{"id":5430,"date":"2016-01-03T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-01-03T17:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/?p=5430"},"modified":"2017-01-06T09:18:18","modified_gmt":"2017-01-06T17:18:18","slug":"best-of-2015-sudoku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/best-of-2015-sudoku\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of 2015: Sudoku"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>While my relocation back to the San Francisco area and new job commitments limited our posts in 2015 compared to other years, we still had almost 200 puzzle posts in 2015 and many amazing puzzles. Today we will be presenting the &#8220;Best of 2015&#8221; selections, using data from the FAVE button at the bottom of each post. Because of a variable number of solvers over the year (particularly after the hiatus), the selection process included raw FAVE counts, FAVE\/solver ratios, and internal discussions when those values brought up ties. We start with our BEST SUDOKU.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>This past year, the best Sudoku puzzles featured either arithmetic constraints or series-based constraints. One of our best sudoku featured both, namely this <a href=https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/arrowthermo-sudoku-prasanna-seshadri\/>Arrow\/Thermo-Sudoku by Prasanna Seshadri<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles\/150412-ArrowThermoCombo.png\" alt=\"Arrow Thermo-Sudoku by Prasanna Seshadri\"><\/p>\n<p>Another highly rated puzzle was this <a href=https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/killer-sudoku-by-serkan-yurekli\/>Killer Sudoku by Serkan Y\u00fcrekli<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles\/150711-KillerSudoku-SY.png\" alt=\"Killer Sudoku by Serkan Y\u00fcrekli\"><\/p>\n<p>The highest ratings though went to two Thermo-Sudoku. Both were puzzles originally created for the magazines Will Shortz&#8217;s Sudoku and Sudoku Spectacular where we regularly contribute puzzles. But these were kept for this site due to their unique look and solving feel. <\/p>\n<p>On the easier end was this very fun <a href=https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/thermo-sudoku-ashish-kumar\/>Thermo-Sudoku from guest contributor Ashish Kumar<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles\/150225-ThermoSud-LevelThermometers.png\" alt=\"Thermo-Sudoku by Ashish Kumar\"><\/p>\n<p>And on the harder end was this self-titled <a href=https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/thermo-sudoku-thomas-snyder-4\/>&#8220;THERMO&#8221; puzzle from Dr. Sudoku<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles\/150228-Thermo-SelfTitled.png\" alt=\"Thermo-Sudoku by Thomas Snyder\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While my relocation back to the San Francisco area and new job commitments limited our posts in 2015 compared to other years, we still had almost 200 puzzle posts in 2015 and many amazing puzzles. Today we will be presenting the &#8220;Best of 2015&#8221; selections, using data from the FAVE button at the bottom of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[8,81],"class_list":["post-5430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bestof","tag-sudoku-3","tag-bestof"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Best of 2015: Sudoku - The Art of Puzzles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here are the Best Sudoku puzzles of 2015 from Grandmaster Puzzles, as rated by our many devoted solvers. Have you solved them all?\" \/>\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\/2016\/01\/best-of-2015-sudoku\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Best of 2015: Sudoku - The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here are the Best Sudoku puzzles of 2015 from Grandmaster Puzzles, as rated by our many devoted solvers. Have you solved them all?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/best-of-2015-sudoku\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-03T17:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-06T17:18:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles\/150412-ArrowThermoCombo.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=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/best-of-2015-sudoku\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/best-of-2015-sudoku\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"drsudoku\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/16f28006b2b31c98ce6d8d1affd60275\"},\"headline\":\"Best of 2015: Sudoku\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-03T17:00:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-06T17:18:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/best-of-2015-sudoku\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":204,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/best-of-2015-sudoku\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/images\\\/puzzles\\\/150412-ArrowThermoCombo.png\",\"keywords\":[\"sudoku\",\"bestof\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Best Of ...\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/best-of-2015-sudoku\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/best-of-2015-sudoku\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/best-of-2015-sudoku\\\/\",\"name\":\"Best of 2015: Sudoku - The Art of Puzzles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/best-of-2015-sudoku\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/best-of-2015-sudoku\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/images\\\/puzzles\\\/150412-ArrowThermoCombo.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-03T17:00:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-06T17:18:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/16f28006b2b31c98ce6d8d1affd60275\"},\"description\":\"Here are the Best Sudoku puzzles of 2015 from Grandmaster Puzzles, as rated by our many devoted solvers. 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