Schedule for Next Week

You can find all the slices of Pi from our most recent week of puzzles in this PDF.

This week we are featuring Pentominous, which is the style of our most recent puzzle e-book “Plenty o’ Pentominous” by Grant Fikes and Murat Can Tonta. If you enjoy this week of puzzles, please get this collection of 52 original puzzles including several 15×15 grids and one giant puzzle.

This week contains a few extras, including two extra puzzles on Friday and Saturday. There is also one easter egg hidden somewhere in this week’s puzzles which, if you find it, will tell you what word to enter here.

Master+ subscribers to the site are getting a bonus Pentominous by Thomas Snyder and a Cave (Pentominous) variation by Serkan Yürekli as well as images of the puzzle solutions. If you want to become a subscriber and get access to bonus puzzles, solutions, e-books, and other rewards, check out this page.

Schedule for Next Week

Our most recent week focused on Tapa puzzles can be found in this PDF.

After holding back on “Pi Day” puzzles for the last several years (maybe some of us prefer Tau Day?), this week we will have a full “Pi Week” with 6 different slices of Pi from our contributing puzzlemasters.

Master+ subscribers to the site are getting two more Pi-themed puzzles from Serkan Yürekli as well as images of the puzzle solutions and a video walkthrough of the Friday puzzle. Last weekend our Grandmaster subscribers also got an early look at the new puzzle collection “Intro to GMPuzzles” which will be released here in the next month or two. If you want to become a subscriber and get access to bonus puzzles, solutions, e-books, and other rewards, check out this page.

Tapa (Loop) by Thomas Snyder

Tapa Loop by Thomas Snyder

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the composite Yajilin mode where left click marks cells, right click marks dots in cells or X’s on edges, left click+drag draws lines.)

Theme: 5&6

Author/Opus: This is the 303rd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Variation of Tapa. All the cells in the Tapa must form a single closed loop without any crossings or intersections.

See also this example:

Example by Serkan Yürekli

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded segments (Not the loop segments!) 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 = 1:45, Master = 3:00, Expert = 6:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa variations and this link for classic Tapa. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on. More Tapa puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in Tapa and Variations, both by Serkan Yürekli.

Schedule for Next Week

Our most recent week focused on TomTom puzzles can be found in this PDF.

This coming week will feature Tapa puzzles and some variations.

Master+ subscribers to the site are getting two more Tapas from Prasanna Seshadri as well as images of the puzzle solutions. If you want to become a subscriber and get access to bonus puzzles, solutions, e-books, and other rewards, check out this page.

We will have be off the following week before returning on 3/12 with another variety mix.

TomTom (Mystery) by Thomas Snyder

TomTom by Thomas Snyder

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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

Theme: 300 Posts

Author/Opus: This is the 300th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, except the digit set is unknown. This puzzle uses 9 distinct non−negative integers.

Answer String: Enter the 8th row from left to right followed by the 9th row from left to right. Enter all digits for any multi-digit number, do not use spaces, and separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 12:00, Master = 22:30, Expert = 45:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for variations of TomTom and this link for more 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.

TomTom by Thomas Snyder

TomTom by Thomas Snyder

PDF

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

Theme: Repeats Upon Repeats

Author/Opus: This is the 302nd* puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku. (*Saturday’s puzzle is a 300th post special, so this entry is out of order.)

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-7.

Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right followed by the 5th row from left to right. Separate the entries 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 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.

TomTom by Thomas Snyder

TomTom by Thomas Snyder

PDF

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

Theme: Repeats

Author/Opus: This is the 301st* puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku. (*Saturday’s puzzle is a 300th post special, so this entry is out of order.)

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-5.

Answer String: Enter the 2nd 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 = 0:30, Master = 0:45, Expert = 1:30

Solution: PDF

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.

TomTom by Thomas Snyder [Bonus]

Our master+ subscribers receive access to two bonus puzzles each week in addition to other rewards. We make these posts so those supporters have a space to comment on these puzzles, mark as FAVES, or log their solving. If you are interested in subscribing and seeing these bonus puzzles, click here for more info.

TomTom by Thomas Snyder

Theme: The One and Only

Author/Opus: This is the 299th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-4.

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right followed by the 3rd row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

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.

Schedule for Next Week

Our last variety mix week is collected in this PDF.

This coming week features TomTom puzzles and will also mark the 300th web post by Thomas Snyder with a special challenge on Saturday.

Master+ subscribers to the site are getting two more TomToms from Thomas Snyder and Murat Can Tonta as well as images of the puzzle solutions. If you want to become a subscriber and get access to bonus puzzles, solutions, e-books, and other rewards, check out this page.

Consecutive Pairs Sudoku by Thomas Snyder

Consecutive Pairs Sudoku by Thomas Snyder

PDF

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

Theme: Heart

Author/Opus: This is the 298th puzzle from Thomas Snyder aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Consecutive Pairs Sudoku rules. (If a gray circle is given between two adjacent cells, then the two numbers in those cells must be consecutive. Note not all gray circles are given; adjacent cells without a circle may contain either consecutive numbers or nonconsecutive numbers.)

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 6:45, Expert = 13:30

Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.

Note: Follow this link for Consecutive Pairs Sudoku puzzles on this website. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Consecutive Pairs Sudoku to get started on. More Consecutive Pairs Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku 2.