This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab key to alternate between shading and star placement modes.)

Author/Opus: This is the 485th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules. Also, each row and column must contain exactly one star. Stars cannot be placed in adjacent cells that share an edge or corner, and all stars must be on empty cells that are not shaded.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for classic Cross the Streams and this link for Cross the Streams variations. Follow this link for other classic Star Battles and this link for Star Battle variations.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 1 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

PDF

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

Theme: Any Questions?

Author/Opus: This is the 10th puzzle from guest contributor David Altizio.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules, except that the puzzle uses an early number system that only has the concepts of “one” and “many”. All number clues greater than 1 are represented by a + symbol.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:30, Master = 10:30, Expert = 21:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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

PDF

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

Author/Opus: This is the 392nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules. Also, the grid is divided into 5×5 sections. It must be possible to pair sections up such that the shading of the section in each pair is identical. Sections may be rotated to be paired up, but not reflected.

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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

PDF

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

Theme: Groups

Author/Opus: This is the 17th puzzle from our new contributing puzzlemaster JinHoo Ahn.

Rules: Variation of Cross the Streams rules. Instead of their usual meaning, clues refer to the distribution of the white cells. The shaded cells must still obey the regular rules (connectivity, no 2×2 squares).

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 10:30, Expert = 21:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video (with info on an Easter Egg for this puzzle) is also available here.

Note: Follow this link for other Cross the Streams. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cross the Streams to get started on.

PDF

A written transcript of the audio is here, to reduce the frightful nature of this difficult puzzle after Halloween.
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a shading mode and a number entry mode to track clues.)

Theme: Ten Out of Ten

Author/Opus: This is the 329th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules. Also, (as transcribed from the audio file): “You will hear the clues read to you, first the across clues (starting with the topmost row and moving towards the bottom) and then the down clues (starting with the leftmost column and moving towards the right). In this charming 10×10 puzzle, called “Ten Out of Ten”, grandmaster Grant Fikes demonstrates an affinity for the number 10, using it not just once but twice in the column clues.”

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 9:00, Master = 13:00, Expert = 26:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other Cross the Streams. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cross the Streams to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a shading mode and a composite mode where left click inside cell shades square, left click + drag draws line segment, right click inside cell adds dot, and right click on cell edge adds an x.)

Theme: Foursomes

Author/Opus: This is the 363rd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules. Also, the shaded region must be able to be split into tetrominoes to form a valid LITS solution (meaning all tetrominoes are connected but no two tetrominoes sharing an edge are the same shape, including rotations and reflections).

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:45, Master = 11:00, Expert = 22:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other Cross the Streams. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cross the Streams to get started on.

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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

Theme: Cubes

Author/Opus: This is the 17th puzzle from guest contributor Bryce Herdt.

Rules: Variation of Cross the Streams. Instead of the “no 2×2 shaded square” rule, in this hexagonal grid no 3 cells that share a point can be shaded. All vertical clues and rows, whether slanted left or slanted right, are to be read from top to bottom.

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Cross the Streams. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cross the Streams to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode, a number entry mode for placing Tapa clues, 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: Sequences

Author/Opus: This is the 10th puzzle from guest contributor Chris Green.

Rules: (Style created by Chris Green as a combination of Cross the Streams and Tapa rules.)

Shade some empty cells black to create a single group of black cells that are all connected to each other through their edges. No 2×2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells.

Numbers and symbols to the left/top of the grid represent all unshaded cells in the grid in that row/column in order, either from left to right or from top to bottom. The numbers and symbols represent the value of Tapa-style clues inside the grid, specifically the length of consecutive shaded blocks in the neighboring cells. If there is more than one number in a cell, then there must be at least one white (unshaded) cell between shaded groups.

The three symbols indicate different kinds of missing information.
– A question mark (?) represents a single missing positive integer as part of a clue (either alone or in combination with other numbers/question marks).
– An octothorpe (#) represents a single white clue cell which may have any combination of values including a single number or multiple numbers.
– An asterisk (*) represents an unknown number of white clue cells, including one, multiple, or no clue cells at all. Any clue cells indicated by an asterisk can have any combination of values including a single number or multiple numbers.

Also see this example by Thomas Snyder:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments from top to bottom for the marked columns, going in order from A to B to C to D and separating each entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 10:00, Master = 24:00, Expert = 48:00.

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Cross the Streams and this link for other Tapa.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a shading mode and a composite mode where left click inside cell shades square, left click + drag draws line segment, right click inside cell adds dot, and right click on cell edge adds an x.)

Theme: Threes

Author/Opus: This is the 263rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules. Also, the shaded region must be able to be split into tetrominoes to form a valid LITS solution (meaning all tetrominoes are connected but no two tetrominoes sharing an edge are the same shape, including rotations and reflections).

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments from top to bottom for the marked columns, going in order from A to B to C to D and separating each entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:45, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00.

Solution: PDF

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

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: Sunken Lake

Author/Opus: This is the 54th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: This puzzle is a combination of Cross the Streams and Cave rules (with the exception of having multiple “caves” that all connect to the edge of the grid).

Shade some empty cells black to create a single group of black cells that are all connected to each other through their edges. No 2×2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. Numbers to the left/top of the grid represent the groups of consecutive black cells which are in that row/column in order, either from left to right or from top to bottom. A question mark (?) represents a group of consecutive black cells whose size is unknown; an asterisk (*) represents any number of unknown groups of black cells, including none at all.

All white cells must be connected via other white cells to an edge of the grid. All numbered cells inside the grid must be white and each number in these cells indicates the total count of white cells connected vertically and horizontally to the numbered cell including the cell itself.

See also this example:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the (white) 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 = 3:30, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Cross the Streams. Follow this link for other Cave variations and this link for other classic Caves. If you are new to Cave puzzles, 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.