Archive for the ‘Puzzle’ Category:

WSC Playoff Puzzle 6/10: Sudoku by Akash Doulani

The sixth puzzle for the World Sudoku Championship playoffs is another classic Sudoku with a diamond theme by Akash Doulani.

Sudoku by Akash Doulani

PDF

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

Theme: Diamond

Author/Opus: This is the 15th puzzle from guest contributor Akash Doulani.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on. More Sudoku including variations can be found in these books in our e-store.

WSC Playoff Puzzle 5/10: Clone Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli

This week we are sharing the 10 puzzles that decided the World Sudoku Championship this year. There was an individual and a team round focusing on “Clone” puzzles, and the fifth playoff puzzle was such a Clone Sudoku with a Noughts and Crosses theme.

Clone Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli

PDF

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

Theme: Noughts and Crosses

Author/Opus: This is the 413th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, all shaded regions of the same shape (“clones”) must include the same numbers in the same positions. Numbers may repeat within a clone.

Estimated Difficulty: 3 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for more variations of Sudoku.

WSC Playoff Puzzle 4/10: Diagonal Sudoku by Thomas Snyder

The fourth World Sudoku Championship playoff puzzle was this Diagonal Sudoku from Thomas Snyder with a “16” theme. All the playoff puzzles represented different themed sudoku rounds and this one represented the Extra Toppings round with extra-region-type constraints.

Diagonal Sudoku by Thomas Snyder

PDF

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

Theme: 16th WSC

Author/Opus: This is the 454th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, numbers cannot repeat on the marked diagonals.

Estimated Difficulty: 2.5-3 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for more variations of Sudoku.

WSC Playoff Puzzle 3/10: Arrow Sudoku by Zoltán Horváth

The third World Sudoku Championship playoff puzzle was this Arrow Sudoku from Zoltán Horváth with a visual “podium” theme. All the playoff puzzles represented different themed sudoku rounds and this one represented arithmetic sudoku.

Arrow Sudoku by Zoltán Horváth

PDF

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

Theme: WSC Podium

Author/Opus: This is the 19th puzzle from guest contributor Zoltán Horváth.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 2.5-3 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for more Arrow Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Arrow Sudoku to get started on. More Arrow Sudoku puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

WSC Playoff Puzzle 2/10: Consecutive Pairs Sudoku by Ashish Kumar

The second World Sudoku Championship playoff puzzle was this fun Consecutive Pairs Sudoku by Ashish Kumar with two large boxes to work around.

Consecutive Pairs Sudoku by Ashish Kumar

PDF

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

Theme: Boxes

Author/Opus: This is the 116th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard Consecutive Pairs Sudoku rules. (If a gray circle is given between two adjacent cells, then the two numbers in those cells must be consecutive. Note not all gray circles are given; adjacent cells without a circle may contain either consecutive numbers or nonconsecutive numbers.)

Estimated Difficulty: 2.5-3 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for Consecutive Pairs Sudoku puzzles on this website. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Consecutive Pairs Sudoku to get started on. More Consecutive Pairs Sudoku puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

WSC Playoff Puzzle 1/10: Sudoku by Thomas Snyder

This week we are sharing the 10 puzzles that decided the World Sudoku Championship this year. The first puzzle was a classic Sudoku with a ’23 theme and a split of even/odd digits.

Sudoku by Thomas Snyder

PDF

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

Theme: ’23 (Even and Odd)

Author/Opus: This is the 453rd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on. More Sudoku including variations can be found in these books in our e-store.

Thermo-Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli

Update: 2023/07/27 – We have opened up a few more of our subscription puzzles to give people a sense of what they may be missing if they aren’t a subscriber. This “warm-up” Thermo-Sudoku is a great example of some of the new easier puzzles that happen every day (alongside harder content) to get solvers back into our different genres; all warm-up puzzles are fair and interesting, even if on the easier side.

Mastering Thermo-Sudoku requires combining number placement thinking with greater than/less than thinking. How will you do on this puzzle from Serkan Yürekli that splits the numbers and the thermometers apart?

Thermo-Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli

PDF

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

Theme: Half and Half

Author/Opus: This is the 393rd puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Thermo-Sudoku rules.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 1:20, Expert = 2:40

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

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 these books in our e-store.

TomTom by Grant Fikes

Update: 2023/07/27 – We have opened up a few more of our subscription puzzles to give people a sense of what they may be missing if they aren’t a subscriber, including this pair of TomTom puzzles from Grant Fikes.

Grant Fikes has created this clever PairPair of TomTom puzzles, where this is the second part.

TomTom by Grant Fikes

PDF

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

Theme: Half Off (Part 2)

Author/Opus: This is the 401st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-5.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:00, Expert = 2:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic TomTom and this link for TomTom variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest TomTom to get started on. More TomTom puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

TomTom by Grant Fikes

Update: 2023/07/27 – We have opened up a few more of our subscription puzzles to give people a sense of what they may be missing if they aren’t a subscriber, including this pair of TomTom puzzles from Grant Fikes.

Grant Fikes has created this clever PairPair of TomTom puzzles, where this is the first part.

TomTom by Grant Fikes

PDF

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

Theme: Half Off (Part 1)

Author/Opus: This is the 400th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-5.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:35, Master = 1:00, Expert = 2:00

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic TomTom and this link for TomTom variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest TomTom to get started on. More TomTom puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

Aqre by Ashish Kumar

Update: 2023/07/09 – This fun and interesting puzzle by Ashish Kumar was the favorite “warm-up” track puzzle in our first subscription week on the site and we’re releasing it for everyone to get a tease for the new subscriptions. We also put out a YouTube video focusing on the special puzzle style of Aqre originally designed by Eric Fox.

No, this is not secretly a Sudoku! But Ashish Kumar has somehow managed to make a mostly easy and fully logical Aqre puzzle with this impressive grid shape.

Aqre by Ashish Kumar

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: 3×3 Boxes

Author/Opus: This is the 104th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard Aqre rules: Shade some cells so that all shaded cells form one connected group. Regions with numbers must contain the indicated count of shaded cells, and it is allowed to shade over the numbered cells. There may not exist a run of four or more consecutive shaded or unshaded cells horizontally or vertically anywhere in the grid.

Aqre Example by Serkan Yürekli

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:50, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation. It is also featured in this “Better Know a Puzzle: Aqre” video.

Note: Follow this link for more Aqre puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Aqre to get started on. More Aqre puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.