{"id":34903,"date":"2026-01-23T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T08:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/?p=34903"},"modified":"2026-02-12T09:32:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:32:58","slug":"x-sams-sudoku-by-philip-newman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/x-sams-sudoku-by-philip-newman\/","title":{"rendered":"X-Sams Sudoku by Philip Newman"},"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 quirky combo is new to GAS, though its components aren&#8217;t: clues outside the grid are both X-Sums and Sandwich clues!<\/em><\/p>\n<p align='center'><img src='https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2026\/260123-XSumsSandwichSudoku-PopQuiz.png' alt='X-Sams Sudoku by Philip Newman' \/><\/p>\n<p align='center'><a href='https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2026\/260123-XSumsSandwichSudoku-PopQuiz.pdf'>PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>or <a href='https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/s\/260123PopQ'>solve online<\/a> (using SudokuPad)<\/p>\n<p><b>Theme:<\/b> Pop Quiz<\/p>\n<p><b>Author\/Opus:<\/b> This is the 80th puzzle from Philip Newman, 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 clues outside the grid indicate the sum of the first X numbers placed in the corresponding direction, where X is equal to the first number placed in that direction (e.g., if R9C3 is 4, then the four numbers in R9C3 (i.e., 4), R8C3, R7C3, and R6C3 all add up to 10). Clues outside the grid also give the sum of numbers in the cells between the 1 and the 9 in that row or column.<\/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'>6:30<\/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'>Mixed Megapleurocoelus<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Thomas Hits the GAS (highlight to view):<\/b> <span style='color: white;background-color: white'>4:04<\/span>, with <a href='https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2026\/sudokupad-Philip_New-2026_01_23_Pop_Quiz-a975-d244.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\/260123-XSumsSandwichSudoku-PopQuiz-soln.pdf'>PDF<\/a>; solving video with explanation to be added later 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 quirky combo is new to GAS, though its components aren&#8217;t: clues outside the grid are both X-Sums and Sandwich clues! PDF or solve online (using SudokuPad) Theme: Pop Quiz Author\/Opus: This is the 80th puzzle from Philip Newman, part of the Genuinely Approachable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"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-34903","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>X-Sams Sudoku by Philip Newman - The Art of Puzzles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This quirky combo is new to GAS, though its components aren&#039;t: clues outside the grid are both X-Sums and Sandwich clues!\" \/>\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\/x-sams-sudoku-by-philip-newman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"X-Sams Sudoku by Philip Newman - 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