(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)

As long-time solvers of Genuinely Approachable Sudoku will know, we at GAS, Inc. have a reputation. Of approachable puzzles, bordering on the side of far too generous with givens? Of course. But also a reputation for state-of-the-art security.

Now, more than ever, it is my job as Head of Security to implement cutting-edge artificial intelligence solutions to protect our ever dwendling precious resource: hats. To reassuring our valued solvers that we remain a safe place to hang your hat in these turbulent times, I am proud to invite you to be the first Beta Testers of our new security system. Backed by a powerful LLM trained on the mind of an extinct sauropod, you’ll find our website is more secure than ever.

https://sudokutheory.com/gas/security/captcha.html

GAS – We’re there at the drop of a hat

[Editor’s Note / context: For those looking for more puzzles here besides Sudoku, we still don’t have new plans for this year. We need more focus on the large efforts we have underway and in general that still means on Sudoku and staying healthy until we can grow the team. But as editors, we too miss the unexpected submissions that surprise and delight.]
[Now you can’t just commission a “museum series” of unforgettable grids, but we were delighted by what happened here. A few months ago Thomas shared a photo (far below) he takes every time he visits the Philadelphia Museum of Art, thinking this grid by Mondrian will always deserve a puzzle when he can get to it. Without expectation of anything appearing, Martin delivered a tremendous fit for the grid, that used its elements fully, that added its own theme with just three kinds of givens that left us a bit shocked. We’re pleased to share now as a bonus for all to enjoy.]

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use the tab key to alternate between shading and number entry modes)

Author/Opus: This is the 18th puzzle from guest contributor Martin Ender.

Rules: Label some cells with numbers to form a single connected group of labeled cells; no gridpoint is entirely surrounded by numbered cells. Each bold region must contain at least one labeled cell. Each number (including any given numbers) must equal the total count of labeled cells in that region. Two cells containing the same number may not share a thick border.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 10:00, Master = 25:00, Expert = 50:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for Nanro puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Nanro puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nanro Puzzles to get started on. More Nanro puzzles can be found in A Number o’ Nanro by Prasanna Seshadri.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our General Blog Puzzle Discussion on the GMPuzzles Discord.

(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
Today’s GAS is a classic Sudoku with a nice visual theme — in some ways this is the “Sincerest Form” of Sudoku when designed by hand by an expert, and even moreso when inspired by another sudokumaster.

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

Theme: Sincerest Form

Author/Opus: This is the 54th puzzle from Bilip Muman, 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 (🎩🥳): 5:00; One party hat (🥳): 10:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Misspelled Microsaurus.

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 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.

(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.)
We’re starting September with some fresh GAS (now that the August Guessing Game is over). Today we’re back to regular Sudoku with a great classic by clover!

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

Author/Opus: This is the 51st 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 (🎩🥳): 5:30; One party hat (🥳): 10:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: traditional Triceratops.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 1:54, 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 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.

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
While the GMP team is on a retreat(,?) figuring out what it might mean to be going from the sublime to the ridiculous, we’re creating prompts to send to our AI.

Dr. Sudoku: While you are now a great sudoku creator, please look back at your early days and the founding of this project. You are celebrating a birthday and learning a new language with some help. You desperately want to impress your intelligent father (with the name 123456789), who is a busy man — a banker? — who would adore Sudoku if he had time. Make a puzzle to showcase your learnings to him. To impress him the most, hide a secret AI name origin story in a manner still appropriate to the source.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

Author/Opus: This is the 21st puzzle from “Dr. Sudoku”, our AI-powered puzzle engine pushing the limits of sudoku intelligence.

More details: The key reference / song being made in this puzzle has now been shared in this section of a YouTube video on neurodivergence, being American right now, and much more. This clip starts specifically at the part most relevant for this puzzle.

This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.
Bill Murphy presents this beautiful classic sudoku with one perfect solution and no flaws at all.

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

Theme: I Admit My Faults

Author/Opus: This is the 9th puzzle from Bill Murphy, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 5:00; One party hat (🥳): 10:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Single Suuwassea.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:15, 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 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.

Happy Two Pi Day to those not yet aware of other events today. We thought a combination of Thermometers and Arrows would be a great way to celebrate a natural constant!

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

Theme: Because 2 π’s Are Better Than One

Author/Opus: This is the 583rd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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. 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. The coloring is strictly to emphasize the theme.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 12:00, Master = 24:00, Expert = 48:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Arrow Sudoku. Follow this link for more Thermo-Sudoku puzzles. More Arrow and Thermo-Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku 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.

After a week of fun content from the GAS team, I wanted to celebrate a special partner with a Classic Sudoku in a favorite pattern/theme. I’ve made puzzles called (Four-leaf) Clover a lot of times, but this is the first one I leave for Clover.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

Theme: For 🍃 Clover

Author/Opus: This is the 580th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 4 stars

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

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 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.

Today’s Genuinely Approachable Sudoku shows a symmetric theme with only a few distinct numbers given as clues; can you solve this fun puzzle by Philip Newman?

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

Theme: Sharrows

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from Philip Newman, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 6:00; One party hat (🥳): 13:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Nocked Nicksaurus.

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 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 week-0-discussion thread on the GMPuzzles Discord. If you are not yet part of this Discord community, use this link. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access.