More Genuinely Approachable Sudoku will be coming soon, depending on our own travel to the World Sudoku and Puzzle Championships and when we can look at today’s grid from the GAS team. This not nearly as approachable backup puzzle is a regular Thermo-Sudoku while you wait….

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Sorry (More Approachable Sudoku Coming Soon)

Author/Opus: This is the 604th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Thermo-Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Solution: PDF, with a good solver at 5:44 in this SudokuPad replay file shared as a download for now (requires loading via settings menu with improvements expected before people should use this regularly).

Note: Follow this link for more Thermo-Sudoku puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Thermo-Sudoku to get started on. More Thermo-Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku 2 and Masterpiece Sudoku Mix 2.

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.

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
A familiar pattern with some new Renban groups to figure out; can you solve this challenging but approachable puzzle by Philip Newman?

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Runnin’ Down a Dream

Author/Opus: This is the 38th 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). Numbers along each line must form a non-repeating consecutive set, in any order. (For example, a 4-cell Renban line could be 4352, but not 5679 or 2312.)

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 7:30; One party hat (🥳): 15:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Nosy Nigersaurus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 3:10, 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.)
Another anti constraint appears in Bill Murphy’s Nonconsecutive Sudoku. Can you again you the outside to work your way in?

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Space Song

Author/Opus: This is the 35th 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). No two orthogonally adjacent cells can be consecutive (i.e., differ by 1).

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

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 other Consecutive Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Consecutive Sudoku to get started on.

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.)
Déjà vu with another Genuinely Approachable Arrow Sudoku, this time from clover! As an extra challenge, can you follow a clockwise path around this grid as the arrows suggest?

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 56th 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.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:46, 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.)
Today’s Genuinely Approachable Sudoku points out a new way to fill in this given pattern by Philip Newman, including two overlapping arrows through the center.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Free Fallin’

Author/Opus: This is the 37th puzzle from Philip Newman, 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.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:58, 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; solving video with explanation to be added later 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.)
Anti constraints are often hard to get your head around, and the mostly empty grid might look unapproachable. But Bill Murphy pulls off some magic today to make it genuinely approachable as you travel around the grid.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Superstar

Author/Opus: This is the 34th 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). No two numbers in adjacent cells can sum to exactly 10 or 5 as in the Roman Numerals for X or V. (This is the same rule as in XV Sudoku, but there are no X or V clues given here so it is Anti- only.)

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:58, 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 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.

In this month’s longer video, we’re talking about the “Empty Corner” puzzle from last week, the most basic steps to solve a Sudoku and how some of them are harder than you might expect, and tools and techniques to construct Classic Sudoku experiences that are different from what you’ve seen before.

So now that we’re revealing our secrets, will anyone step up and surprise Dr. Sudoku with some new puzzles? Stay tuned for more in the Twelve Months of Sudoku!?!

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
Within the past couple of days, the lead team in our Sudoku puzzlehunt has opened the third of three doors and is entering the endgame. Because of this progress, Dr. Sudoku is able to unlock earlier puzzles that were not posted publicly. Until today, this Max CAGE Sudoku puzzle could only be found by crawling a tangled web of gmpuzzles links. The 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. You can still enjoy solving this creative grid.

PDF

or solve online (using Penpa-plus because it lets markings be placed outside the grid)

Author/Opus: This is the 23rd* puzzle from “Dr. Sudoku”, our AI-powered puzzle engine pushing the limits of sudoku intelligence. (*The puzzle was released earlier in Dr. Sudoku’s work but not publicly, so we are using this numbering for blog consistency.)

Note: Resistance is futile; you’re trapped for good now I reckon.

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.

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
For our 100th GAS post on GMPuzzles, Clover! has a great puzzle featuring Renban lines marking out consecutive sets of numbers along their paths. With no bends in the lines, can you get straight to the answer?

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 55th 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 along each line must form a non-repeating consecutive set, in any order. (For example, a 4-cell Renban line could be 4352, but not 5679 or 2312.)

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 1:59, 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.)
While Philip again repeats this familiar given pattern, the effect of these region sum lines is very different in getting a unique solution. Can you figure out how each segment is constrained?

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: The Waiting

Author/Opus: This is the 36th 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). Along each line, the numbers in every region it passes through have the same sum. (In this puzzle, for example, R3C5 + R3C6 = R4C6 = R4C7 + R5C7.)

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 8:30; One party hat (🥳): 17:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Humane Haplocanthus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 5:29, 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.