Since 2021, we have posted some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This fifth Sunday Stumper of 2022 is a combination of Arrow Sudoku and Thermo-Sudoku by Jonas Gleim.

PDF

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

Theme: Compass

Author/Opus: This is the 12th puzzle from guest contributor Jonas Gleim.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku and Thermo-Sudoku rules.

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 18:00, Master = 25:00, Expert = 50:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on. More classic Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku, The Art of Sudoku 2 and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

Since 2021, we have posted some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This fourth Sunday Stumper of 2022 is a Statue Park variation with Tapa-style clues by puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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

Theme: 4×4 Matrix

Author/Opus: This is the 232nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Statue Park rules, using a double pentomino set. Number clues are equivalent to white circles and cannot be shaded. Also, number clues behave like Tapa clues and indicate the length(s) of consecutive shaded block(s) in the neighboring cells. Each question mark represents a positive integer.

See also this example:

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 20:30, Master = 32:00, Expert = 1:04:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Statue Park and this link for Statue Park variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Statue Parks to get started on. More Statue Park puzzles can be found in the ebook Statue Park by Murat Can Tonta.

Since 2021, we have posted some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This third Sunday Stumper of 2022 is an Araf variation by guest contributor Jeffrey Bardon.

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 shading mode.)

Theme: 3 6 T’s

Author/Opus: This is the 7th puzzle from guest contributor Jeffrey Bardon.

Rules: Standard Araf rules. Also, no two regions with the same size can share an edge. (Note: this is the same rule as in Fillomino puzzles where no equal size polyominoes can touch.)

See also this example:

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 24:00, Master = 32:00, Expert = 1:04:00

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

Note: Follow this link for more Araf puzzles on this website. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Araf Puzzles to get started on. More Araf puzzles can be found in the ebook Araf by Serkan Yürekli.

Since 2021, we have posted some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This second Sunday Stumper of 2022 is a large Aqre puzzle by Murat Can Tonta.

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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: Squares

Author/Opus: This is the 219th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Aqre rules: Shade some cells so that all shaded cells form one connected group. Regions with numbers must contain the indicated count of shaded cells, and it is allowed to shade over the numbered cells. There may not exist a run of four or more consecutive shaded or unshaded cells horizontally or vertically anywhere in the grid.

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 21:00, Master = 35:00, Expert = 1:10:00

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

Note: Follow this link for more Aqre puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Aqre to get started on. More Aqre puzzles are in Shading Variety Collection by Prasanna Seshadri.

Since 2021, we have posted some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This first Sunday Stumper of 2022 is a Tapa variation from Serkan Yürekli.

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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: Mastermind 2022

Author/Opus: This is the 357th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, the numbers given between the grids show the total number of black cells in the same position in that row or column. A row or column without such a clue may have any number of common black cells including zero.

See also this example:

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 33:00, Master = 55:00, Expert = 1:50:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Tapa and this link for Tapa variations. 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, in Tapa and Variations, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles, all by Serkan Yürekli.

This year, we started posting some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This eleventh Sunday Stumper is a challenging (anti-)XV Sudoku by Murat Can Tonta.

PDF

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

Theme: Pairs

Author/Opus: This is the 214th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, whenever the numbers in two adjacent cells sum to exactly 10 or 5, an X or V is placed on the edge between cells reflecting the Roman numerals for 10 or 5. All adjacent cells not marked with an X or V cannot add up to 10 or 5.

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 17:30, Master = 30:00, Expert = 1:00:00

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

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

This year, we started posting some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This tenth Sunday Stumper is a challenging Killer Sudoku by Prasanna Seshadri.

PDF

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

Theme: Y Go Extra?

Author/Opus: This is the 220th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, the sum of the digits in each cage must equal the value given in the upper-left corner of that cage. Digits cannot repeat inside a cage.

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 20:00, Master = 30:00, Expert = 1:00:00

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

Note: Follow this link for more Killer Sudoku and this link for classic Sudoku. More Killer Sudoku puzzles can be found in Killer Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli.

This year, we started posting some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This ninth Sunday Stumper is a new Star Battle variation from puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta; more of this variant will be in our upcoming Star Battle 2 e-book from JinHoo Ahn and Murat Can Tonta.

PDF

(view directly for a larger image)

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools where a single star in gray means two stars but the standard Star Battle interface is used; if you prefer seeing 1 versus 2 objects, here is an alternate formatting using mines that allows for that.)

Theme: Stars

Author/Opus: This is the 208th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Star Battle rules with three stars per row, column, and region. Also, there are some shaded cells in the grid and those cells either contain two stars or none. (In a gray cell with two stars, none of the adjacent cells sharing an edge or corner can have any stars.)

See also this example:

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 10:30, Master = 23:30, Expert = 47:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other classic Star Battles and this link for Star Battle variations. 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, in the books Star Battle by JinHoo Ahn and Star Battle 2 by JinHoo Ahn and Murat Can Tonta, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

This year, we started posting some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This eighth Sunday Stumper is a Hungarian Tapa from puzzlemaster Palmer Mebane.

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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

Theme: Four Corners of Four

Author/Opus: This is the 52nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Palmer Mebane.

Rules: Variation of Tapa. Shade some empty cells black to create a single connected wall. Cells with numbers cannot be shaded, and the shaded cells cannot form a 2×2 square anywhere in the grid. Each row and column must contain eight shaded cells (four for the example). Place a number from 1 to 8 (1-4 for the example) into each shaded cell so that each number appears once in each row and column.

Numbers in a cell indicate the sums of the numbers 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 the black cell groups. Numbers on the shaded cells can repeat in a sum.

See also this example:

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 35:00, Master = 1:05:00, Expert = 2:10:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Tapa and this link for Tapa variations. 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, in Tapa and Variations, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles, all by Serkan Yürekli.

This year, we have started to have some extra difficult Sunday Stumpers, about once a month. These will be quite tough puzzles, but with a logical path to be found (and solution videos to help). This seventh Sunday Stumper is a Japanese Sums (Cipher) puzzle with a hidden theme.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between number entry, sudoku, and shading modes. Note that any extra numbers (in green, blue, or red) or shaded cells outside the grid will interfere with solution checking. So we suggest using the Number mode in black to write notes over the outside clues or in the cipher box below the grid; make sure only blue digits are inside the 11×11 grid and not outside the grid.)

Theme: Hidden

Author/Opus: This is the 203rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Place the digits 1-9 in some of the cells, so that no digit is repeated in any row or column. Also, all numbers are encrypted with J, A, P, N, E, S, U, M, H, D letters and each letter represents a different digit from 0 to 9. Numbers on the outside of the grid indicate the sums of adjacent digit groups in that row or column, in order. Each sum is separated by at least one unused cell. Single-digit clues cannot be a 0, and also multi-digit clues cannot start with a 0. A question mark indicates a sum value of unknown size, and can be single- or multi-digit.

Or see this (non-cipher) example of Japanese Sums:

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 27:30, Master = 37:00, Expert = 1:14:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other Japanese Sums puzzles.