Masyu (Liar) by Hans van Stippent

Masyu by Hans van Stippent

PDF

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.

Nurikabe by Swaroop Guggilam

Nurikabe by Swaroop Guggilam

PDF

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

Theme: Big One!

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Swaroop Guggilam.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

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 = 2:30, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

Solution: PDF

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

Nurikabe (Pentomino) by Serkan Yürekli

Nurikabe by Serkan Yürekli

PDF

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.

Kurotto by Prasanna Seshadri

Kurotto by Prasanna Seshadri

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 36th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Kurotto rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

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

Sudoku by Thomas Snyder

Sudoku by Thomas Snyder

PDF

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

Theme: Diamonds

Author/Opus: This is the 182nd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 9th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th column from top to bottom.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:20, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

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.

Cross the Streams by Murat Can Tonta

Cross The Streams by Murat Can Tonta

PDF

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

Theme: Fibonacci Sequence

Author/Opus: This is the 4th puzzle from guest contributor Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments 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 = 5:15, Master = 10:30, Expert = 21:00.

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other 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

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 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

PDF

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.

Nurikabe (Word) by Thomas Snyder

Word Nurikabe by Thomas Snyder

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use Tab key to alternate between shading and letter entry)

Theme: Indian States (contributed by GMPuzzles to the Indian Puzzle Championship)

Author/Opus: This is the 180th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Variation of Nurikabe rules. Here, the islands are made up of words given in the list below the grid. The words must appear “snake-like” without forming 2×2 white squares or branching. Each given letter belongs to a separate word from the list. This example from the IPC instructions may be helpful:

Word Nurikabe Example by Prasanna Seshadri

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, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

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.

Araf by Bram de Laat

Araf by Bram de Laat

PDF

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 4th puzzle from guest contributor Bram de Laat.

Rules: Divide the grid into some regions formed of edge-adjacent squares. Each cell is part of one region, and each region should contain exactly two given numbers. Each region must have an area that is strictly between those numbers (This means, for two number clues A and B with A < B, the area C fulfills A < C < B).

Araf Example

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. For the example above, this is “34,121111,4111”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:40, Master = 6:00, Expert = 12:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Araf is a relatively new puzzle for us on GMPuzzles. Follow this link for other Araf.