Nurikabe by Tapio Saarinen

Nurikabe by Tapio Saarinen

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Theme: Big Twister

Author/Opus: This is the 4th puzzle from guest contributor Tapio Saarinen. You can find more of his puzzles on Perplexible.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments (the unnumbered, connected “ocean”) from left to right for the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 12:00, Master = 21:00, Expert = 42:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Nurikabe. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabes to get started on.

Outside Nurikabe by Tapio Saarinen

Outside Nurikabe by Tapio Saarinen

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Theme: One, Two

Author/Opus: This is the 3rd puzzle from guest contributor Tapio Saarinen, including one earlier Outside Nurikabe. You can find more of his puzzles on Perplexible.

Rules: In this variation of Nurikabe, the island clues are now given outside the grid. These numbers must be placed in the first white island cell encountered in the corresponding direction. Each number represents a distinct island, with a total of 23 islands in this puzzle.

Outside Nurikabe Example by Thomas Snyder

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments (the unnumbered, connected “ocean”) from left to right for the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

Solution: PDF

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

Nurikabe by Swaroop Guggilam

Nurikabe by Swaroop Guggilam

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Theme: Big One!

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Swaroop Guggilam.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments (the unnumbered, connected “ocean”) from left to right for the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Nurikabe. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabes to get started on.

Nurikabe (Pentomino) by Serkan Yürekli

Nurikabe by Serkan Yürekli

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Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 52nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Nurikabe. Place all 12 pentominoes into the grid as Nurikabe islands (rotations and reflections allowed), with no other islands. Pentominoes may be indicated by one or more letter clues, or by no letters at all.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments (the unnumbered, connected “ocean”) from left to right for the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30

Solution: PDF

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

Nurikabe by Walker Anderson

Nurikabe by Walker Anderson

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

Theme: Little Twister

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Walker Anderson. You can find more of Walker’s puzzles on his relatively new blog site.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments (the unnumbered, connected “ocean”) from left to right for the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Nurikabe. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabes to get started on.

Nurikabe by Grant Fikes

Nurikabe by Grant Fikes

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Theme: Central Clusters

Author/Opus: This is the 122nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments (the unnumbered, connected “ocean”) from left to right for the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Nurikabe. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabes to get started on.

Schedule for Next Week

All the puzzles from last week have been grouped in this PDF.

This coming week on GMPuzzles will focus on Nurikabe with puzzles from Grant Fikes, Walker Anderson, Serkan Yürekli, Swaroop Guggilam, and Tapio Saarinen. The bonus puzzle for our high-level supporters is also from that style, by Thomas Snyder.

Araf by Serkan Yürekli

Araf by Serkan Yürekli

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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: Infinity!

Author/Opus: This is the 51st 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).

Araf Example

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. If a group is a multi-digit number, enter all digits of that number. For the example above, the entry is “34,121111,4111”.

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

Solution: PDF

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

Star Battle by Thomas Snyder

Star Battle by Thomas Snyder

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Theme: Stars and Stripes

Author/Opus: This is the 183rd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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

Answer String: Enter the column letter of the MIDDLE STAR in each row, going from top to bottom. Use capital letters only.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 6:15, Expert = 12:30

Solution: PDF; a solution video is 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.

Kurotto by Prasanna Seshadri

Kurotto by Prasanna Seshadri

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Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 36th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Kurotto rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:15, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

Solution: PDF

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