We evaluate the asymptotic size of various sums of Gál type, in particular
0trueS(M):=∑m,n∈scriptM(m,n)[m,n],where scriptM is a finite set of integers. Elaborating on methods recently developed by Bondarenko and Seip, we obtain an asymptotic formula for
log supfalse|scriptMfalse|=NS(M)/Nand derive new lower bounds for localized extreme values of the Riemann zeta‐function, for extremal values of some Dirichlet L‐functions at s=12, and for large character sums.