(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.)
In this unusual variation of X-Sums Sudoku, the X-Sums path bounces off the border cells and rebounds into the inside of the grid if it extends too far.

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Theme: Bouncing Baby Puzz

Author/Opus: This is the 118th 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). Also, the clues outside the grid indicate the sum of the first X numbers placed in the corresponding diagonal direction, where X is equal to the first number seen in that direction. If the sequence of X numbers extends to the edge of the grid, it “bounces” at a 90-degree angle off the center of the edge cell and continues back towards the interior. (For example, because of the 9 clue to the right of R3 and because R2C9 = 3, R2C9 + R1C8 + R2C7 = 9.)

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:07, 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.)
The GAS team was challenged to do a puzzle with a negative constraint, so today’s puzzle is an Anti-Knight Sudoku. (A not-GAS first attempt is also provided as a bonus!)

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Bonus (more difficult, not-GAS)

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Theme: engy’s Negativity 2-ur

Author/Opus: This is the 99th 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, numbers cannot repeat in any cells separated by a chess knight’s move.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 8:00; One party hat (🥳): 16:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Paluxysaurus Pal.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:41 and 6:16, with main replay and bonus replayshared as a download for now (requires loading via settings menu with improvements expected before people should use this regularly).

Solution: PDF, bonus 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 lines variant by Bill with a somewhat familiar theme? Will the Entropic Lines be just an “M” for Mini challenge today or will they be something harder?

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Theme: M is for Mini

Author/Opus: This is the 96th 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). Numbers along peach lines (entropic lines) must form a repeating cycle of L = Low (1, 2, 3), M = Medium (4, 5, 6), and H = High (7, 8, 9) numbers like …LMHLMH… or …LHMLHM….

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 8:30; One party hat (🥳): 16:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Barnacleboy’s Bagaceratops.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 5:35, 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.)
In this curious variation on Consecutive Sudoku puzzles, the outside numbers indicate how many pairs of digits must have consecutive values where “0” means the row is nonconsecutive.

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Theme: Countsecutive

Author/Opus: This is the 117th 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). Clues outside the grid indicate the number of pairs of adjacent consecutive numbers in that row or column.

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 8:00; One party hat (🥳): 15:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: zeroed Zanabazar.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 3:08, 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.)
Today’s Sequence Lines Sudoku is just what the doctor ordered.

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Theme: Easy As 17-42-67

Author/Opus: This is the 98th 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, an arithmetic series must be formed along each line so that numbers in adjacent cells have the same difference. Different lines may have different common differences. (For example, a sequence line could be 1-2-3-4 (difference of 1), 1-5-9 (difference of 4), or even 5-5-5 (difference of 0) if it obeys other Sudoku rules.)

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 6:54; One party hat (🥳): 13:57. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Ordered Ornithopsis.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 3:02, 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 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.)
This the second time we’ve posted this variant (this link will help detect its twin). Can you make all the sums work out as marked?

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Author/Opus: This is the 95th 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). Arrows in the grid indicate that there is a run of cells in the given direction that sums to the number in the cell containing the arrow, starting from the first cell seen by the arrow. Not all arrows are given. (E.g., because R3C7 has a left arrow, either R3C6, R3C6 + R3C5, or R3C6 + R3C5 + R3C4 must sum to the value in R3C7 = 8.)

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:33, 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.)
This Renban pattern evokes a “soundwave” with noise emanating from the center. Can you find the sound logic to reach the solution?

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Theme: Soundwave

Author/Opus: This is the 116th 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 🦕: loud Lophostropheus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 1:52, 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.)
Today’s GAS is an XV Pairs Sudoku, focusing on sums of 10 and 5. So why is it in the shape of… a 2? [II, Captain.]

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Theme: A 2?

Author/Opus: This is the 97th 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). Whenever an X or V, reflecting the Roman numerals for 10 or 5, is placed on the edge between cells, the numbers in the two adjacent cells must sum to exactly 10 or 5. (Pairs of cells without an X or V mark can have any sum value.)

GAS Time Standards (highlight to view): Two party hats (🎩🥳): 8:02; One party hat (🥳): 18:00. All other solvers earn a 🦕: Nifty Nebulasaurus.

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 4:15, 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; solving video with explanation to be added later 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.)
With a mix of “crescendoes” and “decrescendoes” to handle here, can you think like Rossini and solve this Sudoku?

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Theme: The Pointy End

Author/Opus: This is the 115th 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). Whenever an arrow is given outside the grid, the first three numbers in that row or column must increase in the direction of the arrow. For example, the arrow at the left of row 4 means R4C1 > R4C2 > R4C3 and the arrow at the left of row 9 means R9C1 < R9C2 < R9C3. (The absence of an outside arrow clue has no meaning in this puzzle unlike “standard” Rossini Sudoku.)

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:05, 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.)
Today’s Thermos may be Slow, but you don’t have to be overly cautious. Just remember that thermo digits can repeat in this variant!

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Theme: Good Grief

Author/Opus: This is the 96th 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). Some thermometer shapes are in the grid; numbers must either increase or stay the same in each cell going from the round bulb to the flat end. (For instance, a thermometer might contain the sequence 233577888 in that order.)

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

Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): 2:36, 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 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 Daily GAS discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access.