Cave by Roger Barkan

Cave by Roger Barkan

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic (Puzzle #5 in the Colossal Cave Collection).

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Roger Barkan.

Rules: Standard Cave rules.

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 = 2:30, Master = 3:15, Expert = 6:30

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.

Cave by Roger Barkan

Cave by Roger Barkan

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic (Puzzle #4 in the Colossal Cave Collection).

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Roger Barkan.

Rules: Standard Cave rules.

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 = 2:15, Master = 3:00, Expert = 6:00

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.

Best of 2016: Region Division Puzzles

Here are our best Region Division puzzles of 2016, selected from the 39 web posts in this category.

While we didn’t have as many guest contributions in 2016 as in earlier years with the site, there were still some stand-out puzzles from our guests including this magnificent Cave by Bryce Herdt with Fibonacci Spiral theme.

Cave by Bryce Herdt

Another Cave, this time a Diagonal variation from Prasanna Seshadri, also got top marks from many solvers.

Cave (Diagonal) by Prasanna Seshadri

Carl Worth demonstrated the quality that earned him a contributing puzzlemaster position this year with a tough Fillomino puzzle with a dominoes theme.

Fillomino by Carl Worth

The best Region Division puzzle this year though went to this combination of Pentominous and Star Battle by Grant Fikes that gave solvers a unique kind of logical challenge.

Pentominous (Star Battle) by Grant Fikes

Cave (Even Rows/Columns) by Murat Can Tonta

Cave 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 linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 49th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Cave rules. Also, an even number of cells in each row and in each column must be inside the cave.

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 = 3:15, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

Solution: PDF

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

Cave by Ashish Kumar

Cave by Ashish Kumar

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 3rd puzzle from guest contributor Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard Cave rules.

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

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.

Cave by Grant Fikes

Cave by Grant Fikes

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 208th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Cave rules.

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 = 1:30, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

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.

Cave (Diagonal) by Prasanna Seshadri

Cave (Diagonal) by Prasanna Seshadri

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic (for patron Veep)

Author/Opus: This is the 125th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Variation of Cave. Number clues give the total count of cells connected diagonally to a numbered cell including the cell itself. Also, there can be no 2×2 area fully inside the cave.

Cave (Diagonal) Example by Thomas Snyder

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 = 4:15, Master = 5:45, Expert = 11:30

Solution: PDF

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

Cave by Thomas Snyder

Cave by Thomas Snyder

PDF

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

Theme: Five (originally on the US round for the 2016 WPF Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 244th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Cave rules.

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 = 5:00, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

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.

Cave by Bryce Herdt

Cave by Bryce Herdt

PDF

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

Theme: Fibonacci Spiral (Note: the shading is just to emphasize the theme elements)

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from guest contributor Bryce Herdt.

Rules: Standard Cave rules.

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 = 3:15, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

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.

Cave (Windows) by Prasanna Seshadri

Cave by Prasanna Seshadri

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 110th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Cave rules. Also there are two windows in the upper left (blue) and lower right (red) of the grid. The cells in the same position in these windows must have the exact opposite shading (i.e., those inside the cave in one window are outside the cave in the other window).

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 = 2:00, Master = 2:45, Expert = 5:30

Solution: PDF

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