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Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 31st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Combination of Double Minesweeper and Slitherlink.

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:

After solving the Minesweeper, convert these cells’ contents to numbers (use corresponding cells in additional grid), then draw a single, non-intersecting loop in the additional grid that only consists of horizontal and vertical segments between the dots, where the number inside each of these cells indicates how many of the four edges of that cell are part of the loop.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the internal loop 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 = 4:15, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

Note: Click here for other Double Minesweeper puzzles and here for other Slitherlink puzzles.

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: 2×

Author/Opus: This is the 296th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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 rows, enter the number of mines (0, 1, 2) for each cell. Enter 0 if the cell is a number cell. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma. In the example, the answer is “022102,002000”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:30, Master = 14:30, Expert = 29:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Click here for other Minesweeper puzzles.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools. Use left click to place mine, 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: Boxy

Author/Opus: This is the 30th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Place a mine into some of the empty cells so that each number represents the total count of mines in neighboring cells, including diagonally adjacent cells.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows, enter a 1 if it contains a mine and a 0 if the cell is empty (or a clue cell). Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma. The format will resemble “0010101000,1110010101,1000011011”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Click here for other Minesweeper puzzles.

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: Field Goal

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Fidel Zapico.

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 = 2:45, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Click here for other Minesweeper puzzles.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools. Use left click to place mine, 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: Boxed In

Author/Opus: This is the 295th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Place a mine into some of the empty cells so that each number represents the total count of mines in neighboring cells, including diagonally adjacent cells.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows, enter a 1 if it contains a mine and a 0 if the cell is empty (or a clue cell). Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma. The format will resemble “0010101000,1110010101,1000011011”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:00, Master = 4:15, Expert = 8:30

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Click here for other Minesweeper puzzles.

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: Series

Author/Opus: This is the 294th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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 rows, enter the number of mines (0, 1, 2) for each cell. Enter 0 if the cell is a number cell. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma. In the example, the answer is “022102,002000”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:30, Master = 2:00, Expert = 4:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Click here for other Minesweeper puzzles.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools. Use left click to place mine, 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: Series

Author/Opus: This is the 293rd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Place a mine into some of the empty cells so that each number represents the total count of mines in neighboring cells, including diagonally adjacent cells.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows, enter a 1 if it contains a mine and a 0 if the cell is empty (or a clue cell). Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma. The format will resemble “0010101000,1110010101,1000011011”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:50, Master = 1:15, Expert = 2:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Click here for other Minesweeper puzzles.

Our last week of “question mark” themed puzzles, with a new variation, can be found here.

This next week is the last of our Art of Puzzles 2 weeks. While we’ve been behind in releasing these titles, we will be catching up quickly in 2018. This week features both Minesweeper and Double Minesweeper.

Our supporters will also be receiving a bonus Slithersweeper by John Bulten, access to puzzle solutions, and a video walkthrough of the Wednesday and Friday puzzles. We’re reworking our subscription process; if you’d like to receive some of these special rewards, please check back here later this month.

Our subscribers receive access to bonus puzzles each week. We make these posts so those supporters have a space to comment on these puzzles, mark as FAVES, or log their solving. If you are interested in subscribing, click here for more info.

Theme: 2×2×8

Author/Opus: This is the 251st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the area of the polyomino it belongs to. Enter just the last digit for any two-digit number. Start with the 7th row, followed by a comma, followed by the 1st column.

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

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

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode, a number entry mode for placing Tapa clues, 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: Mix and Match (Each set of row clues is also a set of column clues)

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

Rules: (Style created by Chris Green as a combination of Cross the Streams and Tapa rules.)

Shade some empty cells black to create a single group of black cells that are all connected to each other through their edges. No 2×2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells.

Numbers and symbols to the left/top of the grid represent all unshaded cells in the grid in that row/column in order, either from left to right or from top to bottom. The numbers and symbols represent the value of Tapa-style clues inside the grid, specifically the length of consecutive shaded blocks in the neighboring cells. If there is more than one number in a cell, then there must be at least one white (unshaded) cell between shaded groups.

The three symbols indicate different kinds of missing information.
– A question mark (?) represents a single missing positive integer as part of a clue (either alone or in combination with other numbers/question marks).
– An octothorpe (#) represents a single white clue cell which may have any combination of values including a single number or multiple numbers.
– An asterisk (*) represents an unknown number of white clue cells, including one, multiple, or no clue cells at all. Any clue cells indicated by an asterisk can have any combination of values including a single number or multiple numbers.

Also see this example by Thomas Snyder:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments from top to bottom for the marked columns, going in order from A to B to C to D and separating each entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:00, Master = 12:00, Expert = 24:00.

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Follow this link for other Cross the Streams and this link for other Tapa.