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Theme: Ribbon

Author/Opus: This is the 119th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, arrows outside the grid indicate if the first three numbers are in ascending or descending order. The arrow points towards the highest number in the series. If no arrows outside the grid are given, the first three numbers can be in neither ascending nor descending order.

See also this example:

Difficulty: 4.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 8:30, Master = 17:45, Expert = 35:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for other variations of Sudoku and this link for classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Season 2 Preview Week Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.

The final puzzle for the World Sudoku Championship playoffs is a tricky classic Sudoku with a trophy theme by Thomas Snyder. It was designed to have a narrow solving path at the sticking point, although speed solvers might choose to “bifurcate” to go faster as happened in the competition.

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Theme: Trophy

Author/Opus: This is the 457th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

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 Sudoku including variations can be found in these books in our e-store.

The sixth puzzle for the World Sudoku Championship playoffs is another classic Sudoku with a diamond theme by Akash Doulani.

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Theme: Diamond

Author/Opus: This is the 15th puzzle from guest contributor Akash Doulani.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

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 Sudoku including variations can be found in these books in our e-store.

This week we are sharing the 10 puzzles that decided the World Sudoku Championship this year. There was an individual and a team round focusing on “Clone” puzzles, and the fifth playoff puzzle was such a Clone Sudoku with a Noughts and Crosses theme.

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Theme: Noughts and Crosses

Author/Opus: This is the 413th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, all shaded regions of the same shape (“clones”) must include the same numbers in the same positions. Numbers may repeat within a clone.

Estimated Difficulty: 3 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for more variations of Sudoku.

The fourth World Sudoku Championship playoff puzzle was this Diagonal Sudoku from Thomas Snyder with a “16” theme. All the playoff puzzles represented different themed sudoku rounds and this one represented the Extra Toppings round with extra-region-type constraints.

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Theme: 16th WSC

Author/Opus: This is the 454th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, numbers cannot repeat on the marked diagonals.

Estimated Difficulty: 2.5-3 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for more variations of Sudoku.

This week we are sharing the 10 puzzles that decided the World Sudoku Championship this year. The first puzzle was a classic Sudoku with a ’23 theme and a split of even/odd digits.

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Theme: ’23 (Even and Odd)

Author/Opus: This is the 453rd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

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 Sudoku including variations can be found in these books in our e-store.

[This puzzle comes from the playoffs for the Sudoku Grand Prix that were held in Kraków, Poland in late 2022. Unlike last year’s World Sudoku Championship, which had no “Classic” Sudoku selected for the final playoffs, the Sudoku Grand Prix had three different classic sudoku among the eight total puzzles including one of mine. While my GP competition set had all used an “eight” theme, I did not repeat that at all here for my playoff puzzle options. My main goal in constructing this was to make a top-level “Snyder Sudoku” — as one of the competitors would call it — where (spoiler for hidden theme and solving path) the very first step is the hardest step. In this case, there is single special pattern to observe in the mostly full rows/columns that will eventually force a number in the center box. The top solve of this puzzle was achieved by Timothy Doyle of France (amazingly in 93 seconds) with several other solves in the 2-3 minute range.]

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Theme: Blossom

Author/Opus: This is the 444th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 3 stars

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 our e-store, including in The Art of Sudoku, The Art of Sudoku 2 and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

[This puzzle comes from the 2022 US Sudoku Grand Prix round. Multiples Sudoku was a basic idea I had not seen before in a number placement puzzle, so I decided to use it in this competition structure taking full advantage of the limitations with putting so many eight clues into the grid. It ended up being the hardest puzzle in the competition, but without given numbers I’m not sure there are any “easy” Multiples Sudoku to really construct for solvers.]

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Theme: Too Many Eights?

Author/Opus: This is the 443rd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, some numbers are given on the edges between two adjacent cells. Treating those cells as a two-digit number (reading left to right or top to bottom), the two-digit number must be a multiple of the clue. (For example, near a 7 clue, the two digits can be 14, 21, 28, 35, ….)

Estimated Difficulty: 4 stars

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other variations of Sudoku and this link for classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on.

[This puzzle comes from the 2022 US Sudoku Grand Prix round. This puzzle is the last of three classic Sudoku that did not have a visual theme, however (spoiler for hidden theme and solving path) the digit eight is still a key part of the theme. This is a “just one cell” type Sudoku, one of my trademarks, where the first move is very limited and I’m 99% sure your first digit placement will be an eight in box 8 even if you’ll find it by thinking of other numbers first.]

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Theme: Hidden Theme

Author/Opus: This is the 435th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 3 stars

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 our e-store, including in The Art of Sudoku, The Art of Sudoku 2 and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

[This puzzle comes from the 2022 US Sudoku Grand Prix round. This puzzle is the second of three classic Sudoku that did not have a visual theme, however (spoiler for hidden theme and solving path) the digit eight is still a key part of the theme, one of three isolated digits in their rows/columns that are part of several X-wing patterns in the grid; in this case the eight is not as key initially as the other numbers but it still highlights a way to look at the grid and make progress.]

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Theme: Hidden Theme

Author/Opus: This is the 434th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 3 stars

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 our e-store, including in The Art of Sudoku, The Art of Sudoku 2 and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.