A PDF of the recent guest contributors’ week can be found here.

This upcoming week features puzzles from Jamie Hargrove, one of our super grandmaster patrons who has recently gotten into puzzle construction. The week is themed around two puzzle genres, Nurikabe and Yajisan Kazusan, and begins harder than usual.

Our patrons will also be receiving a bonus Yajisan Kazusan by Prasanna Seshadri, access to puzzle solutions, and a video walkthrough of the Thursday puzzle. If you’d like to receive some of these special rewards, please become one of our patrons on Patreon.

With the US Puzzle Championship and other summertime activities coming up, our next week of puzzles will be in two weeks with another style from The Art of Puzzles 2 being debuted.

A PDF of the recent “unofficial” week of selected puzzles from Thomas Snyder from the Puzzle Grand Prix (+ one birthday surprise from Grant) can be found here.

This upcoming week features puzzles from six different guest contributors, including some classics and some new variations. The full schedule is:

Monday: Nurikabe by Izak Bulten
Tuesday: LOTS by Bryce Herdt
Wednesday: Araf by Joseph Howard
Thursday: Pentosnake by Nikolai Beluhov
Friday: Snake Pit X by Takeya Saikachi
Saturday: Yajilin by David Olmsted

Our patrons will also be receiving a bonus Cave by Murat Can Tonta, access to puzzle solutions, and a video walkthrough of the Thursday puzzle. If you’d like to receive some of these special rewards, please become one of our patrons on Patreon.

PDF

Theme: Clue Symmetry & Logic (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 279th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Cave rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the cave 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 = 6:00, Master = 18:00, Expert = 36:00 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

Note: Follow this link for other classic Caves. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cave Puzzles to get started on. More Cave puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in Roger Barkan’s Colossal Cave Collection.

PDF

Theme: One Side or the Other (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 278th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Skyscrapers rules.

Answer String: Enter the 5th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 7th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:30, Master = 13:00, Expert = 26:00 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

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.

PDF

Theme: Tetrominoes (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 277th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-8.

Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right followed by the 6th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 8:00, Master = 16:00, Expert = 32:00 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

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

PDF

Theme: 6-10 Repeats (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 276th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-6.

Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right followed by the 4th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:45, Master = 3:15, Expert = 6:30 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

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

PDF

Theme: Two Lonely Dots (prepared for the 2017 Puzzle Grand Prix)

Author/Opus: This is the 275th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Place all the given strings into the grid, one letter per cell, so they can be read from left to right or from top to bottom, without crossing or overlapping each other. A dot between two cells indicates that both cells must contain the same letter. All possible dots are given.

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 7th row from left to right. USE CAPITAL LETTERS. If a cell is empty, use X for that cell.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 13:00, Expert = 26:00 (*Estimates from competition scoring, not our usual process)

Note: Follow this link for other word puzzles.