While this may not yet look like a Sudoku, you’ll have to construct some regions while filling in numbers to find the unique solution.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: A Little Bit of Chaos

Author/Opus: This is the 27th puzzle from Clover, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Divide the grid along the grid lines into six non-overlapping, orthogonally-connected six-cell regions. Also, insert a number from 1 to 6 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or region. A number filling a circle indicates how many of the cells touching the circle (up to nine, including the cell with the circle in it) are in that region.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 5:30; One party hat (🥳): 10:30. All other solvers earn a 🦕: chaotic Kulindadromeus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 1:15, 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 and solving video with explanation from GAS team.

Note: Follow this link for more Genuinely Approachable Sudoku puzzles on this site. 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.

Clover wrote this Sum Adjacent puzzle that showcases a way to place mathematical constraints into a Sudoku grid in a simple but powerful way.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 26th puzzle from Clover, 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). A circled number in a cell must equal the sum of all orthogonally adjacent numbers to that cell.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 6:00; One party hat (🥳): 11:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: small-digit Stokesosaurus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 1:41, 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 and solving video with explanation from GAS team.

Note: Follow this link for more Genuinely Approachable Sudoku puzzles on this site. 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.

Today Clover continues sharing appropriately-themed puzzles to mark the fifth year of GAS. In this Killer Sudoku variant, all the cage sums must end in five.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the (5×5)th puzzle from Clover, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.*

Rules: Variation of Killer Sudoku. Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. Within each cage, the sum of the numbers must end in five (i.e., 5, 15, 25, 35, 45). Numbers do not repeat within a cage.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 7:00; One party hat (🥳): 13:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: still-alive Sinornithoides.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:22, 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 and solving video with explanation from GAS team.

Note: Follow this link for more Genuinely Approachable Sudoku puzzles on this site. Follow this link for more Killer Sudoku and this link for classic Sudoku. More Killer Sudoku puzzles can be found in Killer Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli.

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.

*Special Editorial Note: With this published puzzle, Clover has set a new record (likely never to be broken?) for fastest time to 25 posts on Grandmaster Puzzles (just 26 days). This breaks the previous record by legendary male puzzlemaker Thomas Snyder set on January 28, 2013 (29 days). While some may say that puzzles like Just One Cell Sudoku shouldn’t count as much, we think every diverse idea matters in this world and every one of Clover’s 25 record-setting puzzles has been a stellar display of hand-crafted Sudoku.

The number five proves to be a versatile clue in this mathematical GAS puzzle by Clover. Please continue the celebration of five years of GAS by solving this Sudoku.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 24th puzzle from Clover, 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). Numbers separated by a white circle either add up to 5 or have a difference of 5. Not all possible circles are necessarily given.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 6:00; One party hat (🥳): 11:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: quintuplicated Quilmesaurus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 1:58, 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 and solving video with explanation from GAS team.

Note: Follow this link for more Genuinely Approachable Sudoku puzzles on this site. 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.

Can you dash your way around this Sudoku variation by Clover where certain cells must equal the sum of their neighbors?

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Author/Opus: This is the 23rd puzzle from Clover, 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). If a horizontal dash appears in a cell, the number in that cell is the sum of the numbers to its immediate left and right. If a vertical dash appears in a cell, the number in that cell is the sum of the numbers immediately above and below it.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 6:30; One party hat (🥳): 12:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: dashing Dreadnoughtus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:32, 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 and solving video with explanation from GAS team.

Note: Follow this link for more Genuinely Approachable Sudoku puzzles on this site. 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.

As mentioned earlier today, we’re proud to now be a publication source for the daily Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) puzzle which celebrates the start of its fifth year of posts today. This Up/Down Lines Sudoku comes from Clover, the founder of the series back on June 7th, 2021.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Four Years

Author/Opus: This is the 22nd puzzle from Clover, 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).

Along each gray line, every number is either greater than all the numbers it is directly connected to, or less than all of the numbers it is directly connected to. (Note that this results in a pattern of high/low/high/low along the length of each line.)

