(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
In this Double Arrow variation, the sum of the numbers on each line equals the sum of the numbers in the bounding circles. That makes the math trickier, but this GAS version should still be an approachable way to try this variation.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Kaboom!

Author/Opus: This is the 91st 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). The numbers along each path must sum to the same total as the two numbers in the bulbs at the ends of the path.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:09, 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 Arrow Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Arrow Sudoku to get started on. More Arrow Sudoku puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

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 post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
This Killer Sudoku variation requires you to split the lines into subsections or “cages” as you’d typically see to get all the summation constraints needed to solve the grid. The idea for this variation choice came from a donation, so you can thank Malrog in various ways for the puzzle.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Blame Malrog

Author/Opus: This is the 72nd 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). Also, divide each line into subsections so that each cell on the line belongs to exactly one subsection, and each subsection contains exactly one number clue. Each subsection acts as a Killer cage: values in a subsection cannot repeat and must sum to the total given by that subsection’s number clue. (Numbers *can* repeat on a line if allowed by other rules, as long as those numbers are in different subsections.)

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 10:00; One party hat (🥳): 20:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Novel Nanotyrannus… to the tune of “Modern Major General” (https://youtube.com/shorts/ctsGNbMkVSM).

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 4:54, 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 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.

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
Today’s Outside Sudoku variation has a twist — the clues refer to the diagonals and show the first 3 positions in those directions.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 69th 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). Clues outside the grid give numbers that must appear in the first three cells as seen from the direction of the clue.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 8:00; One party hat (🥳): 15:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Daydreaming Datousaurus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 4:26, 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 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.

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
As another holiday approaches, enjoy this two for one special from Bill Murphy where two Sudoku grids overlap in four of their regions.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 67th puzzle from Bill Murphy, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: This puzzle contains two overlapping 9×9 classic Sudoku grids that will share the same numbers in the overlapping spaces. Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region of either Sudoku grid.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 3:19, 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 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 post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
In this “Two-Variant Tango”, Arrow and Consecutive Pairs clues are working closely together to set up a fun logical dance.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Two-Variant Tango

Author/Opus: This is the 85th puzzle from Clover, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Standard Arrow 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 the numbers along the path of each arrow must equal the number in the circled cell. Numbers can repeat within an arrow shape. Also, 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.

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

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 and solving video with explanation from GAS team.

Note: Follow this link for more Arrow Sudoku. Follow this link for Consecutive Pairs Sudoku puzzles on this website. If you are new to these puzzle types, here are our easiest Arrow Sudoku and easiest Consecutive Pairs Sudoku to get started on. More Arrow Sudoku puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store and more Consecutive Pairs Sudoku puzzles can be found in these books.

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 post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
For those in the US who want to purchase a Black Friday Sudoku, consider this buy one get one deal guaranteed to fuel the brain!

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Buy One, Get One

Author/Opus: This is the 80th puzzle from Clover, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: This puzzle contains two overlapping 9×9 classic Sudoku grids that will share the same numbers in the overlapping spaces. Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region of either Sudoku grid.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:14, 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 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 post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
This short stretch of Outside Sudoku puzzles continues with an interesting Three’s A Crowd Sudoku idea where only two of the three clues in each outside position are valid.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 52nd puzzle from Bill Murphy, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. Some sets of three numbers are given outside the grid. Two of the three numbers must appear in the first three cells in the corresponding direction, while the third number must not appear in those cells.

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

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 and solving video with explanation from GAS team.

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.

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
Today’s GAS is a seemingly simple Irregular Sudoku, but can you find a way to view all the logic in this “Gilded Mirror.”

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Gilded Mirror

Author/Opus: This is the 72nd 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.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 1:44, 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 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 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.

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
Today’s GAS raises the temperature a bit with a combination of Thermo-Sudoku and the puzzle genre Skyscrapers.

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: High Rising Temps

Author/Opus: This is the 41st 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 be strictly increasing from the round bulb to the flat end. Also, as in the puzzle Skyscrapers, each number in the grid represents the height of a building and the clues on the outside of the grid indicate how many buildings can be “seen” when looking from that direction. Taller buildings block the view of smaller buildings. For example, if a row contained the numbers 198432675, then two buildings are seen from the left – 1 and 9 – and four buildings from the right – 5, 7, 8 and 9 – with the other buildings blocked by taller buildings in front of them.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:50, 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 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.