Here are our best Loop/Path puzzles of 2018, selected from the 54 web posts in this category:

While we post bonus puzzles each week, only our subscribers get to solve them so it is very rare — even though these can be really great puzzles — for them to win enough votes for consideration for the Best of prizes. The challenging Roller Coaster by guest contributor Joseph Howard is the one bonus puzzle to win a Best of award for 2018.

This regional Yajilin by Murat Can Tonta got a lot praise from our solvers with an easy start that draws you into the variation style but a challenging conclusion.

Another gem from Murat Can Tonta came in the form of “Circuitous”, a large Slitherlink puzzle with no zero clues and a fun solving theme.

But winning the category was the puzzle that posted the next day and was called an “Early candidate for puzzle of the year” by one of the commenters. This Slitherlink grid variant from Serkan Yürekli ultimately got the third most votes for all of our puzzles across genres. It is an incredibly original idea for a loop puzzle that has many of the properties of our best puzzles: visually engaging, to make you want to solve it, and then a complex and interesting logical path that rewards the time spent when you reach the solution.

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Our most recent variety mix of Sudoku puzzles can be found in this PDF.

This week from Monday to Saturday we’ll be posting our “Best of 2018” in each of our six genres, as determined by our solvers through using the “FAVE” button on the solver widget that goes along with each puzzle post. We’ll be back next week with our first new week of puzzles for 2019, featuring Fillomino and a Fillomino variation.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use the tab key to alternate between a Star Battle placement option and a Sudoku number entry option)

Theme: Christmas Tree

Author/Opus: This is the 331st puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Classic Sudoku rules, with the digits 1-7 and two stars to be placed in each row, column, and bold region. As in Star Battle puzzles, the stars cannot be placed in adjacent cells that share an edge or corner.

Answer String: Enter the 5th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th row from left to right. Enter a capital letter X for any cell with a star in it.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other variations of Sudoku and this link for classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on.

Additional Note: This puzzle has been featured by the Cracking The Cryptic channel on Youtube.

Our most recent variety mix of Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found in this PDF.

Our last week of 2018 features Sudoku puzzles, particularly some less common variations spread across the week. This winter break is letting us complete the editing of The Art of Sudoku 2 and many more sudoku puzzles will be available on our e-store in the coming months.

This week, our subscribers are getting early access to the full week of puzzles and images of the puzzle solutions. Master+ subscribers to the site are getting a bonus Tight Fit (Even/Odd) Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli and an Isodoku by John Bulten. If you want to become a subscriber and get access to bonus puzzles, solutions, e-books, and other rewards, check out this page.

Our subscribers receive access to bonus puzzles each week. We make these posts so those supporters have a space to comment on these puzzles, mark as FAVES, or log their solving. If you are interested in subscribing, click here for more info.

Theme: 1, 2, 3, 4

Author/Opus: This is the 330th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Variation of Spiral Galaxies. In addition to the standard rules, some circles are shaded gray and must belong to galaxies containing two gray circles, not one, with the circles in rotationally symmetric spots for those galaxies.

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma. The example has the answer “52,11131”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:45, Master = 8:30, Expert = 17:00

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a composite mode for line/edge drawing and a shading mode.)

Theme: Think Outside the Box

Author/Opus: This is the 329th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:00, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

Q: Are you going to write about your experiences in Prague this year? Did you expect you would ever win the World Puzzle Championship?

Several people have asked if I would write a report on my experiences this year as I finally became World Puzzle Champion. Long ago, before I started this site, I would frequently write live blogs during or shortly after puzzle events, capturing the “heat” of competition. Some wanted to see me write an epilogue, after so many close runner-ups, to conclude a chapter in my life. Many of these championship stories (when posted in the late aughts) were the first ways people learned about me. I now prefer to let my own volume of written and edited puzzles speak more for me.

The live blogs capture my moments of great success and also great failure, as someone writing with full transparency and passion about what it is like to compete. I shared photos of “dirty laundry” — the stupid mistakes a competitor can make. I gave complaints earned and unearned against event organizers (the “So yeah, [insert event] happened” posts). I wrote an open letter that led to disqualifying a cheater and another that unfortunately did not lead to any WSC competition changes and continuing questions about what a Sudoku is almost 10 years later, ….

I stopped posting on that blog in 2013, with a primary focus on my own scientific career and a secondary focus on growing GMPuzzles. The reconnecting with science jobs was a major reason I stopped going to competitions from 2014 until 2017, “retired” from competitive puzzling in a sense. I never fully explained that choice, and I’ve never explained a few things that have had the most impact on my adult life. I’ve separated my very public “puzzle life” from my private life.

This time it is hard for me to answer questions like “did you expect you could win this year?” or “how does it feel?” without starting from a more private angle.

For the very private and introspective angle, continue here (note: some sadness/personal loss covered).

To go straight to the competition report, click here.

The Playoff story and video annotation is here.

Our subscribers receive access to bonus puzzles each week. We make these posts so those supporters have a space to comment on these puzzles, mark as FAVES, or log their solving. If you are interested in subscribing, click here for more info.

Theme: Circular Cluster

Author/Opus: This is the 328th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:00, Master = 3:00, Expert = 6:00

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

Our most recent variety mix of WPC practice puzzles from Palmer Mebane can be found in this PDF.

This coming week features Spiral Galaxies, a region division style that focuses on symmetry. We have several classic Galaxies and a few variations during the week. We are close to finishing an e-book (part of The Art of Puzzles 2) featuring Spiral Galaxies; be on the watch for this before the new year.

This week, our subscribers are getting early access to the full week of puzzles and images of the puzzle solutions. Master+ subscribers to the site are getting a bonus Spiral Galaxies and a Double Spiral Galaxies both by Thomas Snyder. If you want to become a subscriber and get access to bonus puzzles, solutions, e-books, and other rewards, check out this page.

Our most recent week of Nurikabe puzzles can be found in this PDF.

This coming week features a variety mix of puzzles by Palmer Mebane, created as practice for the US team before the most recent World Puzzle Championship. There are several Skyscrapers (with Mirrors) puzzles, as well as other variations — 9 puzzles in total. Note: these puzzles can have high variance in solving time partially due to the genres being less familiar to solvers at this site, so expect some of the “days of the week” to be out of order for you.

This week, our subscribers are getting early access to the full week of puzzles, images of the puzzle solutions, and video talkthroughs of two of the less common puzzles. Master+ subscribers to the site are getting a bonus Gaps Between Battleships puzzle and a Pyramid puzzle by Palmer Mebane. If you want to become a subscriber and get access to bonus puzzles, solutions, e-books, and other rewards, check out this page.

PS: Also look towards the end of the week for a competition report from the World Puzzle Championship, telling my story of an unexpected world title win.

PPS: The answer checker (maintained by thegriddle.net) is undergoing end of year maintenance; please be patient as it may be missing from posts or not accepting solutions this week.