There will be no new puzzles this week as we look back on the last 51 weeks (and 326 puzzle posts) at GMPuzzles. Over the next six days we will be presenting our “Best of 2014″ selections, using data from the FAVE button at the bottom of each post. Because of a variable number of solvers over the year (and even over each week), the selection process included raw FAVE counts, FAVE/solver ratios, and internal discussions when those values brought up ties. Today, we present the BEST SUDOKU:

While we had fewer sudoku than last year due to a wider variety of puzzles, the sudoku we posted still received rather high ranks.

The best Classic sudoku from last year was Flyers by Thomas Snyder (aka Dr. Sudoku), a hand-crafted sudoku where getting just one digit is quite a challenge:

Thermo-Sudoku is a frequent variant here and this “June Sun” puzzle also by Dr. Sudoku was the highest rated standard variant:

This combination of Thermo-Sudoku and Skyscrapers from Hans van Stippent, with zero given numbers, earned a very high ratio of FAVEs from its solvers:

2014 brought a new contributing puzzlemaster to the website, and Prasanna Seshadri’s sudoku contributions frequently rose to the top of the charts. As a new variation, this “Hamle Sudoku” was very highly rated:

Overall, the highest marks went to another puzzle from Prasanna, one that I both rejected and accepted. Originally created for Prasanna’s Sudoku GP round in 2014, this Basement Skyscraper Sudoku puzzle had to be cut from that competition for reasons of time/difficulty and for having a higher emphasis on Skyscrapers (a puzzle genre) and not just Sudoku. Fortunately, this “reject” got a chance to shine on our website as a really elegant puzzle, and our Best Sudoku of 2014:

All of these best sudoku can be found in this PDF.

Please come back later today for the first in our “Best of 2014” entries. Our supercomputers (read: Thomas, working with a spreadsheet and some graphs) are crunching the numbers as we speak to bring you this exciting summary of the last year at Grandmaster Puzzles.

All the Pentomino puzzles from last week can be found in this PDF.

Instead of new puzzles, this coming week will highlight our best rated puzzles of 2014. Have you liked what GMPuzzles has offered over 2014? How do you want to see our site grow over the next year?

All the variety puzzles from last week can be found in this PDF.

This next week will feature a set of Pentomino puzzles, specifically Pentominous and Pentopia puzzles.

The bonus puzzle for our high-level supporters will also be a Yajilin by Grant Fikes.

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between ship placement and shading modes. In ship placement mode, right click gives sea, left click gives circle/square, left click and drag for rounded ships.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 212nd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Battleships rules. Use the indicated fleet.

Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a ship segment appears (enter just the last digit for any two-digit number). If the row is empty, enter 0. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:00, Master = 3:15, Expert = 6:30

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

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

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the composite Yajilin mode where left click marks cells, right click marks dots in cells or X’s on edges, left click+drag draws lines.)

Theme: 12/15

Author/Opus: This is the 211st puzzle from Thomas Snyder aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

Solution: PDF

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

All the variety puzzles from last week can be found in this PDF.

This next week will feature another variety mix. The puzzles will be:
Monday: Tapa by Thomas Snyder
Tuesday: Masyu by Grant Fikes
Wednesday: Battleships by Thomas Snyder
Thursday: TomTom by Grant Fikes
Friday: Arrow Sudoku by Swaroop Guggilam
Saturday: Star Duel by Carl Worth

The bonus puzzle for our high-level supporters will also be a Cross the Streams by Prasanna Seshadri.

All the Fillomino puzzles from last week can be found in this PDF.

This next week will feature a variety mix, all from Grant Fikes. Specifically, we will have:
Monday: Slitherlink
Tuesday: Cave
Wednesday: Round Trip
Thursday: Skyscrapers
Friday: Fillomino
Saturday: Cross the Streams (LITS)

The bonus puzzle for our high-level supporters will also be a Nurikabe by Grant Fikes.

All the puzzles from last week’s variety mix can be found in this PDF.

This next week will feature a set of classic puzzles and variations on Fillomino. Puzzles will be from Hans van Stippent, Grant Fikes, Prasanna Seshadri, and Robert Vollmert.

The bonus puzzle for our high-level supporters will also be a Fillomino by Grant Fikes.

All the puzzles from last week’s Letters and Numbers (Pentominous/Sudoku) collection can be found in this PDF.

This next week will feature a variety of styles from guest contributors. Specifically:
Monday: Nanro by Carl Worth
Tuesday: Round Trip by Hans van Stippent
Wednesday: Masyu by Murat Can Tonta
Thursday: Tapa by John Bulten
Friday: Cave by Murat Can Tonta
Saturday: Fractional Skyscrapers by Robert Vollmert

The bonus puzzle for our high-level supporters will also be a Pentominous by Grant Fikes.