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Theme: Big +, Small +

Author/Opus: This is the 176th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Variation of Yajilin. Blacken some white cells and then draw a single closed loop (without intersections or crossings) through all remaining white cells. Blackened cells cannot share an edge with each other. A number in a region indicates how many white cells must be blackened. Cells with number clues may be blackened.

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 = 3:15, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

Solution: PDF

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, in Yajilin by Murat Can Tonta and Prasanna Seshadri, and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

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Theme: Every Which Way but Up

Author/Opus: This is the 13th puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Variation of Yajilin rules, including both diagonal arrows and transparent clues that the loop can pass through. Any clue cells that are part of the loop must be true and indicate the number of shaded cells in that direction. Any clue cell that is not part of the loop must be blackened, and the clue value MUST also be false (e.g., if a 2 left clue is blackened, there must be some number of cells other than 2 blackened to the left of the clue).

See also this example:

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 = 4:15, Master = 10:30, Expert = 21:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other 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, in Yajilin by Murat Can Tonta and Prasanna Seshadri, and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

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Theme: My Beach Trip

Author/Opus: This is the 62nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Standard Yajilin 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 = 4:15, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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, in Yajilin by Murat Can Tonta and Prasanna Seshadri, and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

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

Theme: Entrance and Exit

Author/Opus: This is the 242nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Yajilin rules, except that instead of blackening single cells, blacken in dominoes (1×2 rectangles). Clues indicate the total number of dominoes (not the total number of cells) that are shaded in the given direction.

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 = 3:15, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

Solution: PDF

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, in Yajilin by Murat Can Tonta and Prasanna Seshadri, and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

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

Theme: One, Two

Author/Opus: This is the 128th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Yajilin 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 = 2:30, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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, 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)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 293rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Yajilin 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 = 1:30, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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, 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)

Theme: 2019 (2 0 1 3²)

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from guest contributor Yunus Emre Büyükkale.

Rules: Standard Yajilin 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 = 1:30, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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, 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)

Theme: Tripods

Author/Opus: This is the 241st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Yajilin 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 = 1:20, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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, 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 2018, selected from the 54 web posts in this category:

While we post bonus puzzles each week, only our subscribers get to solve them so it is very rare — even though these can be really great puzzles — for them to win enough votes for consideration for the Best of prizes. The challenging Roller Coaster by guest contributor Joseph Howard is the one bonus puzzle to win a Best of award for 2018.

This regional Yajilin by Murat Can Tonta got a lot praise from our solvers with an easy start that draws you into the variation style but a challenging conclusion.

Another gem from Murat Can Tonta came in the form of “Circuitous”, a large Slitherlink puzzle with no zero clues and a fun solving theme.

But winning the category was the puzzle that posted the next day and was called an “Early candidate for puzzle of the year” by one of the commenters. This Slitherlink grid variant from Serkan Yürekli ultimately got the third most votes for all of our puzzles across genres. It is an incredibly original idea for a loop puzzle that has many of the properties of our best puzzles: visually engaging, to make you want to solve it, and then a complex and interesting logical path that rewards the time spent when you reach the solution.

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Theme: Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 261st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Yajilin 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 = 0:40, Master = 1:00, Expert = 2:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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, and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.