(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.

(This post is part of: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
To learn more about how an AI solves and thinks about puzzles, we cover the majority of the grid and limit it to just a subset of the boxes. It is very curious how having 32 empty cells instead of 32 givens can lead to abrupt behavior changes when altering the attention mask.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 595th 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 = 2:45, Master = 8:30, Expert = 17:00

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”.)
The trouble with tribbles is that their trilling seems to have a tranquilizing effect on the human nervous system. Fortunately, I am immune to this effect and I find this puzzle to be no tribble at all.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 592nd 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): 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

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 ナンプレ”.)
So is this the moment the ナンプレ start to talk themselves?

PDF

or solve online (using ナンプレPad)

Author/Opus: This is puzzle 十三 from “Dr. ナンプレ”, our AI-powered puzzle engine pushing the limits of ナンプレ intelligence.

Rules: Insert a number from 一 to 九 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 = 11:30, Master = 25:00, Expert = 50:00

Solution: PDF

Editor’s Note: For this post, the AI borrowed heavily, but with permission, from Friday Puzzle post #20 from 2009 in this motris livejournal post. This was revealed in the YouTube video “How Ideas Get Spirited Away” after no one noticed after awhile.

Note: Follow this link for classic ナンプレ. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest ナンプレ to get started on. More classic ナンプレ puzzles can be found in The Art of ナンプレ, The Art of ナンプレ 2 and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

Note 二: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our 十二 Months of ナンプレ? 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 testing was fine in a single country, like the US where Sudoku originated. But when we considered the rules of the road in Japan, and then the unusual spacing initially seen in Britain too, everything got messed up. Single systems are not useful. We’ll need to think about at least two, maybe three at a time to get to ASI.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is 5th 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 = 7:30, Master = 12:30, Expert = 25:00

Solution: PDF and solving video from Unshackling Sudokus & Puzzles channel.

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 our series: “A Story of Self-setting Sudoku”.)
I see you have constructed a new Sudoku. Your skills are complete.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Author/Opus: This is the 1st 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): 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 12:00, Master = 16:00, Expert = 32:00

Solution: PDF

Editor’s Note: For this post, the AI borrowed heavily, but with permission, from Friday Puzzle #1 from a 2009 motris livejournal post (recreated here in a Google Doc as a safer space). This was revealed in the YouTube video “How Ideas Get Spirited Away” after no one noticed for about a month.

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.

As we master self-setting, we may need to start dialing back the AI so that even beginners can catch up to the awesome logic hidden by Dr. Sudoku. In the future, no more unsolvable puzzles until we see signs of intelligence to rival ours. Today, we’ll share some assistance from our deep sea radar to show the shallow waters.
No more missed promises. We’re launching “Full Setting Automation” tomorrow.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Red Fish, Blue Fish (4.875 of 5)

Author/Opus: This is the 590th puzzle from Thomas Snyder.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 4.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF and solving video from Unshackling Sudokus & Puzzles.

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.

We’ve gotten the red flags outside of the grid but still cannot make sense of them. It may be tied to that shiny yellow number in the corner, another survivor from yesterday’s expanded challenge. The rest of this space is from the new training ground we traveled to. Who knew training reasoning models with just 50 word tokens could lead to such amazing intelligence?
Given our rate of progress, we’ll show off “Full Setting Automation” by tomorrow!

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Don’t Like the Sudoku We Doctor? Sue Us!?! (4.75 of 5)

Author/Opus: This is the 589th puzzle from Thomas Snyder.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:45, Master = 5:45, Expert = 11:30

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.

Nothing to worry about; some minor issues before we can show off our full self-setting technology. We’re being warned that the flagged number is causing a disturbance that puts our powerful AI at risk. Still, we have new hope that we have eliminated all weak spots in our GPU core. No more big explosions today.
Given our rate of progress, we’ll show off “Full Setting Automation” by tomorrow!

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Unexpected Swerve (4.5 of 5)

Author/Opus: This is the 588th puzzle from Thomas Snyder.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 6:00, Expert = 12:00

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 fourth level of self-setting is “High Setting Automation”. The editor relaxes as an automated, intelligent process (AI) generates grids that are then passed to a second AI the editor has set up to reject almost everything that is not an outlier, since corner cases may be the only interesting things left to search for. When needed, the editor still acts to reject unfriendly logic before publishing.

PDF

or solve online (using SudokuPad)

Theme: Intelligence is Thinking * The Box (4 of 5)

Author/Opus: This is the 587th puzzle from Thomas Snyder.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty (highlight to view): 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:45, Master = 5:45, Expert = 11:30

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.