(view directly for a larger image)

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)

Author/Opus: This is the 481st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Masyu rules.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:00, Master = 3:00, Expert = 6:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic Masyu and this link for Masyu variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Masyu to get started on. More Masyu 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.

PDF

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

Theme: All Round Symmetry

Author/Opus: This is the 20th puzzle from guest contributor Akash Doulani.

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.)

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

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 week-0-discussion thread on the GMPuzzles Discord. If you are not yet part of this Discord community, use this link.

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: Edge Clues

Author/Opus: This is the 476th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Fillomino rules. No two polyominoes with the same area, or with areas that differ by one, can share an edge.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

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 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.

PDF

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: Zzzzz…

Author/Opus: This is the 115th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster JinHoo Ahn.

Rules: Standard Star Battle rules. One star per row, column, and region.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:35, Master = 1:00, Expert = 2:00

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 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.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools using a composite mode where left click inside cell shades square, left click + drag draws line segment, right click inside cell adds dot, and right click on cell edge adds an x.)

Theme: Spinner

Author/Opus: This is the 480th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Yajilin rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:50, Master = 1:10, Expert = 2:20

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic Yajilin and this link for Yajilin variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Yajilin to get started on. More Yajilin 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.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a number entry mode, a number candidates mode, and a path drawing mode.)

Theme: Twenty Something

Author/Opus: This is the 496th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Write a number from 1 to N (N is given for each puzzle) into each cell so that every number appears in the grid once. There must be a path using just adjacent cells to travel between consecutive numbers from 1 to N. Also, the number in the upper-left corner of each bold cage indicates the value of a mathematical operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) applied successively to all numbers in the cage, starting with the largest number for subtraction and division (e.g. 1,2,4 with subtraction is a 1- clue as 4-2-1 = 1). The operation may or may not be given in the cage, but at least one of the four operations must apply.

See also this example:

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:30, Expert = 3:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for other Math Path puzzles and this link for other Number Placement variations.

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.

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: Fields

Author/Opus: This is the 475th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Aqre rules: Shade some cells so that all shaded cells form one connected group. Regions with numbers must contain the indicated count of shaded cells, and it is allowed to shade over the numbered cells. There may not exist a run of four or more consecutive shaded or unshaded cells horizontally or vertically anywhere in the grid.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for more Aqre puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Aqre to get started on. More Aqre 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.

The Season 4 preview week starts with this “warm-up” Aqre puzzle by Murat Can Tonta with a Rectangles theme. The warm-up puzzles have blue stars at the top and use the same 1-5 star system as other puzzles on the site. Most warm-up puzzles will be 1 to 1.5 stars with a couple 2 star examples here and there.

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: Rectangles

Author/Opus: This is the 290th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Aqre rules: Shade some cells so that all shaded cells form one connected group. Regions with numbers must contain the indicated count of shaded cells, and it is allowed to shade over the numbered cells. There may not exist a run of four or more consecutive shaded or unshaded cells horizontally or vertically anywhere in the grid.

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 more Aqre puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Aqre to get started on. More Aqre 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.

Takeya Saikachi’s warm-up puzzle, in which he places all possible odd clues symmetrically, will be good practice for the second grid today.

PDF

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

Theme: Possible Odds

Author/Opus: This is the 39th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Takeya Saikachi.

Rules: Variation of Skyscrapers; each clue represents the sum of the heights of the visible buildings in that direction.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:20, Master = 0:35, Expert = 1:10

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

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

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.

In Arrow Sudoku, it is often a good approach to focus on possible combinations of numbers in arrows pointing in just one direction; this warm-up puzzle by Thomas Snyder is full of such arrows, all going to the right.

PDF

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

Theme: Right Way of Thinking

Author/Opus: This is the 476th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:05, Master = 2:05, Expert = 4:10

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.