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 7:00; One party hat (🥳): 13:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: grandmaster Graciliraptor.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 3:20, 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 and solving video with explanation from GAS team.

Note: Follow this link for more Genuinely Approachable Sudoku puzzles on this site. 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.

This is the last of three puzzles today, completing the Finals puzzle set.

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or solve online in Penpa, or also solve online in SudokuPad as a new option (note: highly recommended to turn off “Mark Solved Digits” option if you use that in SudokuPad).

Author/Opus: This is the 21st puzzle from guest contributor Clover.

Rules: This Sudoku does not have a unique solution for the full grid (it actually has a large number of solutions), but there is exactly one cell in which a number can be logically placed that is fixed across all solutions. Find this cell and its unique value.

This puzzle follows Kropki Pairs Sudoku rules, so no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. If a white circle is given between two adjacent cells, then the two numbers in those cells must differ by 1. If a black circle is given between two adjacent cells, then the two numbers must have a ratio of 2. Pairs of cells without circles can have any relationship.

Time Standards: This competition had 1-point (easy), 2-point (medium), 3-point (hard), or higher value puzzles. This would have been worth 3 points (medium category), roughly 2.5-3 minute target.

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Just One Cell Sudoku.

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

This is the second of three Finals puzzles posting today.

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or solve online in Penpa, or also solve online in SudokuPad as a new option (note: highly recommended to turn off “Mark Solved Digits” option if you use that in SudokuPad).

Author/Opus: This is the 20th puzzle from guest contributor Clover.

Rules: This Sudoku does not have a unique solution for the full grid (it actually has a large number of solutions), but there is exactly one cell in which a number can be logically placed that is fixed across all solutions. Find this cell and its unique value.

This puzzle follows Arrow Sudoku rules, so no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. Some arrow shapes are in the grid; the sum of the numbers along the path of each arrow must equal the number in the circled cell. Numbers can repeat within an arrow shape.

Time Standards: This competition had 1-point (easy), 2-point (medium), 3-point (hard), or higher value puzzles. This would have been worth 2 points (medium category), roughly 1.5-2 minute target.

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Just One Cell Sudoku.

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

Today’s posts start the five-puzzle Finals beginning with this Classic puzzle.

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or solve online in Penpa, or also solve online in SudokuPad as a new option (note: highly recommended to turn off “Mark Solved Digits” option if you use that in SudokuPad).

Author/Opus: This is the 19th puzzle from guest contributor Clover.

Rules: This Sudoku does not have a unique solution for the full grid (it actually has a large number of solutions), but there is exactly one cell in which a number can be logically placed that is fixed across all solutions. Find this cell and its unique value.

This puzzle follows Classic Sudoku rules, so no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region.

Time Standards: This competition had 1-point (easy), 2-point (medium), 3-point (hard), or higher value puzzles. This would have been 1 point (easy category), roughly 0.75-1 minute target.

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Just One Cell Sudoku.

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

This is the second of the Semi-Final B puzzles posting today and is the last one from the round. Tomorrow will start the five-puzzle Finals series.

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or solve online in Penpa, or also solve online in SudokuPad as a new option (note: highly recommended to turn off “Mark Solved Digits” option if you use that in SudokuPad).

Author/Opus: This is the 18th puzzle from guest contributor Clover.

Rules: This Sudoku does not have a unique solution for the full grid (it actually has a large number of solutions), but there is exactly one cell in which a number can be logically placed that is fixed across all solutions. Find this cell and its unique value.

This puzzle follows Kropki Pairs Sudoku rules, so no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. If a white circle is given between two adjacent cells, then the two numbers in those cells must differ by 1. If a black circle is given between two adjacent cells, then the two numbers must have a ratio of 2. Pairs of cells without circles can have any relationship.

Time Standards: This competition had 1-point (easy), 2-point (medium), 3-point (hard), or higher value puzzles. This would have been worth 2 points (medium category), roughly 1.5-2 minute target.

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Just One Cell Sudoku.

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