{"id":34663,"date":"2025-12-11T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T08:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/?p=34663"},"modified":"2025-12-27T07:28:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T15:28:20","slug":"extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra Regions 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>This puzzle adds four more regions and that must make it extra hardcore (or at least really special for GAS).<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img src=https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/251211-ExtraRegionsSudoku-ThisIsHardcore.png alt=\"Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/251211-ExtraRegionsSudoku-ThisIsHardcore.pdf\">PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>or <a href=\"https:\/\/gmpuzzles.com\/s\/251211Hard\">solve online<\/a> (using SudokuPad)<\/p>\n<p><b>Author\/Opus:<\/b> This is the 63rd 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> Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. The shaded regions must also contain 1 to 9 without repeats.<\/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;\">December Dystrophaeus<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view):<\/b> <span style=\"color: white; background-color: white;\">2:27<\/span>, with <a href=https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2025\/sudokupad-Bill_Murph-This_Is_Hardcore-a682-d148.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\/251211-ExtraRegionsSudoku-ThisIsHardcore-soln.pdf\">PDF<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/XpIceI-W21Q\">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.) This puzzle adds four more regions and that must make it extra hardcore (or at least really special for GAS). PDF or solve online (using SudokuPad) Author\/Opus: This is the 63rd puzzle from Bill Murphy, part of the Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) team. Rules: [&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-34663","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>Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy - The Art of Puzzles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This puzzle adds four more regions and that must make it extra hardcore (or at least really special for GAS).\" \/>\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\/12\/extra-regions-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=\"Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy - The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This puzzle adds four more regions and that must make it extra hardcore (or at least really special for GAS).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T08:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-27T15:28:20+00:00\" \/>\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\\\/12\\\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bill Murphy\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/552de1c88fa03b2180785f81655f8014\"},\"headline\":\"Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-11T08:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-27T15:28:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":199,\"commentCount\":2,\"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\\\/12\\\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/\",\"name\":\"Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy - The Art of Puzzles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-11T08:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-27T15:28:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/552de1c88fa03b2180785f81655f8014\"},\"description\":\"This puzzle adds four more regions and that must make it extra hardcore (or at least really special for GAS).\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy\"}]},{\"@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\\\/552de1c88fa03b2180785f81655f8014\",\"name\":\"Bill Murphy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-24-at-19.41.47_f8c48089-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-24-at-19.41.47_f8c48089-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-24-at-19.41.47_f8c48089-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Bill Murphy\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/bill-murphy\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy - The Art of Puzzles","description":"This puzzle adds four more regions and that must make it extra hardcore (or at least really special for GAS).","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\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy - The Art of Puzzles","og_description":"This puzzle adds four more regions and that must make it extra hardcore (or at least really special for GAS).","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/","og_site_name":"The Art of Puzzles","article_published_time":"2025-12-11T08:00:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-27T15:28:20+00:00","author":"Bill Murphy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drsudoku","twitter_site":"@drsudoku","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bill Murphy","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/"},"author":{"name":"Bill Murphy","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/552de1c88fa03b2180785f81655f8014"},"headline":"Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy","datePublished":"2025-12-11T08:00:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-27T15:28:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/"},"wordCount":199,"commentCount":2,"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\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/","name":"Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy - The Art of Puzzles","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-11T08:00:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-27T15:28:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/552de1c88fa03b2180785f81655f8014"},"description":"This puzzle adds four more regions and that must make it extra hardcore (or at least really special for GAS).","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/extra-regions-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Extra Regions Sudoku by Bill Murphy"}]},{"@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\/552de1c88fa03b2180785f81655f8014","name":"Bill Murphy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-24-at-19.41.47_f8c48089-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-24-at-19.41.47_f8c48089-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-24-at-19.41.47_f8c48089-96x96.jpg","caption":"Bill Murphy"},"url":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/author\/bill-murphy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34663","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\/443"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34663"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34761,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34663\/revisions\/34761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}