Tenth in a series with puzzle solving tips. This time with advice on Fillomino puzzles and hidden polyominoes.

Fillomino is one of my favorite puzzle styles, in part because it is one of the few where I think the author’s touch can come across in the puzzle in so many different ways. In the set of Fillominoes I’ve gotten from different authors, I think I can pick out some authors from others just based on how much they use visual patterns, one-option polyomino growth, crowding, counting, how well they conceal hidden pentominoes, and so on. While having a variety of puzzle constructors will improve most sections of The Art of Puzzles, Fillomino is hands-down in my mind the one where having many authors will have the greatest effect on quality.

I wanted to talk about one of my own constructing trends which I learned this week after writing 7 Fillomino puzzles (only a few that went online; some are going to GAMES and others are being saved). That is what I’ll call the “known unknowns”. The picture you should have in your head when considering a choice based on the hidden polyominoes you’ll leave behind. The contradictions in the “known unknowns” are the basis for the Saturday Fillomino.

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When I originally was planning to launch the site, I had a 60+1 puzzle roll-out in mind. In this puzzle set, I would introduce many of my styles from the past, particularly sudoku, and also write a lot of styles I’m planning to publish in the future. All of those roll-out puzzles have now been released, even if I only have recorded solvers for the 60 announced puzzles and none so far for the +1. That “puzzle” is not at all hard to solve once you find it, but that’s the challenge!

I’d love to hear your feedback now that the full set is released on which were your favorite puzzle types or even your favorite puzzles, so I can consider how to focus going forward. Which type(s) that did not occur would you like to see in the future? The Art of Puzzles will feature challenges in five general genres: Number Placement (TomTom and Skyscrapers), Object Placement (Battleships and Star Battle), Shading (Nurikabe and Tapa), Region Division (Fillomino and Cave), and Loop (Masyu and Slitherlink). And — while this is commercially risky in many people’s minds — it will have no Sudoku puzzles at all. So over the coming weeks, there will be fewer (but not zero) sudoku puzzles on this site as the puzzle styles in The Art of Puzzles get even more focus. And there may finally be a few variations on puzzles, but I won’t be publishing variations until the sequel!

I’ve gotten some questions about how I can keep up with posting so many puzzles every week. Well, I plan to take a little time off now. I have not written any puzzles for this week. But I hope you still visit to solve the puzzles that are here that you might not yet have completed — or found — and anything else that might pop up too. This is the end of the beginning, but the next chapter will be even more incredible.

PDF

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Squeeze Play

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the area of the polyomino it belongs to. Start with the 7th row, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th column.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:30, Master = 9:00, Expert = 18:00

Note: Advice on solving this puzzle has now been posted in “Ask Dr. Sudoku #10”

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Fillomino and this link for more variations on Fillomino puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on.

PDF

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

Theme: Last snow of winter? This Snowflake Isodoku may not be the last snowflake to fall this winter, but it will be the last snow-based puzzle from us this year.

Rules: Standard Isodoku rules, using numbers 1-8. Some rows connect across the center of the shape by following the gray lines.

Answer String: Enter the 1st “row” on the left edge, followed by a comma, followed by the 2nd “row” on the left edge.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 8:15, Expert = 16:30

Solution: PDF

PDF

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Rough Diamond, or Diamond in the Rough?

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

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

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Fillomino and this link for more variations on Fillomino puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on.

PDF

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

Theme: Missing my Rubik’s? This isodoku has 27 fewer “cubes” than Monday’s puzzle.

Rules: Standard Isodoku rules, using numbers 1-8.

Answer String: Enter the 1st “row” on the left edge, followed by a comma, followed by the 2nd “row” on the left edge.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:15, Master = 4:15, Expert = 8:30

Solution: PDF

PDF

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Two by Fours

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the area of the polyomino it belongs to. Start with the 9th row, followed by a comma, followed by the 10th column.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Fillomino and this link for more variations on Fillomino puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Fillomino puzzles to get started on.

PDF

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

Theme: Peace!

Rules: Standard Isodoku rules, using numbers 1-8.

Answer String: Enter the 1st “row” on the left edge, followed by a comma, followed by the 4th “row” on the left edge.

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

Solution: PDF

Ninth in a series with puzzle solving tips. This time with advice on Slitherlink and loop puzzles in general.

Even if you had a good time on the TIME Slitherlink, the following walk-through might offer you some new tips — besides just memorizing Slitherlink patterns — to get better at loop puzzles.

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I wanted to start this week by reintroducing this site for readers who may be visiting for the first time after reading a TIME magazine feature on the US Puzzle Team this week. Grandmaster Puzzles is the home to a range of logic puzzle types that may be familiar to you or completely new. I recommended that you start with the familiar, like Sudoku, and then move onto the new; every puzzle has a link to some rules and history that should help you get started. The puzzles get harder throughout the week so starting with the Monday/Tuesday tagged puzzles is a good way to sample the site too.

This is the last week in my 10-week “introduction” phase as I showcase puzzles in the last remaining style for The Art of Puzzles (Fillomino) and also bring you another view of sudoku from my past. While I intended this week to be the end of the first contest period at Grandmaster Puzzles too, with the indicated number of entries each getting a signed copy of one of our books (some spots remain), I am considering leaving the contest open until even more submissions have come in.

As we reach the end of the beginning, maybe it is time to reminisce a bit. Grandmaster Puzzles was a dream born in 2007 at the 2nd World Sudoku Championship to have a domestic source of quality logic puzzles. US magazines then primarily used, as today, computer-generated puzzles and mostly seemed to know that sudoku exists but nothing else. I knew something better could be made, and I suspected there were puzzle authors out there hungry for a place to submit their creations instead of just putting them up for free on the web. While it has taken some time to get off the ground, as other puzzle writing tasks and real-life have crowded out starting a puzzle publishing company, the pieces are clearly coming into place now. Having sampled some of the really excellent puzzle submissions I’ve been getting for The Art of Puzzles recently, I know that this dream will soon be accomplished. All that remains is to grow the audience of puzzle lovers aware of how amazing hand-crafted puzzles can be!

– Dr. S