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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a letter entry mode and a shading mode to mark off cells).

Theme: Pi Filling

Author/Opus: This is the 31st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Carl Worth.

Rules: Place each of the given words into the grid, one letter per cell, reading from left to right or top to bottom. All words must be connected, and no words other than the given words can appear in the grid. All occurrences of PI have already been entered into the grid (as the symbol π).

Answer String: Enter all crisscross letters (and spelling out PI where it is used) from left to right for the marked rows and top to bottom for the marked columns. Separate each row/column’s entry with a comma. Use CAPITAL LETTERS and ignore all empty cells.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 25:00, Master = 40:00, Expert = 1:20:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other word logic puzzles.

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

Theme: Pi All Round

Author/Opus: This is the 38th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Same as LITS, except that each region must contain two shaded tetrominoes. These two tetrominoes within a region cannot touch each other, and can be the same or different shapes.

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 = 4:00, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30

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 and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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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: SINGLETwON

Author/Opus: This is the 180th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules.

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 = 6:30, Master = 20:00, Expert = 40:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa variations and this link for classic Tapa. 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 and in Tapa and Variations, both by Serkan Yürekli.

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: Equal Representation

Author/Opus: This is the 84th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Variation of Tapa Rules. Every given clue is lying in two ways: first, the number of given clues in that cell is false; second, the value of any given clues is not true for any part of the Tapa around that cell. For example, a 3 clue could actually indicate 24, but it could not indicate 2 (same number of clues) or 23 (the digit 3 appears). 0 is not a valid clue for this Tapa.

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 = 6:00, Expert = 12:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa variations and this link for classic Tapa. 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 and in Tapa and Variations, both by Serkan Yürekli.

(Note: This bonus puzzle is being posted today to mark the occasion of Prasanna’s birthday.)

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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: 27 years from 03-02-1991 to 03-02-2018

Author/Opus: This is the 160th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: (This puzzle uses standard “Canal View” rules.) Shade some empty cells black to create a single connected group. Cells with numbers cannot be shaded, and the shaded cells cannot form a 2×2 square anywhere in the grid. Each numbered cell indicates the total count of shaded cells connected vertically and horizontally to that numbered cell.

Also, in addition to standard Canal View rules, the clues outside the grid on the top and left indicate the difference in lengths of the largest and smallest shaded groups in that row/column (the smallest group must be >0 cells in size and there must be at least two groups in that row/column). The clues outside the grid on the bottom and right indicate the number of shaded groups in that row/column. All ? clues must stand for prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, …).

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 = 10:00, Master = 22:00, Expert = 44:00

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.

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

Theme: 300 Posts

Author/Opus: This is the 300th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, except the digit set is unknown. This puzzle uses 9 distinct non−negative integers.

Answer String: Enter the 8th row from left to right followed by the 9th row from left to right. Enter all digits for any multi-digit number, do not use spaces, and separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 12:00, Master = 22:30, Expert = 45:00

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. More TomTom puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles.

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

Theme: Repeats Upon Repeats

Author/Opus: This is the 302nd* puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku. (*Saturday’s puzzle is a 300th post special, so this entry is out of order.)

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-7.

Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right followed by the 5th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic TomTom. 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 Art of Puzzles.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode, 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, and a number entry mode for the answer check.)

Theme: Nine Clues

Author/Opus: This is the 157th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Variation of Tapa. There are two grids to solve simultaneously; each number clue must have a different arrangement of shaded cells in its eight neighboring cells from its counterpart clue in the other grid.

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. For entry purposes, the “A/B/C” grid is the grid with the longer entry for its first row. (The “D/E/F” grid has the shorter entry for its first row.)

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:00, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa variations and this link for classic Tapa. 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 and in Tapa and Variations, both 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 number entry mode.)

Theme: A Novelty Against the French Defense

Author/Opus: This is the 35th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules. Also, each letter 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 5th 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 = 4:30, Master = 7:15, Expert = 14:30

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. More Fillomino puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in Fill o’ Fillomino by Grant Fikes.

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Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 81st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Star Battle rules. Three stars per row, column, and region.

Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a star appears. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:00, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Star Battles. 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.