Two theorems of Gateva-Ivanova [Set-theoretic solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation, braces and symmetric groups, Adv. Math. 338 (2018), 649–701] on square-free set-theoretic solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation are extended to a wide class of solutions. The square-free hypothesis is almost completely removed. Gateva-Ivanova and Majid's ‘cyclic’ condition ${\boldsymbol {\rm lri}}$ is shown to be equivalent to balancedness, introduced in Rump [A decomposition theorem for square-free unitary solutions of the quantum Yang-Baxter equation, Adv. Math. 193 (2005), 40–55]. Basic results on balanced solutions are established. For example, it is proved that every finite, not necessarily square-free, balanced brace determines a multipermutation solution.

Set-theoretic solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation can be classified by their universal coverings and their fundamental groupoids. Extending previous results, universal coverings of irreducible involutive solutions are classified in the degenerate case. These solutions are described in terms of a group with a distinguished self-map. The classification in the nondegenerate case is simplified and compared with the description in the degenerate case.

An unexpected relationship between indecomposable involutive set-theoretic solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation and one-generator braces has recently been discovered by Agata and Alicja Smoktunowicz. We extend these results and answer three open questions which arose in this context.