(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
There’s more than one way to count down to one in this curious “Ways to One” Sudoku variation by Bill Murphy.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 128th puzzle from Bill Murphy, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules (insert a number from 1 to 9 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region). Each value greater than 1 that is in an orthogonally connected, decreasing, consecutive path that ends in 1 is shaded gray. (E.g., 4-3-2-1 would make a valid path, but 6-5-3-2-1 would not, as 5 and 3 are not consecutive.) Paths may overlap each other. All 1s must be in white cells and all possible shaded cells are given.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 8:00; One party hat (🥳): 15:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Countdown Corythosaurus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:37, with SudokuPad replay file shared as a download for now (requires loading via settings menu with improvements expected before people should use this regularly).

Solution: PDF; solving video with explanation to be added later from GAS team.

Note: Follow this link for other less common variations of Sudoku.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Daily GAS discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access.