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 letter entry mode.)

Theme: Dynamite Walls

Author/Opus: This is the 320th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Variation of Pentominous rules. Some borders between pentominoes are already drawn.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Pentominous puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Pentominous to get started on. More Pentominous puzzles can be found in the Plenty o’ Pentominous series by Grant Fikes and Murat Can Tonta 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: Star Face

Author/Opus: This is the 359th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:30, Master = 9:30, Expert = 19:00

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

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: So 2019

Author/Opus: This is the 164th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

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

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 8:15, Expert = 16:30

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

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: Stuck Z

Author/Opus: This is the 319th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, the sum of the digits in each cage must equal the value given in the upper-left corner of that cage. Digits cannot repeat inside a cage.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 6:15, Expert = 12:30

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

Note: Follow this link for more Killer Sudoku and this link for classic Sudoku. More Killer Sudoku puzzles can be found in Killer Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli.

PDF

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

Theme: Empty Diagonal

Author/Opus: This is the 42nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on. More classic Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku, The Art of Sudoku 2 and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Repeated Groups

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Elyot Grant.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 8:30, Expert = 17:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other classic Fillomino and this link for more variations on Fillomino puzzles. 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 book Logic Puzzles 101.

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.

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.

(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