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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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.

This XV Pairs Sudoku by Philip Newman almost has its own X shape made out of the adjacent cell clues. Can you solve it?

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Theme: Octavianus

Author/Opus: This is the 7th 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). Whenever an X or V, reflecting the Roman numerals for 10 or 5, is placed on the edge between cells, the numbers in the two adjacent cells must sum to exactly 10 or 5. (Pairs of cells without an X or V mark can have any sum value.)

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:07, 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 Zipper Lines Sudoku by Bill Murphy will have you thinking about how to link pairs of cells together sometimes, helping you zip to the solution when everything fits.

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Theme: One Rizla

Author/Opus: This is the 4th 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). Numbers that are an equal distance apart from the center of a line have the same sum. If the line is an odd length in cells, then the number in the center cell must equal the sum of any pair of numbers along the line an equal distance away from that cell.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:54, 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.

Following the “234” Outside Sudoku earlier this week, today’s Genuinely Approachable Sudoku has 2, 3, and 4 number clues in each Quadruples clue groups which sets up another great puzzle.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Seeing Stars

Author/Opus: This is the 3rd 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). Numbers in white circles must appear in at least one of the four surrounding cells.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:23, 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.

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.

Today we continue to introduce the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team here on GMPuzzles with an Anti-Knight Sudoku by Bill Murphy with a nice geometric pattern with four empty rows.

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Theme: Shut Up

Author/Opus: This is the 1st 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). Also, numbers cannot repeat in any cells separated by a chess knight’s move.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:35, 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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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 Rossini Sudoku was originally written by Ashish Kumar for the 16th World Sudoku Championship, but it proved a bit too difficult for what we needed in the championship. So we kept it to be a Sunday Special on GMPuzzles, where we expect this puzzle works perfectly for solvers looking for a challenge.

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Theme: Ribbon

Author/Opus: This is the 119th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, arrows outside the grid indicate if the first three numbers are in ascending or descending order. The arrow points towards the highest number in the series. If no arrows outside the grid are given, the first three numbers can be in neither ascending nor descending order.

See also this example:

Difficulty: 4.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 8:30, Master = 17:45, Expert = 35:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for other variations of Sudoku and this link for classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Season 2 Preview Week Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.

The last two closing puzzles of the World Sudoku Championship playoffs were very tricky, starting with this hybrid of Clone and Shape Sudoku by Joseph Howard.

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Theme: 8 Rings

Author/Opus: This is the 33rd puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Combination of Shape and Clone 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, there are some numbered shapes that must be put into the grid. Shapes can be rotated, but cannot be reflected. Each shape outside the grid must appear exactly once inside the grid. Also, all remaining shaded regions of the same shape (“clones”) must be able to be paired together to include the same numbers in the same positions.

Estimated Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for more variations of Sudoku.