Archive for the ‘Puzzle’ Category:

Surplus Sudoku by Philip Newman

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
The regions in this Surplus Sudoku are breaking out with repeated digits. No treatments exist yet for this illness, so it must simply run its course. Can you determine where the pesky duplicates will pop up?

Surplus Sudoku by Philip Newman

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Hyperdigitosis

Author/Opus: This is the 144th puzzle from Philip Newman, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Standard Surplus Sudoku rules, with numbers from 1-7: Insert a number from 1 to 7 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row or column. Some regions appear with more cells than there are numbers in the indicated range. Some number(s) repeat in these regions, but all numbers in the indicated range must appear at least once within each of these regions.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 9:00; One party hat (🥳): 20:00. All other solvers earn an 🦕: Irish Iuticosaurus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:08, 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

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.

Sudoku by Bill Murphy

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
Enjoy this classic Sudoku puzzle with a clean grid geometry setting up all the action.

Sudoku by Bill Murphy

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Rock Action

Author/Opus: This is the 146th 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).

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:05, 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

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. Also, visit this page to purchase all of the puzzles from the 16th World Sudoku Championship including classic 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.

Multiplication Table Sudoku by clover!

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
Can you reconstruct a times table while solving this mathematical Sudoku variation by clover!?

Multiplication Table Sudoku by clover!

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Math Class

Author/Opus: This is the 165th 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). In each cage, the product of the two numbers on the upper row equals the lower row, read as a two-digit number from left to right.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 1:30, 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

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.

Overflowing Arrow Sudoku by Bill Murphy

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
There’s something a little extra in each of the Arrow Sudoku clues in this variation by Bill Murphy; find what doesn’t count to discover the solution.

Overflowing Arrow Sudoku by Bill Murphy

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 145th 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). Some arrow shapes are in the grid. The sum of all but one of the numbers along the path of each arrow must equal the number in the circled cell. Numbers can repeat within an arrow shape.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 3:15, 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

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.

Elimination Sudoku by clover!

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
When you’ve eliminated the impossible (specifically putting the same number in the direction pointed), whatever remains must be the truth.

Elimination Sudoku by clover!

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: The Tribe Has Spoken

Author/Opus: This is the 164th 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 in white arrows must not appear in any other cell in the indicated direction. For instance, the number in R3C6 must not appear in R4C7, R5C8, or R6C9.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 7:30; One party hat (🥳): 14:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: surviving Spinostropheus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:41, 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

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.

Fortress Sudoku by Philip Newman

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
Will your Fortress Sudoku solving stand, or will it be swept away like a kid’s seaside palace?

Fortress Sudoku by Philip Newman

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Sandcastles in the Sand

Author/Opus: This is the 142nd puzzle from Philip Newman, 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 number in a gray cell must be larger than any number in an adjacent white cell that shares an edge. (To assist solvers, this is shown like a greater than/less than shape in how the gray cells are drawn.)

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 9:00; One party hat (🥳): 20:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Gauche Garumbatitan.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 4:02, 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

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.

Outside Sudoku by Bill Murphy

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
A lot of similar clues somehow are enlacing together to tie all the logical threads up in this Outside Sudoku.

Outside Sudoku by Bill Murphy

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Enlacing

Author/Opus: This is the 144th puzzle from Bill Murphy, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Standard Outside 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 numbers are given outside the grid. These numbers must appear in the first three cells in the corresponding direction.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:28, 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

Note: Follow this link for more Outside Sudoku puzzles. More Outside Sudoku puzzles can be found in Masterpiece Sudoku Mix 4.

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.

Sum Before Nine Sudoku by clover!

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
Can you rise above the challenge of the outside sum clues and end up on cloud nine in this Sudoku by clover!?

Sum Before Nine Sudoku by clover!

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Cloud Nine

Author/Opus: This is the 163rd 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). Clues outside the grid indicate the sum of all numbers that appear before the 9 in that row or column, looking from that direction. (For example, a row with a clue of “6” to its left might start with values like 249, 1329, or 69.)

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

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

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.

Slow Thermo-Sudoku by Philip Newman

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
Live, from SudokuCon 2026, it’s a Slow Thermo!

Slow Thermo-Sudoku by Philip Newman

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Also enjoy a bonus earlier version of this puzzle that is more difficult: PDF

or solve bonus online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: SudokuCon ’26

Author/Opus: This is the 141st puzzle from Philip Newman, 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). Some thermometer shapes are in the grid; numbers must either increase or stay the same in each cell going from the round bulb to the flat end. (For instance, a thermometer might contain the sequence 233577888 in that order.)

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:06, with SudokuPad replay file and 3:42 for bonus with replay as well; shared as a download for now (requires loading via settings menu with improvements expected before people should use this regularly).

Solution: PDF and bonus.

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.

Same Sum Sudoku by Bill Murphy

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
Will you get on the same wavelength as the constructor of this Same Sum Sudoku to know the key value used around all gray cells?

Same Sum Sudoku by Bill Murphy

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 143rd 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). The numbers orthogonally adjacent to a gray cell add up to a certain sum, and this sum must be the same for all gray cells.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:00, 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

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.