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Theme: 22345

Rules: Standard Skyscrapers rules.

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left-to-right, followed by a comma, followed by the 6th row from left-to-right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

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This is a “Twisted Tuesday” puzzle variation.

Theme: Big City

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, standard Skyscrapers rules.

Answer String: Enter the 8th column from top-to-bottom, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th column from top-to-bottom.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

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Theme: Powers of Two.

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

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

Today’s surprise comes from Hans van Stippent, who sent several creative submissions in for The Art of Puzzles. For this book I’m mostly avoiding “variations”, but I found this puzzle to be a surprising twist perfect for this spot.

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Theme: Diagonals.

Rules: Variation of standard Fillomino rules. Some clues are not fully specified, and must simply follow the inequality value given in the cell.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the area of the polyomino it belongs to. Start with the 2nd row, followed by a comma, followed by the 8th row.

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Theme: Mostly themeless, except for the logical solving path.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules.

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, 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 = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

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This is a “Franken-Friday” puzzle variation.

Theme: Mostly themeless, besides the variation itself.

Rules: Variation of standard Fillomino rules. All polyominoes must be rectangles.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the area of the polyomino it belongs to. Start with the 6th column, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th column.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:45, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00

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Theme: Star Battle of LITS (the shading is for decorative purposes only, but matches that on the author’s board game logo)

Rules: Standard Star Battle rules. Two stars per row, column, and region.

Answer String: For each row from top-to-bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a star appears. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.

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

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Theme: Threes Frame (and recommended soundtrack for the puzzle)

Rules: Standard Slitherlink rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the internal loop 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 = 1:00, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

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This is a “Twisted Tuesday” puzzle variation.

Theme: TomTomTom: The Next Dimension?

Rules: Variation of TomTom rules, using digits from 1-8. In this variation, similar to Isodoku, the rows bend along the surface of an apparent cube.

Answer String: Enter the marked “column” A, starting at the arrow, followed by a comma, followed by the marked “column” B.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00

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Theme: Diagonals.

Rules: Standard Tight Fit Sudoku rules. Range is 1-8.

Answer String: Enter the 1st column from top-to-bottom, followed by a comma, followed by the 6th column from top-to-bottom. (Note: for the tight fit cells, enter the top before the bottom as would be normal for the read order.)

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:50, Master = 1:15, Expert = 2:30