Even though today is not Valentine’s Day, Serkan Yürekli is presenting us with a love-themed Arrow Sudoku and must be drawing attention to our shared love for solving puzzles.

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

Theme: Love

Author/Opus: This is the 451st puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 8:35, Expert = 17:10

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

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. More Arrow Sudoku puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our week-0-discussion thread on the GMPuzzles Discord. If you are not yet part of this Discord community, use this link.

Serkan Yürekli’s warm-up puzzle should show you how to handle regions with limited options, particularly those that are one-unit wide snakes often with clear tetromino shapes inside.

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a shading mode and a mode to mark edges with an X.)

Theme: Profiles

Author/Opus: This is the 450th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard LITS rules.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:25, Master = 0:45, Expert = 1:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for more variations of LITS and this link for classic LITS. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest LITS to get started on. More LITS puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our week-0-discussion thread on the GMPuzzles Discord. If you are not yet part of this Discord community, use this link.

Our second subscription season of GMPuzzles is into week 4 and currently available for purchase. This bonus puzzle from Serkan Yürekli is a teaser for some of the extra Sunday content that comes each week in the subscription, in this case the once a month Sunday Stumpers which rotate with new puzzle types, combination grids, and other special offerings.

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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.)

Author/Opus: This is the 432nd puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules: Divide the grid along the dotted lines into regions called polyominoes so that no two polyominoes with the same area share an edge. Inside some cells are numbers; each number must represent the area of the polyomino it belongs to. A polyomino may contain zero, one, or more of the given numbers.

Variation rules: No two polyominoes with the same area, or with areas that differ by one, can share an edge. Also, the number at the top left of each cage gives the sum of all numbers that appear inside of it. Numbers may be repeated in cages.

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 15:00, Master = 40:00, Expert = 1:20:00

Solution: PDF; this bonus puzzle was also featured in this Cracking the Cryptic video.

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 books Logic Puzzles 101 and Starter Pack 1: Fillomino.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Season 2 Preview post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.

While it can be difficult to make an Araf puzzle unique, the trick lies in concealing the solving path, which is primarily why Serkan Yürekli’s Araf has a high difficulty level.

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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 425th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Araf rules.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 9:00, Expert = 18:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for more Araf puzzles on this website. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Araf Puzzles to get started on. More Araf puzzles can be found in the ebook Araf by Serkan Yürekli.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Season 2 Preview Week Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.

This flower-shaped clue design may provide a lot of data for determining the exits for some clue numbers in Serkan Yürekli’s Araf grid.

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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: Flower

Author/Opus: This is the 424th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Araf rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:15, Master = 1:40, Expert = 3:20

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for more Araf puzzles on this website. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Araf Puzzles to get started on. More Araf puzzles can be found in the ebook Araf by Serkan Yürekli.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Season 2 Preview Week Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.

In this Sudoku variation, Serkan Yürekli gives us one of the numbers in each consecutive pair.

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

Theme: Diagonals

Author/Opus: This is the 423rd puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Consecutive Pairs Sudoku rules. (If a gray circle is given between two adjacent cells, then the two numbers in those cells must be consecutive. Note not all gray circles are given; adjacent cells without a circle may contain either consecutive numbers or nonconsecutive numbers.)

Estimated Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:30, Master = 0:40, Expert = 1:20

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for Consecutive Pairs Sudoku puzzles on this website. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Consecutive Pairs Sudoku to get started on. More Consecutive Pairs Sudoku puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Season 2 Preview Week Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.

Since we, as solvers, prefer to focus on the small regions of a Star Battle, Serkan Yürekli’s grid may allow us to continue thinking that way as we look for the hidden doubles.

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools with Double Minesweeper mines standing for stars. Left clicking a cell places a star, left clicking a cell again places a second star. Right clicking a cell marks it empty with a cross, right clicking between cells places a dot for notation.)

Author/Opus: This is the 422nd puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Star Battle rules. There are three stars per row, column, and region. Cells with stars can contain either 1 or 2 stars, but stars can still not be placed in adjacent cells that share an edge or corner.

Difficulty: 2 stars

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

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Star Battles and this link for Star Battle variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Star Battles to get started on. More Star Battle puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in the books Star Battle by JinHoo Ahn and Star Battle 2 by JinHoo Ahn and Murat Can Tonta, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Season 2 Preview Week Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.

Serkan Yürekli constructed a gate whose walls reach out to both opposite corners.

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Gate

Author/Opus: This is the 421st puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Connect each pair of identical numbers with a path passing through edge-adjacent cells. No cell may be used on more than one path.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:20, Master = 0:30, Expert = 1:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for other Numberlink puzzles and this link for other Loop/Path puzzles.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Season 2 Preview Week Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.

Might there be another S tetromino beyond the ones given in the final solution in Serkan Yürekli’s LITS grid?

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a shading mode and a mode to mark edges with an X.)

Theme: All Givens

Author/Opus: This is the 420th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard LITS rules.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:15, Master = 0:50, Expert = 1:40

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for more variations of LITS and this link for classic LITS. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest LITS to get started on. More LITS puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Season 2 Preview Week Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.

Four corner cages and only one mathematical operation—which would be the best to start with?

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

Theme: Multiple Corners

Author/Opus: This is the 419th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-5.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:30, Master = 0:45, Expert = 1:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic TomTom and this link for TomTom variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest TomTom to get started on. More TomTom puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Season 2 Preview Week Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord. Not a member of the Discord? Click this link for basic access and check subscriber instructions for role-related access.