PDF

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

Theme: May

Author/Opus: This is the 104th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

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

Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a star appears. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.

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

Solution: PDF

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.

All the puzzles from last week’s Araf collection have been grouped in this PDF. It seemed to have been well received as a genre so we may choose to feature it more regularly in our rotation. I personally enjoy it a bit more than other intuitive styles like Numberlink, but that could just be a result of it feeling “new” having only solved about twenty Araf puzzles.

This coming week has a mini-theme to it, perhaps “something old, something new”, as half the puzzles will be from guest contributors who have made some interesting puzzles. The rest are from Grant Fikes, who is not so much “old” as familiar. He’s been contributing about a puzzle a day since the start of the year; there will be a collection of the Foxger’s puzzles coming later this year as a book/e-book from GMPuzzles which will be a great book for solvers just learning how to solve some of these types.

The exact schedule for the week is this (highlight to view):

Monday: Star Battle by Grant Fikes
Tuesday: Skyscrapers by Grant Fikes
Wednesday: Fillomino by Walker Anderson
Thursday: Yajilin by Grant Fikes
Friday: Place by Product by Ravi Kumar Macherla
Saturday: Tapa by Murat Can Tonta

The bonus puzzle for our high-level supporters will be a Masyu by Prasanna Seshadri.

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 shading mode.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 47th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Araf rules. Also, no two regions with the same size can share an edge. (Note: this is the same rule as in Fillomino puzzles where no equal size polyominoes can touch.)

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 7:00, Expert = 14:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Araf is a relatively new puzzle for us on GMPuzzles. Follow this link for other Araf. An example image for a “classic” Araf puzzle is here.

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 shading mode.)

Theme: Four Y Intersections

Author/Opus: This is the 24th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Divide the grid into some regions formed of edge-adjacent squares. Each cell is part of one region, and each region should contain exactly two given numbers. Each region must have an area that is strictly between those numbers (This means, for two number clues A and B with A < B, the area C fulfills A < C < B).

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. For the example above, this is “34,121111,4111”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Araf is a relatively new puzzle for us on GMPuzzles. Follow this link for other Araf.

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 shading mode.)

Theme: Fource Field

Author/Opus: This is the 46th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Divide the grid into some regions formed of edge-adjacent squares. Each cell is part of one region, and each region should contain exactly two given numbers. Each region must have an area that is strictly between those numbers (This means, for two number clues A and B with A < B, the area C fulfills A < C < B).

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. For the example above, this is “34,121111,4111”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Araf is a relatively new puzzle for us on GMPuzzles. Follow this link for other Araf.

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 shading mode.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 23rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Divide the grid into some regions formed of edge-adjacent squares. Each cell is part of one region, and each region should contain exactly two given numbers, one in a yellow circle (>) and one in a red circle (<). Each region must have an area that is strictly between those numbers. Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. Separate the rows with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:00, Master = 4:45, Expert = 9:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Araf is a relatively new puzzle for us on GMPuzzles. Follow this link for other Araf. An example image for a “classic” Araf puzzle is here.

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 shading mode.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Dan Katz.

Rules: Divide the grid into some regions formed of edge-adjacent squares. Each cell is part of one region, and each region should contain exactly two given numbers, one in a yellow circle (>) and one in a red circle (<). Each region must have an area that is strictly between those numbers. Note: This idea to "simplify" Araf puzzles comes from Prasanna Seshadri, whose example of this variation will appear tomorrow. Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. Separate the rows with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:20, Master = 3:00, Expert = 6:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Araf is a relatively new puzzle for us on GMPuzzles. Follow this link for other Araf. An example image for a “classic” Araf puzzle is here.

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 shading mode.)

Theme: Aisles

Author/Opus: This is the 177th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Divide the grid into some regions formed of edge-adjacent squares. Each cell is part of one region, and each region should contain exactly two given numbers. Each region must have an area that is strictly between those numbers (This means, for two number clues A and B with A < B, the area C fulfills A < C < B).

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. For the example above, this is “34,121111,4111”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:15, Expert = 2:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Araf is a relatively new puzzle for us on GMPuzzles. Follow this link for other Araf.

All the puzzles from last week’s variety week have been grouped in this PDF. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve also been highlighting some championship puzzles written by puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli. If you’d like to see his entire 24HPC puzzle set, go here. The Japan dakejanai Zukei dakejanai Puzzle Championship puzzles we featured have not been released yet, but may eventually be here.

Serkan has been an instrumental designer in sharing good ideas from Japan with a wider, western audience; his OAPC series, WPC puzzles, and even his contributions here at Grandmaster Puzzles (like last week’s Dominion originally by Naoki Inaba) are often styles adapted from puzzles he finds in Japanese championships. Next week will focus on another such type, originally a Japanese style 相ダ部屋 that was renamed Araf, meaning “purgatory” in Turkish, by Serkan when I first ran into it at the 2010 World Puzzle Championship. We will have some classic puzzles, and some interesting minor variations.

The bonus puzzle for our high-level supporters will be a Cross the Streams by Grant Fikes. Our Master and above patrons also received a puzzle we believe to be the largest Tapa ever made (it is certainly the largest Tapa Serkan Yürekli has ever written). If you haven’t considered supporting our website yet, now would be a good time to do so.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools. Use left click to place 1 or 2 mines, right click (in cell) to mark unused, right click (on edge/corner) to mark a note; hitting tab will also enable a shading mode. If you want more solving options, turn off Penpa-Lite option.)

Theme: Symmetry and Logic (Note: this puzzle originally appeared in this year’s 24H Puzzle Championship.)

Author/Opus: This is the 45th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Place either 0, 1, or 2 mines into each empty cell so that each number represents the total count of mines in all neighboring cells, including diagonally adjacent cells. See also this example:

Answer String: For each cell in the marked columns, enter the number of mines (0, 1, 2) for each cell. Enter 0 if the cell is a number cell. Separate each column’s entry from the next with a comma. In the example (with marked rows), the answer is “022102,002000”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:00, Master = 9:30, Expert = 19:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Click here for other Double Minesweeper puzzles.