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Theme: Christmas Tree

Author/Opus: This is the 331st puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Classic Sudoku rules, with the digits 1-7 and two stars to be placed in each row, column, and bold region. As in Star Battle puzzles, the stars cannot be placed in adjacent cells that share an edge or corner.

Answer String: Enter the 5th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th row from left to right. Enter a capital letter X for any cell with a star in it.

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

Solution: PDF

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.

Additional Note: This puzzle has been featured by the Cracking The Cryptic channel on Youtube.

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Theme: No Parking

Author/Opus: This is the 239th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:15, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

Solution: PDF

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.

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Theme: Hidden?

Author/Opus: This is the 288th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:45, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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Theme: Hidden?

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from guest contributor William Hu.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:00, Master = 4:15, Expert = 8:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 46th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Palmer Mebane.

Rules: Variation of Skyscrapers. Insert a digit from 1 to 5 into each empty cell so that each row and column has one copy of each digit and exactly one mirror. Each digit in the grid represents the height of a building, and clues on the outside of the grid indicate how many buildings can be “seen” when looking from that direction, including those seen through the mirror’s reflection. Buildings block the view of any building with equal or lower height behind them.

Also see this example:

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 6th row from left to right. Ignore the cells with the mirrors when entering the solution (i.e., just enter cells with digits 1-5).

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:45, Master = 7:00, Expert = 14:00

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. More Skyscrapers puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

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Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 45th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Palmer Mebane.

Rules: Combination of Skyscrapers and Battleships. Place the indicated fleet into the grid so that no different ships are in cells that share an edge or corner. The size of the ship represents its height as in a Skyscrapers puzzle, and the clues outside the grid indicate how many ships are visible in that direction. Ships block the view of any ship of equal or smaller size behind them.

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 just the last digit for any 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 = 3:45, Master = 8:00, Expert = 16:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic Skyscrapers puzzles and this link for more classic Battleships puzzles.

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Theme: All For One, …

Author/Opus: This is the 44th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Palmer Mebane.

Rules: Variation of Skyscrapers. Insert a digit from 1 to 5 into each empty cell so that each row and column has one copy of each digit and exactly one mirror. The direction of the mirrors must also be determined. Each digit in the grid represents the height of a building, and clues on the outside of the grid indicate how many buildings can be “seen” when looking from that direction, including those seen through the mirror’s reflection. Buildings block the view of any building with equal or lower height behind them.

Also see this example:

Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 5th row from left to right. Use the slash characters / or \ to enter the mirrors.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 6:00, Expert = 12:00

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. More Skyscrapers puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles 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 shading mode.)

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 43rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Palmer Mebane.

Rules: Combination of Tetromino/object placement and Spiral Galaxies puzzle styles. Place the seven tetromino shapes into the grid, rotations allowed but not reflections. Tetrominoes do not touch each other not even diagonally and they do not cover any cell with part of a white circle. Digits on the left/top of the grid indicate the number of cells used by tetrominoes in that row/column. Digits on the right/bottom indicate the number of different tetromino shapes partially in that row/column. All remaining white cells must be part of connected regions – “galaxies” – with rotational symmetry. Each galaxy must have exactly one circle at its center of rotational symmetry.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows, enter the tetromino shape (as a capital letter IJLOSTZ) or the galaxy size in cells (enter just the last digit for any two-digit number). Separate the rows with a comma. An example answer would be “772TTT44SS,6664333LLL”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:45, Master = 9:30, Expert = 19:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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Theme: Easy as 1, 2, 3, 4?

Author/Opus: This is the 42nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Palmer Mebane.

Rules: Variation of Skyscrapers. Insert a digit from 1 to 4 or a diagonal mirror into each empty cell so that each row and column has one copy of each digit and exactly one mirror. Each digit in the grid represents the height of a building, and clues on the outside of the grid indicate how many buildings can be “seen” when looking from that direction, including those seen through the mirror’s reflection. Buildings block the view of any building with equal or lower height behind them.

Also see this example:

Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 4th row from left to right. Use the slash characters / or \ to enter the mirrors.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

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. More Skyscrapers puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

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Theme: 1 to 9 (Originally on 2018 Puzzle Grand Prix Round 3)

Author/Opus: This is the 7th puzzle from guest contributor Ashish Kumar.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules. Also, the numbers outside the grid show the number of shaded segments visible in that direction (as in Skyscrapers). A shaded segment of length N in a given direction is taken as a building of height N. A building blocks the view of any building behind it of equal or lesser height. For instance, in the example, there are 3 buildings seen in the fourth row from the left (as 1 < 2 < 3) but only 1 building seen in the third row from the right (as 3 > 2).

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 = 1:45, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

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. More Nurikabe puzzles can be in The Art of Puzzles, in our beginner-friendly book Logic Puzzles 101, and in the e-book Nurikabe by Ashish Kumar.