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: Question Mark

Author/Opus: This is the 170th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Battleships. Locate an unknown fleet of 1-cell wide ships into the grid. Each segment of a ship occupies a single cell, and ships do not touch each other, even diagonally. Some sea cells, without any ship segments, are given in the grid. Numbers on the right and bottom edges of the grid reveal the number of ship segments in that row or column. Numbers on the top and left of the grid indicate the number of distinct ships in that row or column.

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 just the last digit for any 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 = 3:00, Master = 4:45, Expert = 9:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Battleships. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Battleships to get started on. More Battleships puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles collection.

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry & Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor Jamie Hargrove.

Rules: Place each of the twelve pentominoes into the grid once, with rotations and reflections allowed. No two pentominoes can overlap or be orthogonally adjacent, and all cells not occupied by the pentominoes must be orthogonally connected. The black circles indicate some cells that must be covered by pentominoes. Some numbers and arrows are also given in the grid. For all numbers that are not covered by a pentomino, the clues give the exact count of shaded cells in the given direction. A shaded over clue may or may not be true.

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 = 10:30, Master = 17:15, Expert = 34:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Statue Park Puzzles and this link for other less common Shading puzzles including Yajisan Kazusan puzzles.

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: High and Low (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 271st puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Battleships rules. Use the indicated fleet.

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 just the last digit for any 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 = 2:15, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Battleships. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Battleships to get started on. More Battleships puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles collection.

PDF

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

Theme: Star Frame (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 270th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Star Battle rules. Two stars per row, column, and region.

Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a star appears. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Star Battles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Star Battles to get started on. More Star Battle puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles.

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: One-sided Battle

Author/Opus: This is the 24th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Carl Worth.

Rules: Combination of Battleships and Star Battle. Follow standard Battleships rules. Also, exactly one ship segment is present in each bold region.

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 just the last digit for any 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 = 5:30, Master = 10:30, Expert = 21:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Follow this link for classic Star Battles and this link for classic Battleships.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between Battleships placement and line drawing modes.)

Theme: Clockwise Sequence

Author/Opus: This is the 155th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Battleships and Yajilin. Place the fleet of ships in the grid so that no ships touch each other, even diagonally. The grid contains internal clues (a number and an arrow) that show how many ship segments are in the indicated direction. All remaining white cells that do not contain a ship segment must be able to form a single loop, as in a Yajilin puzzle.

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 = 2:45, Master = 3:45, Expert = 7:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic Yajilin and this link for classic Battleships puzzles.

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: Today’s Puzzle (3/21/2017)

Author/Opus: This is the 264th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Battleships rules. Use the indicated fleet.

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 just the last digit for any 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 other classic Battleships. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Battleships to get started on. More Battleships puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles collection.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between multiple modes including a shading mode, the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s, a shape entry mode, and a number entry mode)

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor Roger Barkan.

Rules: Combination of Star Battle and Cave. Place digits into two cells in every row, column, and region of the top grid (one cell in the example). Digits cannot touch, not even diagonally. The numbers in the upper-left of each region indicate the identity of the digit to be entered in that region. The digits must form a valid cave puzzle (which can be solved on the bottom grid).

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the cave 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 = 9:00, Master = 15:30, Expert = 31:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Caves. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cave Puzzles to get started on. More Cave puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in Roger Barkan’s Colossal Cave Collection.

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: Just One

Author/Opus: This is the 262nd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Battleships rules. Use the indicated fleet.

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 just the last digit for any 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 = 2:45, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Battleships. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Battleships to get started on. More Battleships puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles collection.

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 141st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Place six pentominoes into each of the two top grids so that all twelve pentominoes are in one of the grids. Pentominoes can be rotated and reflected, but cannot touch each other not even diagonally. The numbers outside the grids indicate how many cells are used by pentominoes in that row/column. The shaded cells in the bottom grid must be part of a pentomino in one of the two top grids; the unshaded cells cannot be part of a pentomino in either grid.

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

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 6:45, Expert = 13:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other puzzles involving Pentominoes.