The next Region Division puzzle is a crowded Araf puzzle by Serkan Yürekli that emphasizes the two key numbers for the 30th WPC and 16th WSC. Can you fit all the regions into this grid?

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.)

Author/Opus: This is the 416th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Araf rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Solution: PDF for all Region Division playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for more Araf puzzles on this website. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Araf Puzzles to get started on. More Araf puzzles can be found in the ebook Araf by Serkan Yürekli.

The next Loop/Path puzzle, reflecting an unusual grid geometry round, is this “Trophy” Slitherlink by Serkan Yürekli. Can you figure out how all the unusual parts of the grid will mark the 30th World Puzzle Championship.

PDF

Author/Opus: This is the 415th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Slitherlink rules. Draw a single, non-intersecting loop on an irregular grid that can only follow the lines between the dots. Numbers inside a cell indicate how many of the edges of that cell are part of the loop.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF for all Loop/Path playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Slitherlink. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Slitherlink puzzles to get started on. More Slitherlink puzzles can be found in our books The Art of Puzzles and Slitherlink and Variations.

The second Number Placement playoff puzzle was a Cross Sums, for the Canadian puzzle invention by Jacob E. Funk that is now mostly known as Kakuro. Can you solve Serkan’s easy puzzle?

PDF

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

Author/Opus: This is the 414th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Kakuro rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF for all Number Placement playoff puzzles.

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.

This week we are sharing the 10 puzzles that decided the World Sudoku Championship this year. There was an individual and a team round focusing on “Clone” puzzles, and the fifth playoff puzzle was such a Clone Sudoku with a Noughts and Crosses theme.

PDF

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

Theme: Noughts and Crosses

Author/Opus: This is the 413th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, all shaded regions of the same shape (“clones”) must include the same numbers in the same positions. Numbers may repeat within a clone.

Estimated Difficulty: 3 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for more variations of Sudoku.

Update: 2023/07/27 – We have opened up a few more of our subscription puzzles to give people a sense of what they may be missing if they aren’t a subscriber. This “warm-up” Thermo-Sudoku is a great example of some of the new easier puzzles that happen every day (alongside harder content) to get solvers back into our different genres; all warm-up puzzles are fair and interesting, even if on the easier side.

Mastering Thermo-Sudoku requires combining number placement thinking with greater than/less than thinking. How will you do on this puzzle from Serkan Yürekli that splits the numbers and the thermometers apart?

PDF

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

Theme: Half and Half

Author/Opus: This is the 393rd puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Thermo-Sudoku rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 1:20, Expert = 2:40

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

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

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in Yajilin mode allowing line drawing and cell shading/unmarking; hitting tab can alternate to separate shading and edge drawing modes).

Theme: 2 and 3

Author/Opus: This is the 387th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Locate some automobiles in the grid having size 1×2 or 1×3. Each number in the grid should be part of an automobile, indicating the number of unoccupied cells the automobile can move to by traveling along its longest axis, stopped only by an edge of the grid or another automobile. No more than one number can be in an automobile. (Unlike other variations of this puzzle, there are no extra automobiles without numbers here.)

Also, see this example:

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 8:00, Expert = 16:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for more Parking Lot puzzles.

This style, whose name means “Triangular Numbers” in English and has also been called “Four Directions Loop” elsewhere, was originally created by the Indian team that organized the 2017 World Puzzle Championship as part of an instructionless team round. More Mukkonn Enn will be in our upcoming Loop Variety Collection 2.

PDF

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

Theme: Sequences

Author/Opus: This is the 386th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Draw a single, non-intersecting loop that passes through the center of all cells, including clue cells; the loop may either go straight through or turn at each clue. Each clue cell is divided into four sections; if a number is present in a section and the loop travels in that direction, then the number represents the length of the straight loop segment in that direction, measured from the clue cell to the cell where the loop turns. If the loop does not travel in that direction, then the number means nothing.

Also see this example:

Difficulty: 1 star

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

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for other Loop/Path puzzles. More Mukkonn Enn puzzles are in the book Loop Variety Collection 2.

PDF

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: Identical Pairs

Author/Opus: This is the 385th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for classic Tapa and this link for Tapa variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on. More Tapa puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in Tapa and Variations 1, 2, and 3, and in our beginner-friendly books Intro to GMPuzzles and Starter Pack 2: Tapa, all by Serkan Yürekli.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use the tab key to alternate between shading and number entry modes)

Theme: P for Puzzle

Author/Opus: This is the 384th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Nanro rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:05, Master = 1:30, Expert = 3:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for Nanro puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Nanro puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nanro Puzzles to get started on. More Nanro puzzles can be found in A Number o’ Nanro by Prasanna Seshadri.

PDF

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

Theme: Stairs

Author/Opus: This is the 383rd puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:20, Master = 2:00, Expert = 4:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on. More classic Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku, The Art of Sudoku 2 and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.