Fillomino (Liar) by Serkan Yürekli

Fillomino by Serkan Yürekli

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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: Think Carefully about 24!

Author/Opus: This is the 53rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Fillomino rules. Every given clue is lying. The correct value is either one more or one less than the given clue. (1 clues cannot become 0.)

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the area of the polyomino it belongs to. Start with the 3rd row, followed by a comma, followed by the 6th row.

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

Solution: PDF

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

Masyu (Liar) by Hans van Stippent

Masyu by Hans van Stippent

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor Hans van Stippent.

Rules: Variation of Masyu rules. Exactly one circle clue in every row and column is lying. If a lying clue is a white circle, it should be black instead. If a lying clue is a black circle, if should be white instead.

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 = 2:45, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

Solution: PDF

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

Outside Nurikabe by Tapio Saarinen

Outside Nurikabe by Tapio Saarinen

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

Theme: One, Two

Author/Opus: This is the 3rd puzzle from guest contributor Tapio Saarinen, including one earlier Outside Nurikabe. You can find more of his puzzles on Perplexible.

Rules: In this variation of Nurikabe, the island clues are now given outside the grid. These numbers must be placed in the first white island cell encountered in the corresponding direction. Each number represents a distinct island, with a total of 23 islands in this puzzle.

Outside Nurikabe Example by Thomas Snyder

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. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

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.

Nurikabe (Pentomino) by Serkan Yürekli

Nurikabe by Serkan Yürekli

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 52nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Nurikabe. Place all 12 pentominoes into the grid as Nurikabe islands (rotations and reflections allowed), with no other islands. Pentominoes may be indicated by one or more letter clues, or by no letters at all.

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. 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

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.

Cross the Streams (Black and White + Partially Inverted) by Grant Fikes

Cross The Streams by Grant Fikes

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

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 119th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Double variations of Cross the Streams rules. First, both the shaded and the unshaded cells must be valid streams (single connected groups with no 2×2 areas). Second, while row clues act as usual and refer to shaded cells, the column clues refer to the distribution of white cells.

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

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 11:00, Expert = 22:00.

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

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.

Cross the Streams (LITS) by Grant Fikes

Cross The Streams by Grant Fikes

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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 118th 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 left to right for the marked rows and from top to bottom for the marked columns in the two grids, going in order from A to B to C to D and separating each entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 8:30, Expert = 17:00.

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.

Cross the Streams (Pentomino) by Grant Fikes

Cross The Streams by Grant Fikes

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

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 117th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules. Also, the solution has 55 shaded cells which must be divisible into the 11 given pentominoes (rotations and reflections allowed) without overlapping.

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

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 6:00, Expert = 12:00.

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

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. Follow this link for other puzzles involving Pentominoes.

TomTom (Cipher) by Thomas Snyder

TomTom by Thomas Snyder

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

Theme: Cage Symmetry and Logic (contributed by GMPuzzles to the Indian Puzzle Championship)

Author/Opus: This is the 181st puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Variation of TomTom rules. The letters A through J represent different digits from 0 to 9. Identify which letters stand for which digits and then solve the TomTom puzzle using the digit set {A < B < C < D < E < F} so that no digit repeats in any row or column and the value of each cage is correct using standard TomTom rules. Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right followed by the 5th row from left to right. Separate all rows with a comma. Use digits (and not the letters A-F) for entry.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 8:45, Expert = 17:30

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

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

Battleships (Observers) by Bram de Laat

Battleships by Bram de Laat

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between ship placement and shading modes. In ship placement mode, right click gives sea, left click gives circle/square, left click and drag for rounded ships.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor Bram de Laat.

Rules: Standard Battleships rules. Also, the clues indicate the total number of white cells visible from that cell in the same row/column, not including the cell itself. The view of cells is blocked by ships. The following example image may help:

Battleships (Observers) Example by Thomas Snyder

Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a ship segment appears (enter both digits if a two-digit number). If the row is empty, enter 0. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 8:30, Master = 13:30, Expert = 27:00

Solution: PDF

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

Araf (Different Neighbors) by Bram de Laat

Araf by Bram de Laat

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools with a composite mode for line/edge drawing.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from guest contributing Bram de Laat.

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.)

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Araf is a relatively new puzzle for us on GMPuzzles. Follow this link for other Araf. An example image for a “classic” Araf puzzle is here.