This symmetric Masyu by Grant Fikes features some areas with sets of three adjacent circles. In Masyu, there cannot be three or more adjacent black circles due to the rules, but the same restriction is not true for white circles.

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)

Author/Opus: This is the 449th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Masyu rules.

Difficulty: 1 star

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

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic Masyu and this link for Masyu variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Masyu to get started on. More Masyu 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-0-discussion thread on the GMPuzzles Discord. If you are not yet part of this Discord community, use this link.

The Season 3 preview week starts with this “warm-up” Masyu puzzle by Grant Fikes with a Singles theme. The warm-up puzzles have blue stars at the top and use the same 1-5 star system as other puzzles on the site. Most warm-up puzzles will be 1 star with a couple 1.5 star examples here and there.

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: Singles

Author/Opus: This is the 448th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Masyu rules.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:25, Master = 0:35, Expert = 1:10

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic Masyu and this link for Masyu variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Masyu to get started on. More Masyu 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-0-discussion thread on the GMPuzzles Discord. If you are not yet part of this Discord community, use this link.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools using a composite mode where left click inside cell shades square, left click + drag draws line segment, right click inside cell adds dot, and right click on cell edge adds an x.)

Theme: Divided by 1

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Chandrachud Nanduri.

Rules: Standard Yajilin rules. Also, the loop must go straight through the cells with white circles, with a turn in at least one of the cells immediately before/after each white circle. The loop must make a turn in all the black circles, but must go straight in both cells immediately before/after each black circle.

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for classic Yajilin and this link for Yajilin variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Yajilin to get started on. More Yajilin puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2, in Yajilin by Murat Can Tonta and Prasanna Seshadri, and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

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: Odd Ones Out

Author/Opus: This is the 15th puzzle from guest contributor Freddie Hand.

Rules: Standard Masyu 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 Masyu and this link for Masyu variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Masyu to get started on. More Masyu puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

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)

Author/Opus: This is the 49th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Tom Collyer.

Rules: Standard Masyu rules.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:35, Master = 1:00, Expert = 2:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for classic Masyu and this link for Masyu variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Masyu to get started on. More Masyu puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

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)

Author/Opus: This is the 47th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Tom Collyer.

Rules: Standard Masyu rules.

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:45, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Masyu and this link for Masyu variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Masyu to get started on. More Masyu puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

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: Slanted Squares

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Mark Sweep.

Rules: Standard Castle Wall rules, but none of the clue colors are given. The solver should determine whether each gray clue is white or black. Also, the loop must go straight through the cells with white circles, with a turn in at least one of the cells immediately before/after each white circle. The loop must make a turn in all the black circles, but must go straight in both cells immediately before/after each black circle.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 8:00, Expert = 16:00

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

Note: Follow this link for more Castle Wall puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Castle Wall puzzles to get started on. More Castle Wall puzzles can be found in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles as well as the larger collection Castle Wall, both by Serkan Yürekli.

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: Dominoes

Author/Opus: This is the 46th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Tom Collyer.

Rules: Standard Masyu rules.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:10, Expert = 2:20

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Masyu and this link for Masyu variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Masyu to get started on. More Masyu puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

From Prasanna: “This puzzle is meant to be a culmination of 10 years of authoring puzzles. I want to especially thank GMPuzzles for accommodating these special puzzles every year even if it may not have fit the regular schedules. I also see this puzzle as a “reset” of sorts, and I’ll get back to simple ideas to celebrate my next few birthdays, and then see where that takes me. These last 10 years have been a fantastic experience and I’d like to take this moment to thank the puzzle community as a whole for being a huge part of my journey.”

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; note that the default puzzle info is too long — even for an url shortener — so copy and paste all the text in this file into the “Load” option in the upper-right of the penpa-edit interface to access.)

Theme: The Journey

Author/Opus: This is the 201st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Please see first two pages of the PDF for a detailed description of the rules and more background on the theme of the puzzle.

Difficulty: 5 stars?

Solution: PDF

This is a bonus Sunday puzzle for Valentine’s Day, and one more puzzle to conclude a full week of puzzles from JinHoo Ahn.

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: Valentine

Author/Opus: This is the 18th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster JinHoo Ahn.

Rules: Standard Masyu rules. Also, some white circles may be shaded to become black circles. (Stylistically, here the white circles are white with red borders and the black circles are filled, red circles.)

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 8:00, Expert = 16:00

Solution: PDF

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