Star Battle (Hex) by Grant Fikes
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; in composite Star Battle mode a left click places a star, right click in a cell marks off the cell, and a right click on an edge or vertex marks in a dot as a placement note.)
Theme: Hooks
Author/Opus: This is the 389th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.
Rules: Fill some cells with stars so that each row (in a horizontal or either of two diagonal directions) and bold region contains the indicated number of stars. Stars cannot be placed in adjacent cells that share an edge.
Difficulty: 1.5 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 2:00, Expert = 4:00
Solution: PDF and solving video.
Note: Follow this link for other classic Star Battles and this link for Star Battle variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Star Battles to get started on. More Star Battle puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in the books Star Battle by JinHoo Ahn and Star Battle 2 by JinHoo Ahn and Murat Can Tonta, and in our beginner-friendly collections Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli and Starter Pack 5: Star Battle by JinHoo Ahn.
Would you consider shading the bold regions in different pastel colours? The difficulty with this puzzle mainly came from keeping track of which hexagons belonged to which bold region – much harder to see this easily visually as soon as you move away from a rectangular grid.
3:01.Wow ! Didn’t realize that this puzzle type is very restrictive until a little later in the solve