PDF

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

Theme: V for Victory

Author/Opus: This is the 281st puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Kakuro rules. Also, a white circle between two cells shows that the digits in those cells are consecutive (i.e., they differ by 1). A black circle shows that the digit in one of the cells has twice the value of the other. If there is no circle between adjacent cells, neither of these properties holds. (Note: between 1 and 2, either a white or a black circle can be given.)

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:30, Master = 7:00, Expert = 14:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Kakuro puzzles. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

PDF

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

Theme: FALL-ing Stars

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor JinHoo Ahn.

Rules: Standard Star Battle rules. Two stars per row, column, and region.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 5:45, Expert = 11:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Star Battles. 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 book Star Battle by JinHoo Ahn, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

PDF

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

Theme: Waves

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from guest contributor Rajesh Kumar.

Rules: Standard Even/Odd Sudoku rules (i.e., cells with a square contain an even digit; cells with a circle contain an odd digit).

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 5:45, Expert = 11:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Even/Odd Sudoku puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Even/Odd Sudoku to get started on. More Even/Odd Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku 2 and Masterpiece Sudoku Mix 1.

PDF

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

Theme: Mirror

Author/Opus: This is the 67th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Variation of Nanro. Label some cells with numbers to form a single connected group of labeled cells. No 2×2 group of cells may be fully labeled. Each label number (including black given numbers) must be equal to the total count of labeled cells in that bold region, and all bold regions contain at least one labeled cell. The given numbers in gray indicate how many cells are labeled in that region (but not necessarily which cells are labeled). When two label numbers are orthogonally adjacent across a region boundary, the numbers must be different.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:45, Master = 3:00, Expert = 6:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for Nanro puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Nanro puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nanro Puzzles to get started on. More Nanro puzzles can be found in A Number o’ Nanro by Prasanna Seshadri.

PDF

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: No Numbers

Author/Opus: This is the 163rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: (Standard Balance Loop rules.) Draw a single, non-intersecting loop that passes through all circled cells. All white circles must have equal segment lengths on both sides of the circle before turning. All black circles must have unequal segment lengths on both sides of the circle before turning. Numbers indicate the sum of the segment lengths on both sides of the circle.
Also, see this example:

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:40, Master = 1:30, Expert = 3:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Balance Loop puzzles and this link for other less common Loop variations. More Balance Loops can be found in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli and in Balance Loop by Prasanna Seshadri and Murat Can Tonta.

Tomorrow marks the official restart of daily puzzle content here. The first week will feature a variety mix of puzzles across six genres, and later weeks in June will focus on Sudoku, Star Battle, and Pentominous puzzles. We have some other updates we’ll be rolling out alongside launch, including an update to our e-store, and more detail will be coming on that over the next day. For now, enjoy one last teaser puzzle with a countdown theme.

PDF

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

Theme: Countdown to 1

Author/Opus: This is the 358th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Consecutive Pairs Sudoku rules although this puzzle is formatted with bars and not dots for a different visual effect. (If a gray bar is given between two adjacent cells, then the two numbers in those cells must be consecutive. Note not all gray bars are given; adjacent cells without a bar may contain either consecutive numbers or nonconsecutive numbers.)

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

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 The Art of Sudoku 2 and in Masterpiece Sudoku Mix 6: Consecutive Pairs Sudoku.

To enable our June reopening, Serkan Yürekli has stepped into a role as Managing Editor for the site. Serkan now oversees our puzzle submission and review process, assembles the web weeks, and has also brought new ideas for puzzle packet formatting, books, and other things you’ll see as we re-launch. As one small example, while we have always had an escalating set of puzzle difficulties from Monday to Saturday, we are now going to try to put star ratings (out of 5) on all puzzles for more comparison across weeks. We’re quite excited to have Serkan step into this larger role, and hope it increases the quantity of puzzles we can release without any change in the quality you have come to expect from GMPuzzles.

Enjoy this challenging Tapa (False) variation from Serkan as we count down the 8 days remaining.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the composite Yajilin mode where left click marks cells, right click marks dots in cells or X’s on edges, left click+drag draws lines.)

Theme: 8 (or 2 cubed)

Author/Opus: This is the 280th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster — and new managing editor — Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Tapa rules. All clue digits are false and should be either one higher or one lower than the value given. (Note: Some corrected clue sets may be identical to their uncorrected versions, e.g. 1 2 becoming 2 1. Some corrected sets may contain zeroes, which have no effect on the remainder of the clue set.)

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa variations and this link for classic Tapa. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on. More Tapa puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in Tapa and Variations, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles, all by Serkan Yürekli.

June 1st will be the reopening of GMPuzzles. In recent years we have had on weeks and off weeks, but with this relaunch we are planning to have content every week. Monday through Saturdays will be new puzzles, with increasing difficulty throughout the week. There will be a mix of variety weeks and single puzzle genre weeks. On Sundays we will be releasing solution images for all of the puzzles, as well as a solution video walkthrough for one of our puzzles. While these solutions have historically been “rewards” for our subscribers, we hope that sharing them more broadly will help expand our community and help people learn how to solve our hardest puzzles.

We’ll have info on some other changes soon; for now, enjoy this Countdown TomTom.

PDF

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

Theme: Countdown + 15 Spirals

Author/Opus: This is the 357th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-8.

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other TomTom. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest TomTom to get started on. More TomTom puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

It has certainly been a challenging start to 2020, but we’re excited to announce that we will be back with daily content starting in June. More info soon; for now, enjoy this Countdown Star Battle.

PDF

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

Theme: 22 Stars for 22 Days

Author/Opus: This is the 356th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Star Battle rules. Two stars per row, column, and region.

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Star Battles. 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 book Star Battle by JinHoo Ahn, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

(Note: This bonus puzzle is being posted today to mark the occasion of Prasanna’s birthday.)

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a shading mode, a line-drawing mode with diagonal and straight options, and an edge marking mode to add x’s as needed.)

Theme: One Away from Thirty

Author/Opus: This is the 180th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Locate two snakes in the grid. Each snake must start from one of the gray circles, but has an unknown ending point. Black circles represent an interior cell of one of the snakes, and all black circles must be part of a snake. Each snake’s path is allowed to move vertically, horizontally, or diagonally between cells. An interior snake cell can only be adjacent to two other snake cells (including diagonally adjacent cells) and an end of the snake can only be adjacent to one other snake cell (including diagonally adjacent cells). The two different snakes must not share any adjacent cells.

There are some numbers outside the grid. These numbers indicate the number of vertical or horizontal edges (not corners) that snakes cross in that direction.

There are some letters inside the grid. For each distinct letter, exactly one of its instances is visited by one of the two snakes.

Also see this example:

Solution: PDF