{"id":33325,"date":"2025-07-08T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T07:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/?p=33325"},"modified":"2025-07-13T07:50:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T14:50:14","slug":"pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/","title":{"rendered":"Pencilmark Sudoku by Bill Murphy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(This post is part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/tag\/gas\/\">Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS)<\/a> series.)<br \/>\n<em>Only notes, not sure givens, are in this Pencilmark Sudoku by Bill Murphy but if you can find the key break-ins you should be able to get sprinting even with nothing big at the start.<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/250708-PencilmarkSudoku-GazillionEar.png\" alt=\"Pencilmark Sudoku by Bill Murphy\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/250708-PencilmarkSudoku-GazillionEar.pdf\">PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>or <a href=\"https:\/\/gmpuzzles.com\/s\/250708Gazi\">solve online<\/a> (using SudokuPad)<\/p>\n<p><b>Theme:<\/b> Gazillion Ear<\/p>\n<p><b>Author\/Opus:<\/b> This is the 11th puzzle from Bill Murphy, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (<a href=https:\/\/sudokutheory.com\/gas\/>GAS<\/a>) team.<\/p>\n<p><b>Rules:<\/b> 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). The given pencilmarks represent the only numbers that can appear in those cells.<\/p>\n<p><b>GAS Time Standards (highlight to view):<\/b> Two party hats (\ud83c\udfa9\ud83e\udd73): <span style=\"color: white; background-color: white;\">7:00<\/span>; One party hat (\ud83e\udd73): <span style=\"color: white; background-color: white;\">13:00<\/span>. All other solvers earn a \ud83e\udd95: <span style=\"color: white; background-color: white;\">Inspired Ignavusaurus<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view): <\/b> <span style=\"color: white; background-color: white;\">2:23<\/span>, with <a href=https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/sudokupad-Bill_Murph-Gazillion_Ear-a691-d144.replay>SudokuPad replay file<\/a> shared as a download for now (requires loading via settings menu with improvements expected before people should use this regularly).<\/p>\n<p><b>Solution:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/250708-PencilmarkSudoku-GazillionEar-soln.pdf\">PDF<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/5vuzuEymmx0\">solving video<\/a> with explanation from GAS team.<\/p>\n<p><b>Note:<\/b> Follow this link for other less common variations of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/tag\/sudoku-3+variation-2\/\">Sudoku<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Note 2:<\/b>\u00a0Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/discord.com\/channels\/1059513302847336469\/1380897111599616020\">Daily GAS discussion<\/a>\u00a0post\u00a0on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/discord.gg\/RNNfEBEbQS\">this link<\/a>\u00a0for basic access.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(This post is part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series.) Only notes, not sure givens, are in this Pencilmark Sudoku by Bill Murphy but if you can find the key break-ins you should be able to get sprinting even with nothing big at the start. PDF or solve online (using SudokuPad) Theme: Gazillion Ear [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":443,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,126],"tags":[8,15,56,237],"class_list":["post-33325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-puzzle","category-othersudoku","tag-sudoku-3","tag-wednesdaythursday","tag-variation-2","tag-gas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pencilmark Sudoku by Bill Murphy - The Art of Puzzles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Only notes, not sure givens, start this Pencilmark Sudoku by Bill Murphy but if you can find the break-in(s) you should be able to get going.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pencilmark Sudoku by Bill Murphy - The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Only notes, not sure givens, start this Pencilmark Sudoku by Bill Murphy but if you can find the break-in(s) you should be able to get going.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-08T07:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-13T14:50:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/250708-PencilmarkSudoku-GazillionEar.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bill Murphy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drsudoku\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@drsudoku\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bill Murphy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bill Murphy\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/552de1c88fa03b2180785f81655f8014\"},\"headline\":\"Pencilmark Sudoku by Bill Murphy\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-08T07:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-13T14:50:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":223,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/images\\\/puzzles2025\\\/250708-PencilmarkSudoku-GazillionEar.png\",\"keywords\":[\"sudoku\",\"wed\\\/thurs\",\"variation\",\"gas\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Puzzle\",\"Other Sudoku\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/pencilmark-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/\",\"name\":\"Pencilmark Sudoku by Bill Murphy - 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