Today is Grant Fikes’ 38th birthday, and he has created this Numberlink as a gift to share as a special challenge before today’s other posts.

As a second gift, Grant wants to share six subscriptions to his Outside the Fox Puzzles (a mainly word puzzles series but with one logic puzzle per week as well). Send a picture / screenshot of the completed puzzle to hiddencontest@gmpuzzles.com before 9 AM PT May 28 (Wednesday) to be entered in a random drawing to win a subscription. Contest is now closed and winners being notified.

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PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: 38 Years

Author/Opus: This is the 506th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Connect each pair of identical numbers with a path passing through edge-adjacent cells. No cell may be used on more than one path.

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation of possible path.

Note: Follow this link for other Numberlink puzzles and this link for other Loop/Path puzzles.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our General Blog Puzzle Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.

This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Cubicles

Author/Opus: This is the 505th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:30, Expert = 3:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic Fillomino and this link for Fillomino variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on. More Fillomino puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 12 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

PDF

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

Theme: Undercover Operations

Author/Opus: This is the 502nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-6.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:15, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic TomTom and this link for TomTom variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest TomTom to get started on. More TomTom puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 11 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

PDF

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

Theme: Cheaper by the Dozen

Author/Opus: This is the 501st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-5.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:15, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic TomTom and this link for TomTom variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest TomTom to get started on. More TomTom puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 11 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

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: Primes

Author/Opus: This is the 498th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Cave rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:40, Master = 1:30, Expert = 3:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

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 these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 8 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

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: Square

Author/Opus: This is the 497th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Cave rules.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:25, Master = 0:45, Expert = 1:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

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 these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 8 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Big and Small

Author/Opus: This is the 496th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Balance Loop rules. Additionally, all possible white circles are given, meaning that no other cells in the loop can represent a “balanced” cell where a white circle could be placed.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:30, Master = 2:00, Expert = 4:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for other Balance Loop puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Balance Loop Puzzles to get started on. More Balance Loops can be found in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli and in Balance Loop by Prasanna Seshadri and Murat Can Tonta.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 7 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

PDF

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

Theme: Odd\Even

Author/Opus: This is the 495th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Kakuro rules.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:35, Master = 0:45, Expert = 1:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Kakuro to get started on. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 6 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

PDF

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

Author/Opus: This is the 493rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Variation of Skyscrapers rules. All exterior clues are false and should be either one higher or one lower than the value given.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:15, Expert = 2:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic Skyscrapers puzzles and this link for variations on Skyscrapers puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Skyscrapers Puzzles to get started on. More Skyscrapers puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli, and in the e-book Skyscrapers by Ashish Kumar.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 5 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

PDF

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

Theme: Horizontal Dominoes

Author/Opus: This is the 490th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Kurotto rules.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:00, Expert = 2:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic Kurotto puzzles and this link for variations on Kurotto puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Kurotto to get started on. More Kurotto puzzles can be found in the ebook Kurotto by Prasanna Seshadri.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 4 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.