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Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 257th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Masyu rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. If the loop only has vertical segments in the marked row, enter 0. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:30, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

Note: Follow this link for other 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.

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Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 89th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Place the twelve pentominoes into the grid, rotations and reflections allowed. Pentominoes cannot cover the numbered cells, and they also cannot touch each other (not even diagonally). Numbered cells indicate how many of the surrounding cells (including diagonally adjacent cells) contain parts of the pentominoes.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:30, Master = 7:15, Expert = 14:30

Note: Click here for other Minesweeper puzzles.

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Theme: Broken Arrows

Author/Opus: This is the 87th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 6th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 4th column from top to bottom.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:00, Master = 7:45, Expert = 15:30

Note: Follow this link for more Arrow Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Arrow Sudoku to get started on.

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Theme: S is for Sudoku

Author/Opus: This is the 187th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

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.

(Note: this puzzle is like a Sunday Surprise with very high difficulty.)

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Theme: 14 Nisan, 2018 (Pasch 5778)

Author/Opus: This is the 45th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: See PDF link above for complete rules as well as a solvable example by Thomas Snyder.

Answer String: The solution string is 3 words in ABC order, in all capital letters and separated by commas. (There are a total of 28 letters in this string.)

Time Standards (highlight to view): No time standard (GM time > 2hr).

Editor’s Note: The giant grid here is one of the hardest puzzles we have ever presented. If I knew in advance John wanted to make a puzzle like this, I would have said no because of the combination of so many kinds of rules, new puzzle styles, and my expectation it would take hours to solve (and it certainly does!). But there is something inspirational about the elements brought together here by John, many unexpected Ahas that will cure the headaches you’ll also get in the middle. While the giant puzzle was originally created to stand on its own, John added the four medium difficulty puzzles we posted earlier this week to introduce the four subgenres. Be sure to solve these as you prepare for this large test at the end of the week. -TS

Author’s Note: Thanks to Thomas and Grant for encouraging me to construct new puzzle types. Thanks to patron Randy Rogers for requesting 4-grid combination puzzles, which sparked this idea. Thanks to Prasanna for his giant 11/29/15, 3/2/16, and 3/2/17 puzzles, which directly inspired this puzzle. Thanks to Serkan for inventing Light and Shadow, because whenever I tried experimenting with shading puzzles I found myself trying to reinvent Light and Shadow. Thanks to Izak for inventing Surf, which has more potential than either of us realize. Thanks to God for this day. -JB

While not a Pentominous puzzle, we wanted to share a cool Pentominoes loop puzzle variant from Murat this week, who is a co-author with Grant Fikes of Plenty o’ Pentominous, released this week.

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Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 86th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Variation of Yajilin. Place the twelve pentominoes into empty cells in the grid (rotations and reflections allowed). No two pentominoes can share an edge. The numbered arrows indicate the number of cells that are parts of pentominoes in the given direction. Then draw a single closed loop (without intersections or crossings) through all remaining white cells as in a Yajilin.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. If the loop only has vertical segments in the marked row, enter 0. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 8:00, Master = 12:30, Expert = 25:00

Note: Follow this link for other variations of Yajilin and this link for classic Yajilin. 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.

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Theme: Clock Trisection

Author/Opus: This is the 40th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Standard Pentominous rules.

Answer String: Enter the letter associated with the pentomino occupying each cell in the marked rows from left to right and in the marked columns from top to bottom, separating the groups with a comma. Use CAPITAL LETTERS!

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

Note: Follow this link for other Pentominous puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Pentominous to get started on. More Pentominous puzzles can be found in Plenty o’ Pentominous by Grant Fikes and Murat Can Tonta.