{"id":34845,"date":"2026-01-10T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T08:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/?p=34845"},"modified":"2026-01-23T11:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:00:23","slug":"clone-sudoku-by-bill-murphy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/clone-sudoku-by-bill-murphy\/","title":{"rendered":"Clone 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 grid seems to be repeating itself multiple times; can you figure out the &#8220;clones&#8221; on the path to one unique answer?<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img src=https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2026\/260110-CloneSudoku-ResoluteCoffee.png alt=\"Clone Sudoku by Bill Murphy\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2026\/260110-CloneSudoku-ResoluteCoffee.pdf\">PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>or <a href=\"https:\/\/gmpuzzles.com\/s\/260110Reso\">solve online<\/a> (using SudokuPad)<\/p>\n<p><b>Theme:<\/b> Resolute Coffee<\/p>\n<p><b>Author\/Opus:<\/b> This is the 73rd 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). Additionally, each shaded, connected shape (\u201cclone\u201d) in the grid must include the same numbers in the same positions with no rotations or reflections. Numbers may repeat within a clone.<\/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;\">Incredible Isanosaurus<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view):<\/b> <span style=\"color: white; background-color: white;\">1:35<\/span>, with <a href=https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2026\/sudokupad-Bill_Murph-Resolute_Coffee-a575-d95.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\/puzzles2026\/260110-CloneSudoku-ResoluteCoffee-soln.pdf\">PDF<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/yZSF7fwonPA\">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 grid seems to be repeating itself multiple times; can you figure out the &#8220;clones&#8221; on the path to one unique answer? PDF or solve online (using SudokuPad) Theme: Resolute Coffee Author\/Opus: This is the 73rd puzzle from Bill Murphy, part of the Genuinely [&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-34845","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>Clone Sudoku by Bill Murphy - The Art of Puzzles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This grid seems to be repeating itself multiple times; can you figure out the &quot;clones&quot; on the path to one unique answer?\" \/>\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\/2026\/01\/clone-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=\"Clone Sudoku by Bill Murphy - The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This grid seems to be repeating itself multiple times; 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