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Theme: Clue Symmetry & Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor Jamie Hargrove.

Rules: Place each of the twelve pentominoes into the grid once, with rotations and reflections allowed. No two pentominoes can overlap or be orthogonally adjacent, and all cells not occupied by the pentominoes must be orthogonally connected. The black circles indicate some cells that must be covered by pentominoes. Some numbers and arrows are also given in the grid. For all numbers that are not covered by a pentomino, the clues give the exact count of shaded cells in the given direction. A shaded over clue may or may not be true.

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 = 10:30, Master = 17:15, Expert = 34:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Statue Park Puzzles and this link for other less common Shading puzzles including Yajisan Kazusan puzzles.

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

Theme: No 2×2 White Blocks

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from guest contributor Jamie Hargrove.

Rules: Shade some cells black so that all unshaded number and arrow clues indicate the exact count of shaded cells in the given direction. Shaded cells cannot share an edge, and all white cells must remain connected as part of a single contiguous group. It is allowed to shade over some of the numbered cells; a shaded over clue may or may not be true. Also, as an extra rule from standard Yajisan Kazusan, there cannot be any fully unshaded 2×2 cell blocks in the grid.

Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of shaded cells as a single string.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 12:00, Expert = 24:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other less common Shading puzzles.

(view directly for a larger image)

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

Theme: Open Seas

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Jamie Hargrove.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments (the unnumbered, connected “ocean”) from left to right for the marked rows. Enter both digits for any two-digit number. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 11:30, Expert = 23:00

Solution: PDF

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

(View image directly for larger form.)

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Theme: Ladders

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor David Olmsted.

Rules: Standard Yajilin rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. If the loop only has vertical segments in the marked row, enter 0. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:30, Master = 13:45, Expert = 27:30

Solution: PDF

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

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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: Clue Symmetry & Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Takeya Saikachi.

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. [+ new rule] Cells with an X cannot be an end of a snake.

Also see this example:

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the length of the snake it belongs to. Enter just the last digit for any two-digit number. This example has the key “33553,44664”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 10:30, Expert = 21:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow these link for other Fillomino or Snake puzzles.

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 & Logic (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 279th 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 = 6:00, Master = 18:00, Expert = 36:00 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

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.

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

Theme: One Side or the Other (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 278th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Skyscrapers rules.

Answer String: Enter the 5th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 7th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:30, Master = 13:00, Expert = 26:00 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

Solution: PDF

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.

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Theme: Tetrominoes (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 277th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-8.

Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right followed by the 6th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 8:00, Master = 16:00, Expert = 32:00 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

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 alternate between a letter entry mode and a shading mode to mark off the clues.)

Theme: Two Lonely Dots (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 275th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Place all the given strings into the grid, one letter per cell, so they can be read from left to right or from top to bottom, without crossing or overlapping each other. A dot between two cells indicates that both cells must contain the same letter. All possible dots are given.

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 7th row from left to right. USE CAPITAL LETTERS. If a cell is empty, use X for that cell.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 13:00, Expert = 26:00 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other word puzzles.

We celebrate Grant’s 30th birthday with this giant Fillomino puzzle.

(View image directly for larger form.)

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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. Note that the default puzzle info is too long — even for an url shortener — so copy and paste all the text in this file into the “Load” option in the upper-right of the penpa-edit interface to access.)

Theme: Happy 30th Birthday

Author/Opus: This is the 238th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

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 15th row, followed by a comma, followed by the 24th row.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 15:00, Master = 30:00, Expert = 1:00:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Fillomino. 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.