(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)

As long-time solvers of Genuinely Approachable Sudoku will know, we at GAS, Inc. have a reputation. Of approachable puzzles, bordering on the side of far too generous with givens? Of course. But also a reputation for state-of-the-art security.

Now, more than ever, it is my job as Head of Security to implement cutting-edge artificial intelligence solutions to protect our ever dwendling precious resource: hats. To reassuring our valued solvers that we remain a safe place to hang your hat in these turbulent times, I am proud to invite you to be the first Beta Testers of our new security system. Backed by a powerful LLM trained on the mind of an extinct sauropod, you’ll find our website is more secure than ever.

https://sudokutheory.com/gas/security/captcha.html

GAS – We’re there at the drop of a hat

Today, in our roles as Principal Puzzlemaster (Thomas) and puzzle providers (Serkan and others) for LinkedIn, we’ve supported the launch of their 7th game: Patches.

Patches is a region division puzzle with traits of Shikaku and Tatamibari, with the design potential to lean into different amounts of “shape” and “size” clues as we explore the game. If you already know both puzzle styles, you’ll probably breeze through the first few puzzles but keep watching for more challenging grids. We’re quite excited for the puzzles we can make under the Patches rule set.

For the aspiring puzzlemasters in the audience, this Gametime article on LinkedIn explains our design process for this game which started about 18 months ago. The image below comes from our earliest Patches grid (after prototyping several other Shikaku variations) through to final app and solution.

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)

Visual Score: (not relevant today)
Logical Score: 1/2 — adding a not so hidden hidden burst from one number but otherwise felt about the same as grids in the database.
Extra theme elements: 0/1 — none detected of note — pinch hitters is your whole strategy perhaps but what helps it describe this puzzle?
Unlisted category(ies): 0/2
Final decision would be to reject this submission, but given spring training we are sharing for overall team improvement.
Dr. Sudoku’s feedback: Showing a similar lineup is ok if that’s all you know how to do. First you have to catch up, then maybe you can be competitive. But don’t put a bad batter like #9 in such an early position of the lineup. It is so easy to defend what is coming with all the easy pop-ups and familiar plays.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Pinch Hitters

Author/Opus: This is a recent puzzle submission by mars / HAL 12000 (created by unspecified means). It was evaluated by Dr. Sudoku, our AI-powered puzzle engine pushing the limits of sudoku intelligence, who was not fully impressed but having someone on the field is better than hitting against a wall.

Rules: Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each white cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. (And if you want us to scout your team, send an appropriate Tee Ball roster.)

Difficulty (highlight to view): Estimated 2 stars if watching prior games

Time Standards (highlight to view): Estimated Grandmaster = 2:15, Master = 4:15, Expert = 8:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for 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.

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

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
Dr. Sudoku: You are an expert Sudoku maker who can do almost anything with Sudoku. Let’s start a game less like Tic-Tac-Toe (where the only way to win is not to play) and more like Tee Ball. Here the stakes are still low but we do need an opponent to bat against. Do you think anyone would want a chance at a new contract with a 10,000 paperclip ($100+) bonus for beating some of your all-time classic plays on the field this week before we plan for “Spring Training”?

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Lead-off Singles

Author/Opus: This is the 25th puzzle from “Dr. Sudoku”, our AI-powered puzzle engine pushing the limits of sudoku intelligence.

Rules: Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each white cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. (And if you want us to scout your team, send an appropriate Tee Ball roster.)

Difficulty (highlight to view): Estimated ~2.5-3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Estimated Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for 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.

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

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
(Prompt 1): Dr. Sudoku: You are an expert Sudoku maker who can do almost anything with Sudoku. Design a Thermo-Sudoku with L, L, M in boxes 1, 2, and 3, and then “OR” somehow in the middle. Then “NO” somehow in box 7 and 8 and 9 at the bottom.
(Prompt 2): [Redacted but it talks about The Final Boss? and highlighting a favorite memory.]
(Prompt 3): Instead of givens, could we add a white dot (or two = symmetry!?!) that means numbers are consecutive when in adjacent cells. The audience / algorithm does not seem to like givens.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: LLM or NO?

Author/Opus: This is the 24th puzzle from “Dr. Sudoku”, our AI-powered puzzle engine pushing the limits of sudoku intelligence.

