PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools using a composite mode where left click inside cell shades square, left click + drag draws line segment, right click inside cell adds dot, and right click on cell edge adds an x.)

Theme: Railroad Crossing (“Tren” means train in Turkish.)

Rules: Locate some blocks in the grid, either 1×2 or 1×3 in size, with each block containing one of the given numbers. A block’s number must indicate the total possible movement of the block along either direction in its long direction, where it is blocked only by an edge of the grid or another block. Or see here.

Answer String: Enter the size of consecutive groups of cells that belong to blocks in each marked row from left to right, separating each row with a comma (ie 151,22,44,22).

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

Solution: PDF

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

Rules: Standard Tapa 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 from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:15, Master = 4:45, Expert = 9:30

Solution: PDF

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use Tab to alternate between letter entry and shading)

Theme: Hidden words (each row of letters forms an English word like SERF.)

Rules: Put each number (given as a word) into the grid, one letter per cell, as a snakelike strip which does not touch or cross itself. Some letters of the words are given. The remaining cells should be painted black to form a continuous wall as in a Nurikabe puzzle with no 2×2 shaded regions. Or see here.

Answer String: Enter the contents of each marked column from top to bottom, using X (capital letter) for each blackened square and capital letters for each island cell, and separating the columns with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

Solution: PDF

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.)

This is a “Twisted Tuesday” puzzle variation.

Theme: Region shapes

Rules: Variation of Tapa rules. Additionally, some squares are combined into areas, each counting as one cell for the Tapa clues. Or see here. [Note: the no 2×2 shaded rule applies as usual based on cell count, not area count, and some areas may contribute multiple cells to such a group.]

Answer String: Enter the length in cells (not the # of areas) 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 = 2:15, Master = 3:15, Expert = 6:30

Solution: PDF

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between number entry and shading modes.)

Theme: Declining Odds

Rules: Fill each row and column of the grid with the numbers 1-4 and two blackened cells. Numbers outside the grid indicate the sum of the digits between the two blackened cells in that row/column. Blackened cells are allowed to touch. Or see here.

Answer String: Enter the 4th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 6th row from left to right. Use an X (capital letter) for each blackened square.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:30, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

Solution: PDF

Editor’s Note: While our Sunday Surprises are meant to be unexpected, today’s surprise should be a double surprise for you. Besides the bonus puzzle, it is my great pleasure to announce that one of the world’s best puzzlemakers and the inventor of Tapa, Serkan Yürekli, is joining us as a regular contributor. (If you haven’t yet, you should check out his Tapa Variation Contests that are starting again this weekend and his Classic Tapa Contest that starts next week.)

I asked Serkan, for his debut week, to provide some of the puzzle styles I know him best for and I hope you will enjoy what is in store. Today brings a “The Persistence of Memory” puzzle that Serkan wrote with GMPuzzles in mind.

(View image directly for larger form.)

(PNG with extra lines for solvers who want to flood-fill the path)

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools using a composite mode where left click inside cell shades square, left click + drag draws line segment, right click inside cell adds dot, and right click on cell edge adds an x.)

PDF

Theme: GMPuzzles

Rules: Find a path from one dot to the other by moving horizontally or vertically between adjacent squares. The path cannot touch itself, even diagonally. All highlighted regions must be used, and may be re-entered. If two or more highlighted regions have the same shape and orientation, then how the path passes through those shapes must be identical. Or see here.

Answer String: For each marked row, enter the size of each group of cells used by the path from left to right. Separate each row with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:30, Master = 10:30, Expert = 21:00

Solution: PDF