{"id":33718,"date":"2025-08-09T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T16:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/?p=33718"},"modified":"2025-10-08T06:27:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T13:27:28","slug":"a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/","title":{"rendered":"A Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Sudoku<\/p>\n

PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

or solve online<\/a> (using SudokuPad; to access letter entry mode, go to settings (gear symbol) and at the top in tools section select \u201cEnable Letter Tool\u201d and then hit the 9\/A button in the numberpad.)<\/p>\n

Theme:<\/b> United States Jigsaw Sudoku, 2006\/06\/09<\/p>\n

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

Rules:<\/b> 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\u2019s birthplace, has one cell connected only by a corner to the rest. <\/p>\n

Difficulty (highlight to view):<\/b> 4.5 stars<\/span><\/p>\n

Time Standards (highlight to view):<\/b> Grandmaster = 8:00, Master = 20:00, Expert = 40:00<\/span><\/p>\n

Solution:<\/b> PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

Note:<\/b> Follow this link for classic Sudoku<\/a>. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku<\/a> to get started on. More classic Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku<\/i><\/a>, The Art of Sudoku 2<\/i><\/a> and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles<\/i><\/a> by Serkan Y\u00fcrekli.<\/p>\n

Note 2:<\/b>\u00a0Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our\u00a0Twelve Months of Sudoku?<\/a>\u00a0post\u00a0on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click\u00a0this link<\/a>\u00a0for basic access.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,3,55],"tags":[8,17,56,241],"class_list":["post-33718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classic-sudoku","category-puzzle","category-variation","tag-sudoku-3","tag-fridaysaturday","tag-variation-2","tag-asoss"],"yoast_head":"\nA Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder - The Art of Puzzles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This post revisits one of the most famous puzzles made by Thomas Snyder and also one of the first.\" \/>\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\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder - The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post revisits one of the most famous puzzles made by Thomas Snyder and also one of the first.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-09T16:00:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T13:27:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/250809-StatesSudoku-Then.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"drsudoku\" \/>\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=\"drsudoku\" \/>\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\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"drsudoku\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/16f28006b2b31c98ce6d8d1affd60275\"},\"headline\":\"A Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-09T16:00:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-08T13:27:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":249,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/images\\\/puzzles2025\\\/250809-StatesSudoku-Then.png\",\"keywords\":[\"sudoku\",\"fri\\\/sat\",\"variation\",\"asoss\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Classic Sudoku\",\"Puzzle\",\"Variation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder - The Art of Puzzles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/images\\\/puzzles2025\\\/250809-StatesSudoku-Then.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-09T16:00:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-08T13:27:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/16f28006b2b31c98ce6d8d1affd60275\"},\"description\":\"This post revisits one of the most famous puzzles made by Thomas Snyder and also one of the first.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/images\\\/puzzles2025\\\/250809-StatesSudoku-Then.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/images\\\/puzzles2025\\\/250809-StatesSudoku-Then.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Puzzles\",\"description\":\"Grandmaster Puzzles\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/16f28006b2b31c98ce6d8d1affd60275\",\"name\":\"drsudoku\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/drsudoku_avatar_1483074039-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/drsudoku_avatar_1483074039-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/12\\\/drsudoku_avatar_1483074039-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"drsudoku\"},\"description\":\"3 time world sudoku champion, 6 time US puzzle champion, artisan puzzle designer with over a half dozen books and dozens of magazine articles on sudoku and other variations.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/drsudoku\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder - The Art of Puzzles","description":"This post revisits one of the most famous puzzles made by Thomas Snyder and also one of the first.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder - The Art of Puzzles","og_description":"This post revisits one of the most famous puzzles made by Thomas Snyder and also one of the first.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/","og_site_name":"The Art of Puzzles","article_published_time":"2025-08-09T16:00:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-08T13:27:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/250809-StatesSudoku-Then.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"drsudoku","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drsudoku","twitter_site":"@drsudoku","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"drsudoku","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/"},"author":{"name":"drsudoku","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/16f28006b2b31c98ce6d8d1affd60275"},"headline":"A Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder","datePublished":"2025-08-09T16:00:54+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-08T13:27:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/"},"wordCount":249,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/250809-StatesSudoku-Then.png","keywords":["sudoku","fri\/sat","variation","asoss"],"articleSection":["Classic Sudoku","Puzzle","Variation"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/","name":"A Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder - The Art of Puzzles","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/250809-StatesSudoku-Then.png","datePublished":"2025-08-09T16:00:54+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-08T13:27:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/16f28006b2b31c98ce6d8d1affd60275"},"description":"This post revisits one of the most famous puzzles made by Thomas Snyder and also one of the first.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/250809-StatesSudoku-Then.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/250809-StatesSudoku-Then.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/a-story-of-states-sudoku-then-2006-by-thomas-snyder\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Story of States Sudoku? (Then: 2006) by Thomas Snyder"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/","name":"The Art of Puzzles","description":"Grandmaster Puzzles","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/16f28006b2b31c98ce6d8d1affd60275","name":"drsudoku","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/drsudoku_avatar_1483074039-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/drsudoku_avatar_1483074039-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/drsudoku_avatar_1483074039-96x96.jpg","caption":"drsudoku"},"description":"3 time world sudoku champion, 6 time US puzzle champion, artisan puzzle designer with over a half dozen books and dozens of magazine articles on sudoku and other variations.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/author\/drsudoku\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33718"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34274,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33718\/revisions\/34274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}