This was our last week of puzzles for 2020. You can find the set of Fillomino puzzles in this PDF and the solutions are all grouped in this PDF and have also been linked to the individual posts.

We have a solving video for the last two puzzles in the week, including Friday’s Catch-13 Fillomino by Ashish Kumar:

and Saturday’s Fillomino (Checkered) by Jonas Gleim:

We also have a holiday gift for everyone, as we have posted all of our solving videos from before 2020 on Youtube (a total of over 100 walkthroughs)! These are linked to the individual posts if exploring the old archive and also captured on this page. These were filmed with earlier techniques, so some have slightly worse visual/audio quality than we are trying to achieve now, but there is a lot to learn by exploring the videos. I will soon have a new document camera to improve my recording even more, and next year may even try some new kinds of videos like blind solves of competition puzzles and also “basic rules and info” videos for the puzzle styles to better introduce beginners to a new style including its history and basic constraints. Tell us what you’d like to see from future solving videos.

We’ll be taking the next two weeks off to organize our Best of 2020 list and prepare for the start of 2021 puzzles. 2020 has been a full (if challenging) year, with me starting a new job in March and having a lot more responsibilities in leading a large team advancing immunology assays as potential diagnostic tests across diseases. But by adding Serkan Yürekli as our Managing Editor, we together got back to posting 30 straight weeks of puzzles, with at least 2 solving videos each week, and also released 7 new books of puzzles. We have a lot to come in 2021, including more books, the implementation of more routine online solving, a new puzzlemaster and more.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a composite mode for line/edge drawing, a number entry mode, and shading for this variation.)

Theme: 2020

Author/Opus: This is the 3rd puzzle from guest contributor Jonas Gleim.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules. Also, it must be possible to shade some polyominoes black so that no bordering polyominoes are the same color (in other words, the grid must allow a two-color shading).

See also this example:

Difficulty: 4 stars

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

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Fillomino and this link for Fillomino variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on. More Fillomino puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in Fill o’ Fillomino and Fill o’ Fillomino 2 by Grant Fikes, and in our beginner-friendly books Logic Puzzles 101 and Starter Pack 1: Fillomino.

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Catch-13

Author/Opus: This is the 57th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 4:15, Expert = 8:30

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Fillomino and this link for Fillomino variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on. More Fillomino puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in Fill o’ Fillomino and Fill o’ Fillomino 2 by Grant Fikes, and in our beginner-friendly books Logic Puzzles 101 and Starter Pack 1: Fillomino.

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Alone in a Crowd

Author/Opus: This is the 311th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic Fillomino and this link for Fillomino variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on. More Fillomino puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in Fill o’ Fillomino and Fill o’ Fillomino 2 by Grant Fikes, and in our beginner-friendly books Logic Puzzles 101 and Starter Pack 1: Fillomino.

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Question Mark

Author/Opus: This is the 3rd puzzle from guest contributor wormsofcan.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:45, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic Fillomino and this link for Fillomino variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on. More Fillomino puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in Fill o’ Fillomino and Fill o’ Fillomino 2 by Grant Fikes, and in our beginner-friendly books Logic Puzzles 101 and Starter Pack 1: Fillomino.

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Reciprocity

Author/Opus: This is the 334th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Difficulty: 2 stars

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic Fillomino and this link for Fillomino variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on. More Fillomino puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in Fill o’ Fillomino and Fill o’ Fillomino 2 by Grant Fikes, and in our beginner-friendly books Logic Puzzles 101 and Starter Pack 1: Fillomino.

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Even/Odd

Author/Opus: This is the 186th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic Fillomino and this link for Fillomino variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on. More Fillomino puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in Fill o’ Fillomino and Fill o’ Fillomino 2 by Grant Fikes, and in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101.

JinHoo Ahn has shared a lot of great web puzzles this year (some that will likely be very competitive for Best of 2020), so I’m quite excited to announce the release of our first book of puzzles from this talented designer, Star Battle.

This book is a collection of 50 Star Battle puzzles, including 15 variations, that have some very nice visual themes and interesting logic. The difficulty ranges from easy to hard, and includes ten 3-star 15×15 puzzles (two of which are variations) and a massive 6-star 30×30 puzzle to finish. Check it out now in our e-store.

We’ll be back later today with the launch of a Star Battle book by JinHoo Ahn, as well as a new book index (by date) for those interested in catching up on all our recent titles.

This past week’s set of LITS puzzles and one variation can be found in this PDF and the solutions are all grouped in this PDF and have also been linked to the individual posts.

We have a solving video for the last three puzzles in the week, starting with the Pirouette LITS by Prasanna Seshadri:

Friday’s Double LITS by Joseph Howard:

and another video for the Saturday LITS by wormsofcan:

This upcoming week, the last of 2020, will feature Fillomino puzzles. We’ll then be taking some time to identify our “Best of 2020” puzzles and will probably use a new voting format this year due to some of the issues with our solving widget. We’ll also have some news for our 2021 plans including what we’ll be doing for online solving next year.

PDF

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

Theme: Thinking Outside the Box

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

Rules: Standard LITS rules.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:45, Master = 6:15, Expert = 12:30

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

Note: Follow this link for classic LITS and this link for LITS variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest LITS to get started on. More LITS puzzles can be found in LOTS O’ LITS by Grant Fikes and Prasanna Seshadri, in The Art of Puzzles 2, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.