PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in akari mode; left click to place a light bulb and right click to mark an unused cell with a dot; clicking and dragging draws lines for “seen” cells).

Theme: Logical (for patron Valvino)

Author/Opus: This is the 135th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Add a light bulb to exactly one cell in each bold bordered white cell region so that each white cell is lit up. Each light bulb illuminates the cell it is in, as well as any horizontally and vertically adjacent cells, stopping at any black cells. No bulb can illuminate another bulb.

Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of bulbs in that row. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.

Solution: PDF

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:15, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a shading mode and a composite mode where left click inside cell shades square, left click + drag draws line segment, right click inside cell adds dot, and right click on cell edge adds an x.)

Theme: Horizontal Hold

Author/Opus: This is the 220th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules. Also, the shaded region must be able to be split into tetrominoes to form a valid LITS solution (meaning all tetrominoes are connected but no two tetrominoes sharing an edge are the same shape, including rotations and reflections).

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments from top to bottom for the marked columns, going in order from A to B to C to D and separating each entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:00, Master = 8:15, Expert = 16:30.

Solution: PDF

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

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 letter entry mode.)

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 219th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Combination of Pentominous and Star Battle. Place stars into some cells so that there are two stars in each row and column; no two stars can touch, even diagonally. Then divide the rest of the grid into 16 regions each containing 5 cells. Regions with the same shape (including rotations/reflections) cannot share an edge. A cell with a letter in it must be part of the pentomino shape normally associated with that letter; an inventory of pentominoes is given below the puzzle.

Answer String: Enter the letter associated with the pentomino occupying each cell or an asterisk (*) if it is a star in the marked rows from left to right, separating the groups with a comma. Use CAPITAL LETTERS! Example: IIIII*LFF*,TTT*PP*VVV

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:45, Master = 8:15, Expert = 16:30

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Follow this link for other Pentominous puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Pentominous to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a shading mode and a composite mode where left click inside cell shades square, left click + drag draws line segment, right click inside cell adds dot, and right click on cell edge adds an x.)

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 218th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules. Also, the shaded region must be able to be split into tetrominoes to form a valid LITS solution (meaning all tetrominoes are connected but no two tetrominoes sharing an edge are the same shape, including rotations and reflections).

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments from top to bottom for the marked columns, going in order from A to B to C to D and separating each entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 6:00, Expert = 12:00.

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between edgex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s and a number entry mode)

Theme: Letters In This Slitherlink

Author/Opus: This is the 217th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Slitherlink rules. Also, the letters I, L, S, and T stand for different digits from 0 – 3.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the internal loop segments following the arrows for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: One vs. Many

Author/Opus: This is the 216th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Variation of Yajilin rules. The arrow clues point toward the nearest black square(s) from that clue cell in the four cardinal directions. (For clarity, there is always at least 1 black cell in any direction pointed at by an arrow.)

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 = 3:30, Master = 6:00, Expert = 12:00

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: Double Trouble

Author/Opus: This is the 215th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Variation of Yajilin rules. The arrow clues point toward the nearest black square(s) from that clue cell in the four cardinal directions. (For clarity, there is always at least 1 black cell in any direction pointed at by an arrow.)

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 = 1:45, Master = 3:00, Expert = 6:00

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 127th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Hybrid of Japanese Sums and Latin Squares. Place a digit from 1-6 (1-4 in the example) into some cells so that each digit appears exactly once in each row and column. Numbers outside the grid indicate the sums of all adjacent digits in order in that row or column.

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 8th column from top to bottom. Use a capital X for empty cells.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:45, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Follow this link for other Japanese Sums puzzles.

PDF

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

Theme: Going Up Again?

Author/Opus: This is the 252nd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Variation of Skyscrapers rules. The numbers outside the grid represent the sum of the buildings seen in the row or column. For example, if a row is 12534, the clue from the left would be an 8 (1+2+5) and from the right would be a 9 (4+5).

Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 4th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

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.

PDF

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

Theme: Prime Numbers

Author/Opus: This is the 125th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Place a digit from 1-4 (1-3 in the example) into some cells so that each digit appears exactly once in each row and column. Numbers outside the grid indicate the sum of all numbers appearing in the corresponding rows and columns. (Digits in adjacent cells are combined to form multi-digit numbers.)

Answer String: Enter the 5th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 6th column from top to bottom. Use a capital X for empty cells.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:00, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other less common Number Placement puzzles.