PDF

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Twins

Author/Opus: This is the 210th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Divide the grid along the boundary lines so that every cell belongs to a snake. A snake is a one-cell-wide path at least two cells long that does not touch itself, not even diagonally. Circled cells must be at one of the ends of a snake. A snake may contain one circled cell, two circled cells, or no circled cells at all. Numbered cells must be part of a snake with a length of exactly that number of cells. A snake may contain one number, multiple identical numbers, or no numbers at all. Two snakes of the same length cannot touch each other horizontally or vertically. Cells with an X cannot be an end of a snake.

Also see this example:

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:00, Master = 3:45, Expert = 7:30

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

Note: Follow this link for more Snake Pit puzzles. Follow these links for other Fillomino or Snake puzzles.

PDF

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

Theme: Zero

Author/Opus: This is the 341st puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Kakuro Rules, except that the allowed digit range is 0-9.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 9:45, Expert = 19:30

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.

PDF

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

Theme: Antisymmetry

Author/Opus: This is the 217th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Statue Park rules. Also, the numbers in the black circles show the number of spaces not occupied by pentominoes in orthogonally and diagonally adjacent cells. The numbers in the white circles show the number of spaces occupied by pentominoes in orthogonally and diagonally adjacent cells.

Difficulty: 4.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 11:00, Master = 16:00, Expert = 32:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other classic Statue Park and this link for Statue Park variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Statue Parks to get started on. More Statue Park puzzles can be found in the ebook Statue Park by Murat Can Tonta.

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: 1-7

Author/Opus: This is the 9th puzzle from guest contributor Takeya Saikachi.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, similar to Nurikabe, each Tapa clue cell is part of an island of horizontally and vertically connected white cells and the area of the island must be one of the numbers in the clue (as an example, if a clue is 1 5, then the island containing that clue must be either 1 cell or 5 cells large). Islands are allowed to touch diagonally. No island can contain more than one number clue cell, but there may be islands without any number clues in the grid.

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 classic Tapa and this link for Tapa variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on. More Tapa puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in Tapa and Variations, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles, all by Serkan Yürekli.

This year, we started posting 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 ninth Sunday Stumper is a new Star Battle variation from puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta; more of this variant will be in our upcoming Star Battle 2 e-book from JinHoo Ahn and Murat Can Tonta.

PDF

(view directly for a larger image)

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools where a single star in gray means two stars but the standard Star Battle interface is used; if you prefer seeing 1 versus 2 objects, here is an alternate formatting using mines that allows for that.)

Theme: Stars

Author/Opus: This is the 208th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Star Battle rules with three stars per row, column, and region. Also, there are some shaded cells in the grid and those cells either contain two stars or none. (In a gray cell with two stars, none of the adjacent cells sharing an edge or corner can have any stars.)

See also this example:

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 10:30, Master = 23:30, Expert = 47:00

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.

PDF

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 shading mode.)

Theme: Double Ring

Author/Opus: This is the 392nd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Variation of Spiral Galaxies. In addition to the standard rules, some circles are shaded gray and must belong to galaxies containing two gray circles, not one, with the circles in rotationally symmetric spots for those galaxies.

Difficulty: 4.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:00, Master = 13:15, Expert = 26:30

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

PDF

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 shading mode.)

Author/Opus: This is the 84th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules. Also, there may not be four consecutive cells that are part of a galaxy in any row or column.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

PDF

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

Theme: Signed by the Author

Author/Opus: This is the 352nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-5. The two grids have the same numerical clues in the cages with the given operations (e.g. the sum of the upper-left cage in the top grid equals the product of the upper-left cage in the bottom grid). The value of all mathematical operations must be nonnegative integers.

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:45, Master = 4:45, Expert = 9:30

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.

PDF

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

Theme: Ten’s Complement

Author/Opus: This is the 206th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

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

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:15, Master = 3:00, Expert = 6:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other less common Number Placement puzzles.

PDF

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

Theme: Sequence

Author/Opus: This is the 77th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Variation of Skyscrapers; each clue represents the sum of the heights of the visible buildings in that direction.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:30, Master = 2:00, Expert = 4:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Skyscrapers puzzles and this link for variations on Skyscrapers puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Skyscrapers Puzzles to get started on. More Skyscrapers puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli, and in the e-book Skyscrapers by Ashish Kumar.