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Theme: HEX Week

Author/Opus: This is the 25th puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Fill some cells with stars so that each row (in a horizontal or either of two diagonal directions) and bold region contains the indicated number of stars. Stars cannot be placed in adjacent cells that share an edge.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 9:45, Expert = 19:30

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Star Battles and this link for Star Battle variations. 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, in the books Star Battle by JinHoo Ahn and Star Battle 2 by JinHoo Ahn and Murat Can Tonta, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

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Theme: Five Rings

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor Takeya Saikachi.

Rules: Standard Kurotto rules. Also, the grid is hexagonal.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:45, Master = 9:15, Expert = 18:30

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

Note: Follow this link for classic Kurotto puzzles and this link for variations on Kurotto puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Kurotto to get started on. More Kurotto puzzles can be found in the ebook Kurotto by Prasanna Seshadri.

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Theme: Mini Hexes

Author/Opus: This is the 384th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Variation of LITS. Shade exactly four cells in each outlined region to form an S, L, I, C, or Y tetrahex. When all regions have been shaded, the following conditions must be true:
1) All shaded cells will be connected through a network of adjacent shaded cells;
2) No three shaded cells will share a common vertex;
3) When two tetrahexes share an edge in adjacent regions, they must not be the same type (S, L, I, C, or Y), regardless of potential rotations or reflections.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

Note: Follow this link for more variations of LITS and this link for classic LITS. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest LITS to get started on. More LITS puzzles can be found in LOTS O’ LITS by Grant Fikes and Prasanna Seshadri, in The Art of Puzzles 2, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

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

Theme: Diamond

Author/Opus: This is the 19th puzzle from guest contributor Bryce Herdt.

Rules: Draw a single, non-intersecting loop that passes through all cells. The loop must form a 60 degree angle in all the cells with black circles, a 120 degree angle in all the cells with gray circles, and a 180 degree angle (straight segment) in all the cells with white circles.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

Note: Follow this link for other Loop/Path puzzles.

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a composite mode for line/edge drawing and a letter entry mode.)

Theme: Cyclops

Author/Opus: This is the 24th puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Divide the grid into tetrahexes (four-cell regions) so that no two tetrahexes of the same shape (including rotations/reflections) share an edge. A cell with a letter in it must be part of the tetrahex shape normally associated with that letter. An inventory of tetrahexes is given below the puzzle but not all shapes must be used.

Difficulty: 2 stars

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

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

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 the Plenty o’ Pentominous series by Grant Fikes and Murat Can Tonta and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

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Theme: Capsules

Author/Opus: This is the 331st puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Fill all empty hexes with digits from 1-9 so that all number clues (in white) indicate the sum of the digits in that direction. Digits cannot repeat in any entry (i.e., any group of hexes connected either horizontally or in one of the two diagonal directions, without any black cells separating them). This no repeat rule applies even for unclued entries.

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:40, Master = 1:15, Expert = 2:30

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

This year, we have started to have some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This fifth Sunday Stumper is a TomTom puzzle with encoded cage clues.

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Theme: Father’s Day

Author/Opus: This is the 320th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-9. Also, the letters F, A, T, H, E, R, S, D, Y represent different digits from 0-9. Identify which letters stand for which digits and then solve the TomTom. Multi-digit clues cannot start with a 0. (Note: The /S cage is a division cage with value “S”; the slash sign is used instead of the normal division symbol for aesthetic purposes.)

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 50:00, Master = 1:15:00, Expert = 2:30:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

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 the TomTom collection, in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

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

Theme: One-Two Punch

Author/Opus: This is the 16th puzzle from guest contributor Dan Katz.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-6. Additionally, no clue numbers are given for the cages, but clue numbers are given for adjacent pairs of cages. For each clue number, it must be possible to apply one operation to the digits in the first cage, a different operation to the digits in the second cage, and a third operation (different from the first two) to the two cage results to obtain the given clue number.

See also this example:

Difficulty: 4.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:15, Master = 17:30, Expert = 35:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

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 the TomTom collection, in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

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

Theme: Tetrominoes

Author/Opus: This is the 383rd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-8.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 11:00, Master = 15:30, Expert = 31:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

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 the TomTom collection, in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

PDF

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

Theme: One 6-13 Series

Author/Opus: This is the 71st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-6.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 3:45, Expert = 7:30

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

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 the TomTom collection, in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.