Our most recent week of Kuromasu and Spiral Galaxies puzzles is collected together in this PDF and the solutions are in this PDF.

You can find more Spiral Galaxies and Kuromasu puzzles in our e-store.

The daily solution videos are on the posts and linked below. We’re continuing with “speed-solving” and paper notation commentaries this week, so please tell us what you think of this new video approach.

Our next week of puzzles features Sudoku puzzles including two variations.

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: Diamond

Author/Opus: This is the 394th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 8:00, Master = 12:45, Expert = 25:30

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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.)

Theme: Hidden

Author/Opus: This is the 235th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 7:45, Expert = 15:30

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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 shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Antisymmetry

Author/Opus: This is the 20th puzzle from guest contributor Salih Alan.

Rules: Shade some empty cells black so that each number indicates the total count of white cells connected vertically and horizontally to that number including the numbered cell itself. Black cells cannot share an edge, and all white cells must belong to a single connected group.

Also see this example:

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 more Kuromasu puzzles. More Kuromasu can be found in Grandmaster Puzzles Quarterly Vol. 3.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Twins

Author/Opus: This is the 14th puzzle from guest contributor Sam Cappleman-Lynes.

Rules: Shade some empty cells black so that each number indicates the total count of white cells connected vertically and horizontally to that number including the numbered cell itself. Black cells cannot share an edge, and all white cells must belong to a single connected group.

Also see this example:

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:45, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for more Kuromasu puzzles. More Kuromasu can be found in Grandmaster Puzzles Quarterly Vol. 3.

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: Think Inside the Box

Author/Opus: This is the 426th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:30, Master = 2:00, Expert = 4:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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 shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Multiples of 3

Author/Opus: This is the 62nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster JinHoo Ahn.

Rules: Shade some empty cells black so that each number indicates the total count of white cells connected vertically and horizontally to that number including the numbered cell itself. Black cells cannot share an edge, and all white cells must belong to a single connected group.

Also see this example:

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 1:15, Expert = 2:30

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for more Kuromasu puzzles. More Kuromasu can be found in Grandmaster Puzzles Quarterly Vol. 3.

Since 2021, we have posted some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This twelfth Sunday Stumper of 2022 is a Yajilin puzzle by Sam Cappleman-Lynes with a tricky path into and out from the “Open Middle”.

(view directly for a larger image)

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: Open Middle

Author/Opus: This is the 13th puzzle from guest contributor Sam Cappleman-Lynes.

Rules: Standard Yajilin rules.

Difficulty: 4.5 stars

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

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.

Our most recent week of Yajilin puzzles is gathered in this PDF and the solutions are in this PDF.

You can find more Yajilin puzzles in these books in our e-store.

The daily solution videos are on the posts and linked below. This week we’ve been exploring showcasing both some steps to “speed solving” as well as covering our usual logical puzzle solve. Please tell us what you like / don’t like about these new videos as we start to approach more competition-focused approaches to get solvers closer to Master and Grandmaster times.

In a few minutes we’ll have one more Yajilin, a Sunday Stumper, to close out this interesting week. Starting Monday we will have a set of region division puzzles split across Kuromasu and Spiral Galaxies styles.

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: 4×4 Grid

Author/Opus: This is the 11th puzzle from guest contributor David Altizio.

Rules: Standard Yajilin rules.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:00, Master = 9:45, Expert = 19:30

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.