PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Powers of Two

Author/Opus: This is the 411th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Variation of Cave rules. Each clue represents the product of the # of row cells visible (including the cell itself) with the # of column cells visible (including the cell itself).

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 5:45, Expert = 11:30

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for classic Caves and this link for Cave variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cave Puzzles to get started on. More Cave puzzles can be found in Roger Barkan’s Colossal Cave Collection, in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

Our past week of Statue Park puzzles is in this PDF and the solutions are in this PDF. More Statue Park puzzles can be found in our store.

Our Statue Park week closes with a Sunday Stumper posting in a few minutes.

The daily solution videos are on the posts and linked below:

We’ve been adding more Penpa-Edit links this weekend, and all Slitherlink and Masyu posts are now digitized (except for one irregular USA Slitherlink). We’ll be working on Skyscrapers posts next as we get much closer to having Penpa-Edit links for nearly all of our old puzzles.

The next week of puzzles will feature Cave puzzles with several classic puzzles and a few variations. We’re also about a week away from publishing our second Starter Pack, with this next issue by Serkan Yürekli focused on Tapa.

Hi all,

I wanted to share some updates and other thoughts about our solving videos.

1) We have historically released the videos one day after the puzzles are released and still think this is the most rewarding approach so the earliest solvers can’t get help right away on a tough challenge. But we have been putting the updated links on the original posts the next day which make them hard to schedule and requires daily site maintenance. We will now instead be posting the solutions on the following day’s puzzle, but with quick links to those posts for people in the future to find.

2) Also, we are starting to get some other people making these solving videos and not just me. Yes, they will need some (helpful) feedback about microphones and clarity of words and pace of speech and other things, so please be constructive in your comments and not just complain. We’re all trying to share the language of puzzles and even if the words fail to be perfect in a video, the visual images should be enough to help guide you on where to look and potentially how to think to get to the next steps. That the language of a logic puzzle does not need any “English” is what excites me so much in communicating through puzzles.

3) Finally, if you are interested yourself to eventually become a presenter of solution videos for GMPuzzles, please feel free to reach out here. One great way to officially “apply” for this kind of job is to film a video for any of our puzzles that currently don’t have one. If they are good enough, we’ll add that video to our official post and channel and may consider adding you to the GMPuzzles team to do these videos more regularly. There are a lot of others using twitch or YouTube to make solution videos so the standards already out there, people using OBS or other streaming tools to make videos, is our starting point. Not where I was at in 2014 when I made the first video with just a cell phone camera and shaky video and bad lighting. I’ve enjoyed learning how to make more compelling videos without needing an editor and expect some of you might as well so I’m here to help.

Cheers,
Thomas

First, thanks again for all your thoughts and words of love as I’ve been working through my mental health (see past post here). I continue to feel better, but have been very disconnected from work and taking long hikes and walks and talking with friends and taking medication so I should be getting better. I don’t know if I’ve stabilized, but I did begin to apply the scientific method to analyse my breakdown and share it with the world and if you are struggling with things there may be some interesting ideas in this long video.

Our past week of Kakuro puzzles is in this PDF and the solutions are in this PDF. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in these books in our store.

The daily solution videos are on the posts and linked below:

The next week of puzzles will feature Statue Park puzzles with several great classic puzzles and a few variations. There will also be a challenging Sunday Stumper a week from today.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

Theme: 2022

Author/Opus: This is the 410th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Kakuro rules. Also, no two consecutive digits (i.e., digits that differ by 1) can be in cells that share an edge.

Difficulty: 4.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 10:00, Master = 14:30, Expert = 29:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

We just uploaded a new version of Penpa-Edit tools to the site. The major update with this version is the presence of solve histories which you can also share with others using the “share” button and then “Replay URL” choice. Here is an example link of me doing the Monday Kakuro puzzle. In Solve Path mode it will go through one entry step at a time and at uniform speed. In Live Replay mode, provided you had the clock on, it will show the exact timing of all entries and make the long thinking moments more obvious too. We’re still exploring this feature and don’t yet have an intention to have this replace our solving videos but think the ability to store and share your own solving paths will be neat.

There were also some minor fixes and other improvements that were part of this update. Please share any thought/feedback here as you begin to use the latest version of Penpa-Edit.

Our past variety week featuring the six styles in Grandmaster Puzzles Quarterly 3 is gathered in this PDF and the solutions are in this PDF. We will be releasing GPQ3 in a few more weeks.

The daily solution videos (including one from Cracking the Cryptic) are on the posts and linked below:

The next week of puzzles will feature Kakuro, with three classic puzzles and three variations. We will also have a Penpa-Edit tools update to introduce solution tracking / playback features (more details to come) as well as more details on Dr. Sudoku including a fundraising drive for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).