Archive for the ‘Variation’ Category:

Easy as LITS by Prasanna Seshadri

LITS by Prasanna Seshadri

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

Theme: SIT TILL ITS STILL LITS

Author/Opus: This is the 54th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard LITS rules. Also, the letters outside the grid indicate the first tetromino encountered in the corresponding direction. Or see this:

LITS by Chris Green

(Example by Chris Green, a patron who requested this puzzle style.)

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 = 4:30, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

Solution: PDF

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.

Easy as LITS by Prasanna Seshadri

LITS by Prasanna Seshadri

PDF

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

Theme: Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 53rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard LITS rules. Also, the letters outside the grid indicate the first tetromino encountered in the corresponding direction. Or see this:

LITS by Chris Green

(Example by Chris Green, a patron who requested this puzzle style.)

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

Solution: PDF

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.

Easy as LITS by Prasanna Seshadri

LITS by Prasanna Seshadri

PDF

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

Theme: Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 52nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard LITS rules. Also, the letters outside the grid indicate the first tetromino encountered in the corresponding direction. Or see this:

LITS by Chris Green

(Example by Chris Green, a patron who requested this puzzle style.)

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 = 2:30, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

Solution: PDF

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.

Fillomino (Cipher) by Palmer Mebane

Fillomino by Palmer Mebane

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: C Major

Author/Opus: This is the 30th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Palmer Mebane.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules. Also, each musical note represents a different positive integer.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the area of the polyomino it belongs to. Enter just the last digit for any two-digit number. Start with the 2nd row, followed by a comma, followed by the 7th row. (For this puzzle, use the integer values of the area, not the encoded letters.)

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 8:00, Master = 12:30, Expert = 25:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Fillomino and this link for more variations on Fillomino puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on.

TomTomTom by Thomas Snyder

Note: This puzzle is a contest puzzle. All correctly submitted answers (in the applet below the puzzle) before November 9th will be entered into the contest drawing. Two solvers will each get a Grandmaster Puzzles/Thomas Snyder puzzle book of their choice.

TomTomTom by Thomas Snyder

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PDF

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

Theme: 200th Puzzle Contest Spectacular

Author/Opus: This is the 200th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: To be determined by solver. (Edit: the full rules are now available on this post.)

Answer String: Enter the final answer as a single string of twelve capital letters.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 20:00, Master = 35:00, Expert = 1:10:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic TomTom puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest TomTom to get started on.

TomTom (Clueless) by John Bulten

TomTom by John Bulten

PDF

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

Theme: Invaluable

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor John Bulten.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-5. Also, each cage must have a non-negative integer operation value (i.e., is equal to 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, …).

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right followed by the 2nd row from left to right. Separate all rows with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 7:00, Expert = 14:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for variations of TomTom and this link for more classic TomTom. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest TomTom to get started on.

Round Trip by Craig Kasper

Round Trip by Craig Kasper

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; in default linex mode: left-click+drag draws line, right click marks X on edge)

Theme: To The Nines

Author/Opus: This is the 8th puzzle from guest contributor Craig Kasper.

Rules: Draw a single loop in the grid which may cross itself orthogonally, but otherwise does not touch or retrace itself. The clue numbers to the left/right of the rows indicate the number of squares visited by the nearest section of the loop that travels horizontally in the rows. The clue numbers to the top/bottom of the columns indicate the number of squares visited by the nearest section of the loop that travels vertically in the columns.

Also, see this example:

Round Trip by Craig Kasper

Answer String: Enter the number of empty squares for each row from top to bottom, followed by a comma, and then the number of turns for each row from top to bottom. This example has the key “100000,422224”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:45, Master = 7:00, Expert = 14:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Round Trip puzzles. Some more Round Trip puzzles can be found in the book Loop Variety Collection by Ashish Kumar and Murat Can Tonta.

Golem Grad by Serkan Yürekli

Golem Grad by Serkan Yürekli

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 60th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Nurikabe. Shade some empty cells black so that the grid is divided into white areas, each containing at most one number. A white area with a number must have the same area in cells as that number. White areas may only touch diagonally. All shaded cells must be connected with each other, but no 2×2 group of cells can be entirely shaded. Also, all shaded cells must be divisible into snakes with the heads and tails given in the grid. Snakes cannot cross each other.

Also, see this example:

Golem Grad by Serkan Yürekli

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. This example has the key “7,32,31”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other variations of Nurikabe and this link for more classic Nurikabe. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabes to get started on.

Round Trip by Craig Kasper

Round Trip by Craig Kasper

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; in default linex mode: left-click+drag draws line, right click marks X on edge)

Theme: Odd Lots

Author/Opus: This is the 7th puzzle from guest contributor Craig Kasper.

Rules: Draw a single loop in the grid which may cross itself orthogonally, but otherwise does not touch or retrace itself. The clue numbers to the left/right of the rows indicate the number of squares visited by the nearest section of the loop that travels horizontally in the rows. The clue numbers to the top/bottom of the columns indicate the number of squares visited by the nearest section of the loop that travels vertically in the columns.

Also, see this example:

Round Trip by Craig Kasper

Answer String: Enter the number of empty squares for each row from top to bottom, followed by a comma, and then the number of turns for each row from top to bottom. This example has the key “100000,422224”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Follow this link for other Round Trip puzzles. Some more Round Trip puzzles can be found in the book Loop Variety Collection by Ashish Kumar and Murat Can Tonta.

Golem Grad by Serkan Yürekli

Golem Grad by Serkan Yürekli

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 59th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Nurikabe. Shade some empty cells black so that the grid is divided into white areas, each containing at most one number. A white area with a number must have the same area in cells as that number. White areas may only touch diagonally. All shaded cells must be connected with each other, but no 2×2 group of cells can be entirely shaded. Also, all shaded cells must be divisible into snakes with the heads and tails given in the grid. Snakes cannot cross each other.

Also, see this example:

Golem Grad by Serkan Yürekli

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. This example has the key “7,32,31”.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other variations of Nurikabe and this link for more classic Nurikabe. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabes to get started on.