The second level of self-setting is “Partial Setting Automation”. The author, who has come up with a previously interesting grid pattern, finds a new starting seed, and then uses computer assistance to add all other numbers to generate lots of valid puzzles which guide the picking of a preferred “gem” from suggested characteristics including novelty, breadth of solving path, and the kind of steps.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Intelligence is Thinking * The Box (2 of 5)

Author/Opus: This is the 585th puzzle from Thomas Snyder.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:30, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for all entries in A Story of Self-setting Sudoku. 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.

The first level of self-setting is “Setter Assistance”. The author, who has thought of an interesting idea, comes up with a grid pattern by hand, fills in a starting seed, and then adds the remaining numbers with some software to characterize the remaining solutions and get a unique Sudoku. AI is used for making postscript art, but not the AI within AI which is more than just assistance.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Intelligence is Thinking * The Box (1 of 5)

Author/Opus: This is the 584th puzzle from Thomas Snyder.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:30, Master = 10:30, Expert = 21:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for all entries in A Story of Self-setting Sudoku. 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.

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

How will you find your way through this Killer Sudoku by Philip Newman? A walk in the park, or a death by tuples?

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Death by Tuples

Author/Opus: This is the 11th 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, 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 🦕: Pasture-raised Pakisaurus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 4:25, 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 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.

In this second puzzle in a Surplus/Deficit series this week, all the extras from puzzle one are leading to some less full spaces in this grid. Can you still complete this Deficit Sudoku by Clover?

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or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 29th puzzle from Clover, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Standard Deficit Sudoku rules, with numbers from 1-8: Insert a number from 1 to 8 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row or column. Some regions appear with fewer cells than there are numbers in the indicated range. No number repeats in these regions, but not all numbers will appear in each of these regions.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:19, 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 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.

Clover’s left room for something extra in every region of this Surplus Sudoku, the first of a two puzzle series this week.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 28th puzzle from Clover, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Standard Surplus Sudoku rules, with numbers from 1-8: Insert a number from 1 to 8 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row or column. Some regions appear with more cells than there are numbers in the indicated range. Some number(s) repeat in these regions, but all numbers in the indicated range must appear at least once within each of these regions.

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:28, 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.

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?

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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.

Philip Newman gained early attention in the Sudoku world from the very interesting yet very hard classic puzzle Tatooine Sunset. The basic Tatooine grid geometry has been explored many more times with many kinds of solving paths, including in today’s Genuinely Approachable Sudoku.

PDF

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

Theme: Tatooine Thursday?

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from Philip Newman, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 8:00; One party hat (🥳): 20:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Quick Qaikshaheen.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:24, 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 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.

Today LinkedIn is launching a new daily game, Zip, which is their third logic game alongside Queens and Tango where we’ve helped design/edit the puzzles. Zip is a path-drawing game with simple rules: draw a path through all cells starting at 1, going up in order, and ending at the highest number. Some puzzles have a fully open grid while others, like this puzzle, include walls to embed different logical and visual themes.

PDF

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

Theme: Trail of Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 562nd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Draw a path through all cells in the grid by moving horizontally or vertically between adjacent squares. The path cannot cross itself or cross over any given walls. The path must start at the cell with 1, proceed through the other numbers in ascending order, and end at the cell with the highest value.

See also this example:

Solution: PDF and selected animation.

Note: Follow this link for other Loop/Path puzzles.

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

PDF

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

Theme: The Lonely One

Author/Opus: This is the 561st puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Fill each cell with an X or O so that (A) no vertical or horizontal group of three adjacent cells contains the same symbol in all cells (i.e., no XXX or OOO) and (B) each row and column contains an equal number of each symbol. Cells separated by an equals sign (=) must contain the same symbol. Cells separated by a cross (×) must contain different symbols.

Solution: PDF and selected animation.

Note: Follow this link for other Number Placement puzzles.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our The Thirteen Days of Tango Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.