PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; in default linex mode: left-click+drag draws line, right click marks X on edge)

Theme: Number Series

Author/Opus: This is the 216th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Draw a single loop in the grid which may cross itself orthogonally, but otherwise does not touch or retrace itself. The clue numbers to the left/right of the rows indicate the number of squares visited by the nearest section of the loop that travels horizontally in the rows. The clue numbers to the top/bottom of the columns indicate the number of squares visited by the nearest section of the loop that travels vertically in the columns.

Also, see this example:

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 1:40, Expert = 3:20

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

Note: Follow this link for other Round Trip puzzles. Some more Round Trip puzzles can be found in the book Loop Variety Collection by Ashish Kumar and Murat Can Tonta.

Our past variety week of Spiral Galaxies puzzles is collected in this PDF and the solutions are in this PDF. More Spiral Galaxies can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

The daily solution videos are on the posts and linked below:

This next week of puzzles will contain Round Trip loop puzzles. We recently finished digitizing our (small) archive of other Round Trip puzzles for Penpa-Edit solving, as well as all of our Kakuro puzzles. A full list of completed genres is on our Penpa Notes page.

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.)

Theme: Double Ring

Author/Opus: This is the 392nd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Variation of Spiral Galaxies. In addition to the standard rules, some circles are shaded gray and must belong to galaxies containing two gray circles, not one, with the circles in rotationally symmetric spots for those galaxies.

Difficulty: 4.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:00, Master = 13:15, Expert = 26:30

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies can be found 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 shading mode.)

Author/Opus: This is the 84th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules. Also, there may not be four consecutive cells that are part of a galaxy in any row or column.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found 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 shading mode.)

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Jeffrey Jin.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

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

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found 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 shading mode.)

Theme: White Hole

Author/Opus: This is the 207th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

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

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found 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 shading mode.)

Theme: Down the Middle

Author/Opus: This is the 353rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found 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 shading mode.)

Theme: Triplets

Author/Opus: This is the 78th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:50, Master = 1:20, Expert = 2:40

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

After many years of publishing elegant, hand-crafted puzzles across multiple genres in focused e-books and one-off collections, we have decided to start a more regular quarterly publication where every 3 months we will feature selections from six different categories of puzzles. Today marks the release of Grandmaster Puzzles Quarterly: Volume 1, which has 60 total puzzles split across these genres:

– 7 Sudoku and 3 Killer Sudoku
– 7 TomTom and 3 TomTom (Different Set)
– 7 Star Battle and 3 Star Battle (Isometric)
– 7 Tapa and 3 Tapa (Line)
– 7 Fillomino and 3 Fillomino (Non-consecutive)
– 7 Yajilin and 3 Yajilin (Regional)

We are already pretty far along in preparing volume 2, which will be even larger than the first volume, and we are continuing to consider additional features to put into this recurring series over time. So please try out this first volume, and then share any feedback you have so we can continue to make a great quarterly publication.

At the end of the year (at the release of volume 2), we expect to offer some options to subscribe to this series of books to receive them at a discount.

The recent mix of “Last Days of SUM-mer” arithmetic puzzles is collected in this PDF and the solutions are in this PDF.

The daily solution videos are on the posts and linked below:

This next week of puzzles will be themed around Spiral Galaxies puzzles.

We have recently added several more Penpa versions of puzzles to the site, completing the main entries for TomTom and LITS styles, to bring us to over 775 puzzles digitized so far this year. The six completed sudoku genres and six completed puzzle genres are listed on our Penpa Notes page.

Later today we’ll be posting the first issue of a new book series, Grandmaster Puzzles Quarterly 1. This book has 60 total puzzles, with six sections containing 7 “regular” puzzles and one variation with 3 more puzzles. The first issue focuses on Sudoku, TomTom, Star Battle, Tapa, Fillomino, and Yajilin. Each section is meant to resemble a full week of GMPuzzles on the web, but packed with extra content. While this first issue took more time than expected to prepare, our managing editor Serkan Yürekli and contributing authors are pretty far along with Grandmaster Puzzles Quarterly 2 which will be out by the end of the year with an even larger size.