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)

Theme: Even/Odd Diagonals

Author/Opus: This is the 499th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, the letter E stands for even digits (except zero) and O stands for odd digits.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:15, Expert = 2:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

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.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 9 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

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)

Author/Opus: This is the 300th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, white circles, representing the centers of the largest rectangle containing them, indicate centers of symmetry; both the shaded and unshaded cells within this rectangle must demonstrate rotational symmetry. Rectangles containing different circles can intersect.

See also this example:

and this colored image will help visualize the five largest rectangles in the example for each of the five colored circles:

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:15, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

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.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 9 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

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)

Theme: Enclosed

Author/Opus: This is the 318th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also there are two windows in the upper left (blue) and lower right (red) of the grid. The cells in the same position in these windows must have the exact opposite shading. (Clue cells are considered unshaded.)

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:30, Master = 0:45, Expert = 1:30

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

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.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 9 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

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: Four by Four

Author/Opus: This is the 64th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster JinHoo Ahn.

Rules: Variation of Nanro rules with Tapa clue elements: Label some cells with numbers to form a single connected group of labeled cells; no 2×2 group of cells may be fully labeled. Each bold region must contain at least one labeled cell. Each number must equal the total count of labeled cells in that region. Numbers in a gray cell indicate the length of consecutive labeled cells in its neighbors. If there is more than one number in a gray cell, then there must be at least one white (not labeled) cell between the labeled cell groups. When two numbers are orthogonally adjacent across a region boundary, the numbers must be different.

Also see this example:

Difficulty: 4.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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; 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: Antonyms

Author/Opus: This is the 22nd puzzle from our newest contributing puzzlemaster Takeya Saikachi.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, exactly one copy of each letter given in the grid must be shaded; other copies of that letter, if present, must be left unshaded.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 8:15, Expert = 16:30

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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 1 and 2, and in our beginner-friendly books Intro to GMPuzzles and Starter Pack 2: Tapa, all by Serkan Yürekli.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode, a circle entry 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: Blind Spots

Author/Opus: This is the 16th puzzle from guest contributor Zoltán Horváth.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, each row and each column must contain N black holes on the Tapa wall. For the purposes of surrounding clues, a cell with a black hole counts as M consecutive shaded cells instead of 1. (If M equals zero, a cell with a black hole does not divide the group of shaded cells around a clue into different shaded groups; that cell is simply not counted.) Black holes may touch each other.

Or see here:

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:00, Master = 13:30, Expert = 27:00

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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 1 and 2, and in our beginner-friendly books Intro to GMPuzzles and Starter Pack 2: Tapa, all by Serkan Yürekli.

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: Singularity at the Black Hole

Author/Opus: This is the 368th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Tapa rules. The clue numbers refer to the groups of unshaded segments around that cell. Cells with numbers count as unshaded cells for adjacent clues. All other rules for the shaded Tapa are the same as usual.

Or see here:

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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 1 and 2, and in our beginner-friendly books Intro to GMPuzzles and Starter Pack 2: Tapa, all 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 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.

See more discussion of the puzzles from the United States’ 2021 Puzzle Grand Prix on this post. Note there are some construction details and potential spoilers on that post so view it after you solve.

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.)

Author/Opus: This is the 350th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard LITS rules: Shade exactly four connected cells in each outlined region, to form an L, I, T, or S tetromino, so that the following conditions are true: (1) All shaded cells are connected with each other; (2) No 2×2 group of cells can be entirely shaded black; (3) When two tetrominoes in adjacent regions share an edge, they must not be of the same type (L, I, T, or S), regardless of rotations or reflections.

Also, the number clues follow standard Tapa rules: Numbers in a cell indicate 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 the black cell groups. Cells with numbers cannot be shaded.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars (estimate based off competition points; timing standards not available from our usual testers)

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more variations of LITS and this link for classic LITS. Follow this link for classic Tapa and this link for Tapa variations.

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: 1-7

Author/Opus: This is the 9th puzzle from guest contributor Takeya Saikachi.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, similar to Nurikabe, each Tapa clue cell is part of an island of horizontally and vertically connected white cells and the area of the island must be one of the numbers in the clue (as an example, if a clue is 1 5, then the island containing that clue must be either 1 cell or 5 cells large). Islands are allowed to touch diagonally. No island can contain more than one number clue cell, but there may be islands without any number clues in the grid.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:30, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

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.