Dear friends,

This weekend is the MIT Mystery Hunt and Grandmaster Puzzles is very happy to be a sponsor of this puzzle event in 2020.

If you are new to this site, there are lots of different fun genres of logic puzzles to explore and you can follow some of the links to the left to find these genres including our easiest puzzles to get started. The Intro to GMPuzzles and Logic Puzzles 101 books are some great titles to try as well.

As part of the pre-Hunt activities for the team I compete with, I created the attached puzzle set in the style of a Mystery Hunt puzzle. Like most puzzlehunt puzzles, it is missing some of the instructions you may want to have but I think you may still be able to figure it out. It has a final answer which is a word/phrase. We will post some hints and/or the answer in the coming weeks.

Puzzle PDF for A/B Testing

Teaser image 1 = Framed!:

Teaser image 2 = Easy as 1, 2, 3:

Solution: Puzzle solution packet; or full solution including steps to final message.

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PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab key to alternate between loop drawing and letter entry modes)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 277th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Place each of the given words into the grid, reading across or down; all words should interconnect, and all words formed in the grid must be from the list. Each given letter must be used by at least one word. Additionally, draw a Masyu loop: a single closed loop passing through each of the “O”s and otherwise using only unused squares. When passing through an “O”, the loop must go straight through and must make a 90 degree turn in at least one of the adjacent squares.

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 = 7:00, Master = 10:45, Expert = 21:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Masyu variations and this link for 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.

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

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PDF

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).

Solution: Answers for this week in this PDF.

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

You can find all the slices of Pi from our most recent week of puzzles in this PDF.

This week we are featuring Pentominous, which is the style of our most recent puzzle e-book “Plenty o’ Pentominous” by Grant Fikes and Murat Can Tonta. If you enjoy this week of puzzles, please get this collection of 52 original puzzles including several 15×15 grids and one giant puzzle.

This week contains a few extras, including two extra puzzles on Friday and Saturday. There is also one easter egg hidden somewhere in this week’s puzzles which, if you find it, will tell you what word to enter here.

Master+ subscribers to the site are getting a bonus Pentominous by Thomas Snyder and a Cave (Pentominous) variation by Serkan Yürekli as well as images of the puzzle solutions. If you want to become a subscriber and get access to bonus puzzles, solutions, e-books, and other rewards, check out this page.

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PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a letter entry mode and a shading mode to mark off cells).

Theme: Pi Filling

Author/Opus: This is the 31st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Carl Worth.

Rules: Place each of the given words into the grid, one letter per cell, reading from left to right or top to bottom. All words must be connected, and no words other than the given words can appear in the grid. All occurrences of PI have already been entered into the grid (as the symbol π).

Answer String: Enter all crisscross letters (and spelling out PI where it is used) from left to right for the marked rows and top to bottom for the marked columns. Separate each row/column’s entry with a comma. Use CAPITAL LETTERS and ignore all empty cells.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 25:00, Master = 40:00, Expert = 1:20:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other word logic puzzles.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between letter entry and a composite mode for line/edge drawing.)

Theme: Snakes in a Bee Hive

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Variation on Snake Pit (new rules in italics). Divide the grid along the boundary lines so that every cell belongs to a snake. A snake is a one-cell-wide path at least two cells long that does not touch itself, not even diagonally. Circled cells must be at one of the ends of a snake. A snake may contain one circled cell, two circled cells, or no circled cells at all. Each snake houses a word (given below the grid) with one letter in each cell. Some letters are given. Snakes of the same length cannot touch each other horizontally or vertically.

Also see this example:

Answer String: Enter the letter placed in each cell in the marked rows from left to right, separating the two rows by a comma. Use CAPITAL LETTERS!

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 6:15, Expert = 12:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Snake puzzles.

This is a puzzle-hunt style puzzle, prepared for an evening event at the World Puzzle Championship. There are no instructions; finding out what to do is part of the puzzle. Some UK cultural knowledge may be required.

NL Y CN N CT PDF

Author/Opus: This is the 289th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Answer String: Enter the final answer of the puzzle in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

Solution: PDF

This is a puzzle-hunt style puzzle, prepared for an evening event at the World Puzzle Championship. There are no instructions; finding out what to do is part of the puzzle. Some US cultural knowledge may be required.

Border Patrol PDF

Author/Opus: This is the 288th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Answer String: Enter the final answer of the puzzle, a single word, in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

Solution: PDF

In honor of Kakuro’s past as Cross Sums and Cross Addition, John wanted to share this version of the puzzle with an older presentation style. This presentation may help you find a “hidden puzzle” that John left for solvers to discover.

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PDF

Author/Opus: This is the 29th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Answer String: Enter the fifth row and fifth column of the hidden puzzle solution in standard format, separating the entries with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a letter entry mode and a shading mode to mark off the clues.)

Theme: Two Lonely Dots (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 275th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Place all the given strings into the grid, one letter per cell, so they can be read from left to right or from top to bottom, without crossing or overlapping each other. A dot between two cells indicates that both cells must contain the same letter. All possible dots are given.

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 7th row from left to right. USE CAPITAL LETTERS. If a cell is empty, use X for that cell.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 13:00, Expert = 26:00 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other word puzzles.