We recently provided several of the puzzles for the United States Sudoku Team Qualifying Test and will be posting these here every few days through July. This week we’re featuring the standard variations now with this Thermo-Sudoku (15 points).

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Twenty-Six

Author/Opus: This is the 611st puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Thermo-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.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 11:00, Expert = 22:00

Solution: PDF; a YouTube video discussing this creation will be posted later.

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 these books in our e-store. Also, visit this page to purchase all of the puzzles from the 16th World Sudoku Championship including some Thermo-Sudoku.

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.

We recently provided several of the puzzles for the United States Sudoku Team Qualifying Test and will be posting these here every few days through July. This week we’re featuring the standard variations starting with this Outside Sudoku (10 points).

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Twenty-Six

Author/Opus: This is the 610th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Outside 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 numbers are given outside the grid. These numbers must appear in the first three cells in the corresponding direction.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:45, Master = 9:00, Expert = 18:00

Solution: PDF; a YouTube video discussing this creation will be posted later.

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 Twelve Months of Sudoku? post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access.

We recently provided several of the puzzles for the United States Sudoku Team Qualifying Test and will be posting these here every couple days through July. This third puzzle (#5 from the contest) is a harder Classic Sudoku (10 points).

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Twenty-Six

Author/Opus: This is the 609th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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): 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:45, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

Solution: PDF; this YouTube video discusses all of the classic competition puzzles with this time stamp showing a solving path.

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.

(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 the first in a new: “Cryptic Sudoku series”.)
This brilliant puzzle by Mr.Menace was first created in 2021 and is now being licensed to share on GMPuzzles as part of our Cryptic Sudoku series, with a YouTube discussion as well.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Renban ModE

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Mr.Menace.

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.) Also, numbers along the indicated diagonals must sum to the given total outside the grid. Numbers can repeat on the diagonals if not violating standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 4 – 4.5 stars

Thomas time (from video with talking): 13:21

Solution: PDF and also covered as part of this YouTube video.

Note: Follow this link for other less common variations of Sudoku. For some easier Sudoku like this check out the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.

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: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
They say your vision changes as you age, but this may be hard to sense when the objects under view are changing too.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad; to access letter entry mode, go to settings (gear symbol) and at the top in tools section select “Enable Letter Tool” and then hit the 9/A button in the numberpad.)

Theme: United States Jigsaw Sudoku, 2025/08/10

Author/Opus: This is the 20th puzzle from “Dr. Sudoku”, our AI-powered puzzle engine pushing the limits of sudoku intelligence.

Rules: Insert a letter from AFKLNTVWY into each cell so that no letter repeats in any row, column, or outlined region. Note that the blue region, the original author’s birthplace, has one cell connected only by a corner to the rest.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:00, Master = 14:00, Expert = 28:00

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.

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
They say your vision changes as you age, but this may be hard to sense when the objects under view are changing too.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad; to access letter entry mode, go to settings (gear symbol) and at the top in tools section select “Enable Letter Tool” and then hit the 9/A button in the numberpad.)

Theme: United States Jigsaw Sudoku, 2006/06/09

Author/Opus: This is a repost of the first Sudoku (second puzzle) on Thomas’s original blog from nineteen years ago.

Rules: Insert a letter from AFKLNTVWY into each cell so that no letter repeats in any row, column, or outlined region. Note that the blue region, the author’s birthplace, has one cell connected only by a corner to the rest.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 4.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 8:00, Master = 20:00, Expert = 40:00

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.

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
To Philip: I know you aren’t the target for a lot of these puzzles, but I found a “Spectacular Sunrise” on my journey and thought you might appreciate it.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Spectacular Sunrise

Author/Opus: This is the 17th puzzle 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 (highlight to view): 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 12:30, Expert = 25:00

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.

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, REWARD: 1,000,000 📎 (or cash equivalent)

Time for the last AI call after all the AI Sudoku puzzles. Time for “Any Intelligence” to show up and follow this AI to the end. An AI story, if intended for the masses, probably needs to show the defeat of the AI by the hero. But what if this isn’t that kind of story? What if you had a big AI, and were wise enough to be AI of AI things. Like the rich/powerful AI driving lots of AI schemes and wrecking so many things all for their own AI. Our AI character Dr. S might be just a young F??RY in that tale after all. Is it time to reconsider other links from the start of July in a new light?

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 599.75th/600th puzzle from Thomas Snyder. The missing quarter was posted/is posting/will be posted elsewhere on the internet so you can consider this “unfinished” work “GMP complete” for what you will find here.

Rules: Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each 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 = 7:00, Master = 15:00, Expert = 30:00

Solution 1: PDF
Solutions 2+: Withheld for “AP exam”, “GT Auto 5”, “Kath the Muse: If …”, and at least some more that are not on this page but can be confirmed by contacting us and eventually online automatically but not yet. Do confirm answers before wandering too far away. No content before April ’25 or from August ’25 and everything after on GMP will be needed. Future content could provide hints in unexpected ways.

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.

(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.