This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use Tab key to alternate between line drawing and shading)

Theme: 1 to 6

Author/Opus: This is the 132nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Variation of Nurikabe. Shade some empty cells black so that the grid is divided into white areas, each containing at most one number. A white area with a number must have the same area in cells as that number. White areas may only touch diagonally. All shaded cells must be connected with each other, but no 2×2 group of cells can be entirely shaded. Also, all shaded cells must be divisible into snakes with the heads and tails given in the grid. Snakes cannot cross each other.

Also, see this example:

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 other variations of Nurikabe and this link for more classic Nurikabe. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabes to get started on.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 2 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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

Theme: Planet E∀RTH

Author/Opus: This is the 11th puzzle from guest contributor Sam Cappleman-Lynes.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules, except the size of each island has been encrypted. Each letter in this puzzle stands for a different positive integer, which must be determined while solving the puzzle.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 9:00, Master = 15:00, Expert = 30:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for classic Nurikabe and this link for Nurikabe variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabe puzzles to get started on. More Nurikabe puzzles can be in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101, and in the e-book Nurikabe by Ashish Kumar.

PDF

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

Theme: 1 to 9

Author/Opus: This is the 230th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Variation of Nurikabe rules. Every region of white cells must contain exactly two numbers (instead of one) and have total size equal to the sum of the two numbers.

Also, see this example:

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 6:15, Expert = 12:30

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for classic Nurikabe and this link for Nurikabe variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabe puzzles to get started on. More Nurikabe puzzles can be in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101, and in the e-book Nurikabe by Ashish Kumar.

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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

Theme: Columns

Author/Opus: This is the 8th puzzle from guest contributor wormsofcan.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for classic Nurikabe and this link for Nurikabe variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabe puzzles to get started on. More Nurikabe puzzles can be in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101, and in the e-book Nurikabe by Ashish Kumar.

PDF

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

Theme: Number Snakes

Author/Opus: This is the 51st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster JinHoo Ahn.

Rules: Variation of Nurikabe. Shade some of the numbered cells so that the grid is divided into white regions, with each cell in such a region containing a number identical to the area of the region. Two white regions may only touch diagonally. All shaded cells must be connected with each other, but no 2×2 group of cells can be entirely shaded black.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:15, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for classic Nurikabe and this link for Nurikabe variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabe puzzles to get started on. More Nurikabe puzzles can be in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101, and in the e-book Nurikabe by Ashish Kumar.

PDF

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

Theme: Ones

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from guest contributor Mark Sweep.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:15, Master = 2:00, Expert = 4:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for classic Nurikabe and this link for Nurikabe variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabe puzzles to get started on. More Nurikabe puzzles can be in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101, and in the e-book Nurikabe by Ashish Kumar.

PDF

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

Theme: Seeing Doubles

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Teddy Tan.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for classic Nurikabe and this link for Nurikabe variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabe puzzles to get started on. More Nurikabe puzzles can be in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101, and in the e-book Nurikabe by Ashish Kumar.

PDF

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

Theme: One Magic Square

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

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Difficulty: 3 stars

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

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Nurikabe and this link for Nurikabe variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabe puzzles to get started on. More Nurikabe puzzles can be in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101, and in the e-book Nurikabe by Ashish Kumar.

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: 1-7

Author/Opus: This is the 9th puzzle from guest contributor Takeya Saikachi.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, similar to Nurikabe, each Tapa clue cell is part of an island of horizontally and vertically connected white cells and the area of the island must be one of the numbers in the clue (as an example, if a clue is 1 5, then the island containing that clue must be either 1 cell or 5 cells large). Islands are allowed to touch diagonally. No island can contain more than one number clue cell, but there may be islands without any number clues in the grid.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:30, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Tapa and this link for Tapa variations. 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.

PDF

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

Theme: 0123

Author/Opus: This is the 198th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 9:00, Expert = 18:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Nurikabe and this link for Nurikabe variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabe puzzles to get started on. More Nurikabe puzzles can be in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101, and in the e-book Nurikabe by Ashish Kumar.