This is the first of two puzzles posting today in this style.

PDF

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).

Theme: 5th in a 6 Puzzle Series

Author/Opus: This is the 564th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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 (highlight to view): This competition had 1-point (easy), 2-point (medium), 3-point (hard), or higher value puzzles. This was worth 3 points (hard 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 last of two puzzles posting today in this style.

PDF

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).

Theme: 4th in a 6 Puzzle Series

Author/Opus: This is the 565th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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 (highlight to view): This competition had 1-point (easy), 2-point (medium), 3-point (hard), or higher value puzzles. This was worth 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 first of two puzzles posting today in this style.

PDF

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).

Theme: 3rd in a 6 Puzzle Series

Author/Opus: This is the 564th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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 (highlight to view): This competition had 1-point (easy), 2-point (medium), 3-point (hard), or higher value puzzles. This was 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.

This is the last of three puzzles posting today in this style.

PDF

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).

Theme: 2nd in a 6 Puzzle Series

Author/Opus: This is the 563rd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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 (highlight to view): This competition had 1-point (easy), 2-point (medium), 3-point (hard), or higher value puzzles. This was worth 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 three puzzles posting today in this style.

PDF

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).

Theme: 1st in a 6 Puzzle Series

Author/Opus: This is the 562nd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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 (highlight to view): This competition had 1-point (easy), 2-point (medium), 3-point (hard), or higher value puzzles. This was worth 3 points (hard 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 a warm-up (meant to need no notations, visual look only) for Classic Sudoku in Just One Cell Sudoku format; everything else this week will be harder.

PDF

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).

Theme: Just Pi

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Philip Newman.

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 be ~0.5 points (30 seconds or less for top solvers).

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 LinkedIn is launching a new daily game, Zip, which is their third logic game alongside Queens and Tango where we’ve helped design/edit the puzzles. Zip is a path-drawing game with simple rules: draw a path through all cells starting at 1, going up in order, and ending at the highest number. Some puzzles have a fully open grid while others, like this puzzle, include walls to embed different logical and visual themes.

PDF

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

Theme: Trail of Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 562nd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Draw a path through all cells in the grid by moving horizontally or vertically between adjacent squares. The path cannot cross itself or cross over any given walls. The path must start at the cell with 1, proceed through the other numbers in ascending order, and end at the cell with the highest value.

See also this example:

Solution: PDF and selected animation.

Note: Follow this link for other Loop/Path puzzles.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our General Blog Puzzle Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

PDF

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

Theme: The Lonely One

Author/Opus: This is the 561st puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Fill each cell with an X or O so that (A) no vertical or horizontal group of three adjacent cells contains the same symbol in all cells (i.e., no XXX or OOO) and (B) each row and column contains an equal number of each symbol. Cells separated by an equals sign (=) must contain the same symbol. Cells separated by a cross (×) must contain different symbols.

Solution: PDF and selected animation.

Note: Follow this link for other Number Placement puzzles.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our The Thirteen Days of Tango Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

PDF

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

Theme: Overlapping Squares

Author/Opus: This is the 560th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Fill each cell with an X or O so that (A) no vertical or horizontal group of three adjacent cells contains the same symbol in all cells (i.e., no XXX or OOO) and (B) each row and column contains an equal number of each symbol. Cells separated by an equals sign (=) must contain the same symbol. Cells separated by a cross (×) must contain different symbols.

Solution: PDF and selected animation.

Note: Follow this link for other Number Placement puzzles.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our The Thirteen Days of Tango Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

PDF

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

Theme: Frame

Author/Opus: This is the 559th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Fill each cell with an X or O so that (A) no vertical or horizontal group of three adjacent cells contains the same symbol in all cells (i.e., no XXX or OOO) and (B) each row and column contains an equal number of each symbol. Cells separated by an equals sign (=) must contain the same symbol. Cells separated by a cross (×) must contain different symbols.

Solution: PDF and selected animation.

Note: Follow this link for other Number Placement puzzles.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our The Thirteen Days of Tango Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.