To hate a thing, you have to love a thing. To hate a thing, you have to love a thing. That sounds like yesterday’s theme. This video is not about repetitive computer-generated slop, but it is about repetition. Rather accidental or purposeful, there is sometimes replication of puzzles when authoring or editing. Listen to a fun story that makes us ask how certain things happen and then even forces to ask, when we are choosing a grid like a 17-given one that must be repetition if there is still a way to represent it that is something new and not just déjà vu.

We’ll also reveal the first 2 minutes of the most important Snyder Sudoku Method of construction that we don’t think anyone has done.

Join us again tomorrow around 8:45 AM PT every day to learn about yesterday’s puzzles on the site, other sudoku news, and get a teaser for the new puzzle.

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
While the name may not be familiar, this Anti-Renban has a simple rule that along a line you have a range of numbers with no consecutive pairs. This puzzle should flow well if you can understand the rule.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Circle Gets the Square

Author/Opus: This is the 20th 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). All numbers along the indicated lines must be at least 2 apart from every other number on the line.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 3:12, 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.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”.)
Our recent experiments with Sudoku generation included many ideas for faster game experiences like this Mini-Sudoku with 4 regions to go. We’re still testing how to automatically package sets of these puzzles together for the mass market.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: 100%, Capital H Handmade?

Author/Opus: This is the 597th puzzle from Thomas Snyder.

Rules: Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each white cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 1:30, Expert = 3:00

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.

To hate a thing, you have to love a thing. Keep this in mind as you watch this raw video that may venture into delicate spaces but gets at what is important not just about puzzles, but about puzzle publishing, and there is a lot of scar tissue from long before the AI-hype cycle. Based on actions during the video, we suspect at least 98.4375% of slop may eventually be harmed by this video.

Join us again tomorrow around 8:45 AM PT every day to learn about yesterday’s puzzles on the site, other sudoku news, and get a teaser for the new puzzle.

Bill Murphy is back with some more Killer GAS for us to enjoy. Sixteen two-cell cages point the way to so much logic here.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: It’s Time

Author/Opus: This is the 17th 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, the sum of the numbers in each cage must equal the value given in the upper-left corner of that cage. Numbers cannot repeat inside a cage.

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

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 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: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
Computers construct Sudoku by subtracting randomly from a known solution. Humans construct by adding givens, like in a house of cards, and hoping the last few don’t topple the foundation. What if you overbuilt a solid foundation and then let a computer subtract randomly from a good puzzle to get a Sudoku?

PDF or an even more improved 24-given Major Newspaper Edition!*

or solve online (using SudokuPad), or the special Major Newspaper Edition*

Author/Opus: These are the 13th and 14th puzzles 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.

Difficulty 1 (Posted version; highlight to view): 4 stars

Time Standards 1 (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 9:30, Expert = 19:00

Difficulty 2 (Major Newspaper version; highlight to view): 4 stars

Time Standards 2 (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 9:30, Expert = 19:00

Solution: PDF and 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.

Special author’s note: This puzzle was highly inspired by a design from Thomas Snyder even if so refactored, reworked, or otherwise changed he may not know which thing. But he probably does. You will always inspire our creations.

*Special editorial note: We had significant internal debate about whether to publish this creative Dr. Sudoku puzzle with the controversial or potentially political subtitle “Major Newspaper Edition”, as it is not clear there are (m)any major newspapers anymore, certainly compared to propaganda machines, AI / attention-grabbing platforms, and companies pivoting to all the games fit to print instead of journalism.

Welcome to the second episode of Today in Sudoku, where we’ll talk about challenges in notation and (BREAKING NEWS!) reveal a new kind of Snyder Notation for outside the box thinking.

Join us again tomorrow around 8:45 AM PT to learn about yesterday’s puzzle more, get other sudoku news, and get a teaser for the new puzzle.

This cute Clone Sudoku by clover! gets not one, not two, but four + ratings from us for extending Classic Sudoku solving in a less common way.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 38th 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). Additionally, each shaded, connected shape (“clone”) in the grid must include the same numbers in the same positions with no rotations or reflections. Numbers may repeat within a clone.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:36, 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”.)
At times it may seem important to hide your intelligence, to hide the magic behind your tricks with smoke and mirrors. But when testing your Sudoku intelligence, whether as a solver or a setter, there may be places where there is nothing that you can hide.

PDF or alternate “Nothing to Hide” (the Snyder Cut)*

or solve online as shown here (using SudokuPad), or the Snyder Cut*

Author/Opus: This is the 596th puzzle from Thomas Snyder.

Rules: Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each white cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 9:30, Expert = 19:00

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.

Special author’s note: This puzzle was highly inspired by a design from Serkan Yürekli even if so refactored, reworked, or otherwise changed he may not know which thing. You will always be more than a Puzzle Robot to us.

*Special editorial note: We had significant internal debate about whether to publish this sudoku as the author originally intended for the A Story of Self-Setting Sudoku series, or as appropriate as a proper Sudoku. We are doing both but want to make clear the author’s preferred starting point is the alternate link that disobeys design rules with extra filler for some reason.

We’re premiering a new Daily YouTube video series (Today in Sudoku) to help explain our Sudoku content, highlight other projects and news, and we’re going to release it daily around 8:45 AM so it can include a teaser for the upcoming puzzle and be a place we gather before solving that. Today it is ok if no one is here and watching on time. We are starting to do things, and find the roles we need to hire, so we can have “The Most Important Sudoku” every day at one place at one time, which is what a daily puzzle needs to have to be most valuable as a daily puzzle. The audience will be here eventually. We already have the best Genuinely Approachable (Variant) Sudoku and we are moving towards the same for Classics.

This does not replace “This Month in Sudoku” which is for longer themes and when we let Thomas have unscripted sections to say more big picture summaries and connect dots where people haven’t seen things. We are still planning the exact date for the second episode of that.