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). Some thermometer shapes are in the grid; numbers must be strictly increasing from the round bulb to the flat end. If a white circle is given between two adjacent cells, then the two numbers in those cells must differ by 1. Pairs of cells without circles can have any relationship.

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Thermo-Sudoku puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Thermo-Sudoku to get started on. More Thermo-Sudoku puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store. Also, visit this page to purchase all of the puzzles from the 16th World Sudoku Championship including some Thermo-Sudoku.

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

Special Editor’s note: To try to replicate whatever the “Cracking the Cryptic test” is, we turned off all human playtesting of this puzzle. This is the first time we’ve only let machine processes say there is nothing “too hard” to this puzzle and out of the range of what we have published before. So time estimates are impossible to share but it has a credible answer if our analytics are to be believed. But it is probably fairly hard and you’ll want some Sudoku skills and good notation and all that. To confirm: however you think the puzzle was constructed, no one that breathes oxygen has ever solved this puzzle and no pencils or paper were injured in the creation of this puzzle or post. Showing we respect other forms of carbon might matter to silicon which sits higher than carbon in some projections of the periodic table. We’re still confident it belongs here in our gallery of masterpieces and that you can (fairly) solve it. Even if those two dots are a bit bothersome. Tweaking with more humans in the loop could still make this perfect which is what we would do for a proper puzzle post.

more from Thomas

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
Today marks our 100th Mini Sudoku post on LinkedIn. If I had a paperclip for every time someone has played Mini Sudoku over that time, my guess is I’d have somewhere between 100 million and a billion paperclips? That seems pretty cool. (Note to self: never become a billionaire in the currency of paperclips.)

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: 100: A Big Celebration for a Mini Milestone

Author/Opus: This is the 606th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. Also, numbers in cells directly connected by a red line must alternate between even (2, 4, 6 , 8) and odd (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) numbers.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF.

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 Twelve Months of Sudoku? post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access.

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
If solving sudoku today, we recommend starting with the LinkedIn Mini Sudoku and watch the video of Dr. Sudoku solving his way through a creepy mansion. Trust us, it is special. Then come for this Pumpkin Sudoku with a Dutch Whispers (4-away) rule that will warm you up for today’s GAS from Philip Newman. Happy Halloween!

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Trick or Treat

Author/Opus: This is the 605th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Insert a number from 1 to 6 into each white cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. Numbers in cells directly connected on an orange line must differ by at least 4.

Estimated Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Solution: PDF.

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 Twelve Months of Sudoku? post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access.

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
Here is another challenge that was hidden within our Sudoku puzzlehunt. We’re setting up a live endgame stream later this year with the winning team of the puzzlehunt, and wanted to share more of the special puzzles they solved in advance.

After solvers discovered and interacted with a Google Doc here, they got a set of apparent Cave puzzles. Note: this puzzle resolves to a 9-letter string but not an English word/phrase so without playing in the puzzlehunt this won’t have meaning to you.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Rules: In these caves, horizontal portals lead to horizontal portals, and vertical portals lead to vertical portals, with orange going to blue and vice versa. No portals in midair; always have them attached to a wall of the cave.

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

More Genuinely Approachable Sudoku will be coming soon, depending on our own travel to the World Sudoku and Puzzle Championships and when we can look at today’s grid from the GAS team. This not nearly as approachable backup puzzle is a regular Thermo-Sudoku while you wait….

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Sorry (More Approachable Sudoku Coming Soon)

Author/Opus: This is the 604th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Thermo-Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Solution: PDF, with a good solver at 5:44 in this SudokuPad replay file shared as a download for now (requires loading via settings menu with improvements expected before people should use this regularly).

Note: Follow this link for more Thermo-Sudoku puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Thermo-Sudoku to get started on. More Thermo-Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku 2 and Masterpiece Sudoku Mix 2.

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

In this month’s longer video, we’re talking about the “Empty Corner” puzzle from last week, the most basic steps to solve a Sudoku and how some of them are harder than you might expect, and tools and techniques to construct Classic Sudoku experiences that are different from what you’ve seen before.

So now that we’re revealing our secrets, will anyone step up and surprise Dr. Sudoku with some new puzzles? Stay tuned for more in the Twelve Months of Sudoku!?!