PDF

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

Theme: 1ST

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Yunus Emre Büyükkale.

Rules: Standard LITS 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 = 4:15, Master = 8:00, Expert = 16:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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.

PDF

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

Theme: S for Superman

Author/Opus: This is the 211st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

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 = 2:00, Master = 4:45, Expert = 9:30

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. More LITS puzzles can be found in LOTS O’ LITS by Grant Fikes and Prasanna Seshadri and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

PDF

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

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 277th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard LITS 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 = 2:45, Master = 3:45, Expert = 7:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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.

PDF

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

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 276th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard LITS 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 = 1:30, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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.

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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

Theme: August

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Bahar Açılan.

Rules: Standard LITS rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded segments from top to bottom for the marked columns, starting at the left. Separate each column’s entry from the next 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 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.

PDF

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

Theme: T Time

Author/Opus: This is the 108th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard LITS 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 = 1:20, Master = 1:40, Expert = 3:20

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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.

PDF

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

Theme: Vortex

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor William Hu.

Rules: Standard LITS 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 = 3:30, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other 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.

PDF

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

Theme: Pocket Puzzle

Author/Opus: This is the 52nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Variation of standard Nanro rules. Besides the cells numbered 4, identical numbers in differing regions cannot touch along common borders. All “4” clues have been replaced by tetromino letters, and must be connected to form a valid LITS solution (that is, identical shapes cannot touch along common borders). In other words: the final solution, including all numbered cells and tetrominoes, is a valid Nanro solution, and just the regions with tetrominoes form a valid LITS solution.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the segments labeled with numbers 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 = 5:15, Master = 8:00, Expert = 16:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for Nanro puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Nanro puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nanro Puzzles to get started on. More Nanro puzzles can be found in A Number o’ Nanro by Prasanna Seshadri.

PDF

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.

Here are our best Shading puzzles of 2017, our most frequent category with 60 posts this past year so we’ve selected five total “Best of…” winners here.

Leading off our winners is this classic Tapa by Murat Can Tonta with a Four Squares theme.

Murat brought another highly rated puzzle with this classic LITS with a patterned center.

However, our top three puzzles (all very close in votes) were minor variations on shading styles. Thomas Snyder brought us this Tapa (Different) puzzle that uses 15 different 2×2 blocks in different parts of the solve.

Tying for the best shading puzzle of 2017 is another Tapa variation, Visionary, from Tapa creator Serkan Yürekli that makes you look beyond the normal box to make progress.

The other puzzle tied for Best Shading Puzzle was a challenging Nurikabe by John Bulten where instead of the usual 2×2 rule in a lot of our shading puzzles, there was a no five in a line rule.