PDF

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

Theme: Ordered Maze

Author/Opus: This is the 288th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty: 1 star

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

Solution: PDF

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.

Our most recent variety mix week of puzzles can be found in this PDF and the solutions are all grouped in this PDF and have also been linked to the individual posts.

A video talkthrough for the difficulty Kakuro (Double) puzzle from Saturday is here.

We’ve also shared our talkthrough of this Best of 2019
Sundoko Snake Shape puzzle combining three puzzle styles:

This coming week will focus on Sudoku and variations.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; note that the dotted circles are just for answer entry and are where the number should be placed in the 2×2 cell. An alternate option with centralized digit entry is here.)

Theme: Stuck

Author/Opus: This is the 287th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Kakuro. The gray (2×2) cells are to be filled by a single digit which sits in multiple rows and columns. No digits can repeat within an entry, regardless of if it is in a small or large cell.

Difficulty: 4.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 11:00, Master = 15:30, Expert = 31:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and 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 number entry mode.)

Theme: An Increasingly Valued Diamond

Author/Opus: This is the 171st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

Solution: PDF

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 The Art of Puzzles, in Fill o’ Fillomino and Fill o’ Fillomino 2 by Grant Fikes, and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

PDF

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

Theme: Diamond Pattern

Author/Opus: This is the 47th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard Even/Odd Sudoku rules (i.e., cells with a square contain an even digit; cells with a circle contain an odd digit).

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Even/Odd Sudoku puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Even/Odd Sudoku to get started on. More Even/Odd Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku 2 and Masterpiece Sudoku Mix 1.

PDF

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

Theme: TILT

Author/Opus: This is the 15th puzzle from guest contributor Bryce Herdt.

Rules: Standard Pentopia rules: Place some of the given pentominoes in the grid so that no pentominoes are in adjacent cells that share an edge or corner. Pentominoes cannot repeat in the grid; rotations and reflections of a pentomino are considered the same shape. The arrow clues indicate all the directions (up, down, left, and right) where the nearest pentominoes are located when looking from that square. (Arrow clues cannot contain pentomino shapes.) Also, see this example:

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 4:45, Expert = 9:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Pentopia puzzles and this link for other puzzles involving Pentominoes.

PDF

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

Theme: Tiny Pieces

Author/Opus: This is the 3rd puzzle from guest contributor Anurag Sahay.

Rules: Standard LITS rules.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:45, Master = 2:45, Expert = 5:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic LITS and this link for LITS variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest LITS to get started on. More LITS puzzles can be found in LOTS O’ LITS by Grant Fikes and Prasanna Seshadri, in The Art of Puzzles 2, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

PDF

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

Theme: Bow Tie

Author/Opus: This is the 324th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Yajilin rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF

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.

Here are our best Loop/Path puzzles of 2019, selected from the 42 web posts in this category based on your FAVE votes:

A couple of our “Best of” in this category are variety puzzles, starting with this loop + word puzzle combination O’utcast from Serkan Yürekli.

Guest contributor Bryce Herdt created a quite unusual Castle Wall puzzle that got a fair number of FAVE votes.

Another guest contributor, Joseph Howard, put together this challenging Yajilin variation with some “false” clues that might be covered up. The solvers who found their way to end enjoyed the journey.

Another Castle Wall, this one by Murat Can Tonta, was our second best in this category, with a noteworthy solving path if you can find it.

The best Loop/Path puzzle of 2019, and also the top vote getter across all categories as the best puzzle of 2019, is an absolutely crazy variation by Yuki Kawabe. It combines some shading, object placement, and snake path genres into a hybrid called SSS (Sundoku Snake Shape).

All of these best Loop/Path puzzles are collected in this PDF file.

Our most recent week of Slitherlink puzzles can be found in this PDF and the solutions are all grouped in this PDF and have also been linked to the individual posts. We also have two solution video for this week for the Thursday and Friday puzzles.

Later today we’ll post our Best of 2019 Loop/Path puzzles including our best puzzle of 2019 as voted on by our solvers. This upcoming week will feature a mix of puzzles across all of our categories.