WPC Region Division Mini-Playoff 3/3: Pentominous by Grant Fikes
The final Region Division puzzle is a Pentominous puzzle by Grant Fikes, who wrote a very creative Pentominous+ hybrids round in the World Puzzle Championship main competition. Can you figure out this “classic” Pentominous?
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a composite mode for line/edge drawing, a letter entry mode, and a shading mode.)
Author/Opus: This is the 421st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.
Rules: Standard Pentominous rules.
Estimated Difficulty: 1.5-2 stars
Solution: PDF for all Region Division playoff puzzles.
Note: Follow this link for other Pentominous puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Pentominous to get started on. More Pentominous puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.
Even with the video sideways and otherwise mediocre in quality, it was exciting to watch three of the world’s best puzzle-solvers tackle this Pentominous live. I hope that the readers of this site get to see my other WPC contributions soon!
Is it possible to construct puzzles using an 8 by 8 grid plus a 2 by 2 square in the middle say that would use all 12 pentominoes only once?
It is known that it is possible to tile an 8×8 grid with a 2×2 square hole anywhere (not just in the center) with all 12 pentominoes. Any such tiling can be the solution to a trivial Pentominous by specifying all 60 letter clues.