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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; in default lineox mode: left-click+drag draws line, clicking one time in a cell marks a circle and a second time marks an X)
Theme: 2 Many 2×2’s
Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Martin Ender.
Rules: Draw a single, non-intersecting loop in the grid that enters and exits each bold region exactly once. If a number clue is given in a region, that number indicates the exact number of cells used by the loop in the region. Unused cells cannot be orthogonally adjacent across different regions.
Also, see this example:
Difficulty: 3.5 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view):Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 8:15, Expert = 16:30
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in default edgex mode where left-click+drag draws line and right click marks X’s)
Theme: Pairs
Author/Opus: This is the 102nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.
Rules: Draw a single, non-intersecting loop that only consists of horizontal and vertical segments between the dots. The clues in the grid indicate the length of the straight line segment first seen in the direction of the arrow.
Also see this example:
Difficulty: 3 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view):Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00
This puzzle style was created by Robert Vollmert (Geradeweg roughly means “Straight Path” in English). More Geradeweg will be in our upcoming Loop Variety Collection 2.
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in default linex mode where left-click+drag draws line and right click marks X’s)
Theme: Knight Matrix
Author/Opus: This is the 248th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.
Rules: Draw a single, non-intersecting loop that passes through all cells with circles; the loop may either go straight through or turn at each circle. If the loop goes straight through a circle, the number on that circle indicates the length of the straight segment. If the loop turns at a circle, the number on that circle indicates the length of both loop segments extending from that circle.
Also see this example:
Difficulty: 2.5 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view):Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00
This puzzle style was created by Martin Ender (first example here), and was one of the “new generation” of puzzles at the 2022 World Puzzle Championship. While it won’t be in our upcoming Loop Variety Collection 2, we are planning to have some more Rail Pool in GMPuzzles projects in the future.
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in default linex mode where left-click+drag draws line and right click marks X’s)
Theme: Tetris
Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Martin Ender.
Rules: Draw a single, non-intersecting loop that passes through the centers of all cells, including clue cells. Clues represent all of the different lengths of the straight line segments that pass through all cells within the region, either partially or fully contained by that region. Each number within a region must be represented by at least one line segment. Each “?” represents a positive integer; if a clue cell has more than one “?”, all numbers and “?”s in that clue must be different from each other.
Also see this example:
Difficulty: 2.5 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view):Grandmaster = 1:30, Master = 2:45, Expert = 5:30
This style, whose name means “Triangular Numbers” in English and has also been called “Four Directions Loop” elsewhere, was originally created by the Indian team that organized the 2017 World Puzzle Championship as part of an instructionless team round. More Mukkonn Enn will be in our upcoming Loop Variety Collection 2.
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in default linex mode where left-click+drag draws line and right click marks X’s)
Theme: Sequences
Author/Opus: This is the 386th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.
Rules: Draw a single, non-intersecting loop that passes through the center of all cells, including clue cells; the loop may either go straight through or turn at each clue. Each clue cell is divided into four sections; if a number is present in a section and the loop travels in that direction, then the number represents the length of the straight loop segment in that direction, measured from the clue cell to the cell where the loop turns. If the loop does not travel in that direction, then the number means nothing.
Also see this example:
Difficulty: 1 star
Time Standards (highlight to view):Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:00, Expert = 2:00
Tomorrow marks an important anniversary for Grandmaster Puzzles. On 12/12/12 at 12:12:12 PM (PT) I emailed out my first business plan/organizing documents to the original group of GMPuzzles team members. A few weeks later marked the first blog posts on the site, as well as a new journey in my life as I’d just made a hard decision to leave a science role/project I’d been working on for several years and relocated to Seattle, aiming to rediscover my goals in life starting with Grandmaster Puzzles.
A lot has changed in the time since. For GMPuzzles, this includes a much larger group of contributing puzzlemasters and other authors, Serkan becoming my partner in GMPuzzles as managing editor, regular YouTube solving videos, and digital solving options via Penpa-Edit for all new web posts and some of our books. Professionally and personally, I’ve also gone through a lot from (f)unemployment for a year in 2013 to growing responsibilities as a scientist and team leader, moving back to the San Francisco Bay Area, all while still supporting GMPuzzles through time and money.
Throughout these years though nothing has changed in our mission to bring you “hand-crafted logic puzzles, by the best puzzle designers, for all who love puzzles”. We’ve posted over 2,600 free web puzzles, released over 55 books/collections including several thousand more original puzzles, and never published a “broken” puzzle with an error in the puzzle art, even if I’ve caused a fair share of typos on our posts through the years.
A lot of thoughts come to mind thinking back through this GMPuzzles journey to date, and we’ll be writing more as we hit the end of the year about what are plans are for 2023 and beyond. We expect to make some changes (doing more of some things, less of others) as we update our business plan and explore other new paths to get revenue by supporting other puzzle projects and competitions. For now, let me share my thanks with everyone on the GMPuzzles team, everyone who has ever submitted a puzzle, and you the audience for solving our puzzles and adding your comments to the website. This community of puzzlers has been great to see come together, to support each other including me through some tough times. I’m excited for what comes next.
If you’ve enjoyed our web content, please continue to support the site by sharing gmpuzzles with your friends, by buying some of our books or by making a donation using the button in the menu to the left to give back to our puzzle authors.
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Zooming back to the regular content, our most recent week of puzzles to highlight the “Starter Pack” series is collected together in this PDF and the solutions are in this PDF. You can find all of our Starter Pack books in our e-store, and the 6th volume of “Jigsaw Sudoku” will be released in 2023.
The daily puzzle “talkthrough” videos are on the posts and linked below.
Like this most recent week, our last two weeks of the year will focus on upcoming books starting with the “Loop Variety Collection 2” where we will have some less common loop styles this week including some from the genres in that collection. We’ll also have an unusual Sunday Stumper in one week. Our last week of blog puzzles will then focus on styles from Grandmaster Puzzles Quarterly Volume 6 as we close out ten years of puzzles.
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; in composite Star Battle mode a left click places a star, right click in a cell marks off the cell, and a right click on an edge or corner marks in a dot as a placement note.)
Theme: Diagonal Borders
Author/Opus: This is the 65th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster JinHoo Ahn.
Rules: Standard Star Battle rules. Two stars per row, column, and region.
Difficulty: 2.5 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view):Grandmaster = 1:40, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00
