PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in lineox mode where left click+drag draws lines and left click in square marks O and X.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic (originally on 2016 Polish Puzzle Championship)

Author/Opus: This is the 121st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Draw a single closed loop (without intersections or crossings). Each clue gives the number of surrounding clues used by the loop. The loop can pass through the clue cells.

See also this example:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. If the loop only has vertical segments in the marked row, enter 0. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.

Solution: PDF

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a letter entry mode and a shading mode. CAPS LOCK is recommended for letter entry.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic (originally on 2016 Polish Puzzle Championship)

Author/Opus: This is the 120th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Fill some empty cells with the letters A-F (A-D in the example) so that each row and column contains each letter exactly once. The letters outside the grid indicate the first letter seen from that direction, but each row and column has one transparent letter that is ignored by the clues. The transparent letters must be different in each row and column.

See also this example:

Answer String: Enter the letters (including the transparent letter) in the marked rows in order from left to right, separating each row’s entry with a comma. USE CAPITAL LETTERS.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other less common number placement variations.

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic (originally on 2016 Polish Puzzle Championship)

Author/Opus: This is the 119th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Variation of Pentopia rules: Place some of the given pentominoes in the grid so that no pentominoes are in adjacent cells that share an edge or corner. Pentominoes cannot repeat in the grid; rotations and reflections of a pentomino are considered the same shape. The arrow clues indicate all the directions (up, down, left, and right) where the nearest pentominoes are located when looking from that square, ignoring the clue cell itself. (Pentominoes can sit on the clue cells.)

See also this example:

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

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Pentopia puzzles and this link for other puzzles involving Pentominoes.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between ship placement and shading modes. In ship placement mode, right click gives sea, left click gives circle/square, left click and drag for rounded ships.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic (originally on 2016 Polish Puzzle Championship)

Author/Opus: This is the 118th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Variation of Battleships rules. Place the indicated fleet into the grid; ships cannot touch each other, not even diagonally. Numbers indicate how many ship segments are in that cell and in all adjacent cells.

See also this example:

Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a ship segment appears (enter both digits if a two-digit number). If the row is empty, enter 0. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.

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

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: Daniel Cohen (alphanumeric conversion of top/bottom rows; i.e., 4=D, 1=A, 14=N, …)

Author/Opus: This is the 117th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

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, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:15, Master = 11:30, Expert = 23:00

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.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between edgex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s, a number placement mode, and a shading mode.)

Theme: Easy as 1, 2, 3 (made for our patron Veep)

Author/Opus: This is the 116th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Variation of standard Slitherlink rules. Exactly one clue in each row and column is lying and must represent a different number.

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 = 6:00, Master = 8:30, Expert = 17:00

Solution: PDF

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

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s and a shading mode that may help mark the empty cells for the towers rule)

Theme: 25 years from 1991/03/02 to 2016/03/02

Author/Opus: This is the 115th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: This puzzle is a variation of Castle Wall.

Standard Castle Wall rules:
Draw a single closed loop (without intersections or crossings) passing through some empty cells in the grid. The grid contains some bordered or colored cells that cannot be part of the loop. Black cells must be outside the loop; white cells (with heavy borders) must be inside the loop. Numbers and arrows refer to the total sum of the lengths of loop segments in the given direction. (An equivalent way to understand these values is to count the number of cell borders crossed by the loop in that direction.)

+ Towers Variation:
Also, the numbers outside the grid show the number of empty cell segments visible in that direction (ignore all clue cells and all cells used by the loop). A segment of length N in a given direction is taken as a building of height N. Buildings of height N block the view of all buildings behind them of equal or lesser height.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. If the loop only has vertical segments in the marked row, enter 0. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. This example has the key “2,21”.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: You can find other Castle Walls here.

PDF

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

Theme: ZZZ

Author/Opus: This is the 114th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Thermo-Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 8th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 8:00, Expert = 16:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Thermo-Sudoku puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Thermo-Sudoku to get started on. More Thermo-Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku 2.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode 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: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 113th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also there are two pairs of windows. One pair is the upper left (blue, solid) and lower right (red, solid). The other is the upper right (blue, dashed) and lower left (red, dashed). The cells in the same position in each window pair must have the exact opposite shading.

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 from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:00, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 112th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Masyu rules. Also there are two windows in the upper left (blue) and lower right (red) of the grid. If the loop passes through a cell in one window by going straight, it must go through the same cell in the other window by turning; the converse is also true. (It is possible for the cells to be unused by the loop in both windows.)

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. If the loop only has vertical segments in the marked row, enter 0. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30

Solution: PDF

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