See more discussion of the puzzles from the United States’ 2021 Puzzle Grand Prix on this post. Note there are some construction details and potential spoilers on that post so view it after you solve.

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Author/Opus: This is the 405th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Skyscrapers rules.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars (estimate based off competition points; timing standards not available from our usual testers)

Solution: PDF

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, in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli, and in the e-book Skyscrapers by Ashish Kumar.

(This is a bonus “second” puzzle that is not connected to the usual Monday-Saturday week difficulty. In fact, this is around Sunday Stumper difficulty.)

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Theme: Chi

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor David Altizio.

Rules: Variation of Kakuro Rules. One digit must be duplicated and appear exactly twice in each entry (i.e., group of cells connected horizontally or vertically without any black cells between). All other digits must not repeat within an entry.

Difficulty: 5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 22:30, Master = 37:30, Expert = 1:15:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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Theme: Chi

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from guest contributor David Altizio.

Rules: Standard Kakuro rules.

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Matej Uher.

Rules: Place either an ‘X’ or an ‘O’ into each empty cell so that four consecutive ‘X’s or ‘O’s do not appear horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:00, Master = 2:45, Expert = 5:30

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

Note: Follow this link for other Number Placement puzzles.

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Theme: Five Times

Author/Opus: This is the 10th puzzle from guest contributor Salih Alan.

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

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:40, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

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

Note: Follow this link for classic TomTom and this link for TomTom variations. 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 TomTom collection, in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

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Theme: Zero

Author/Opus: This is the 341st puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Kakuro Rules, except that the allowed digit range is 0-9.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 9:45, Expert = 19:30

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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

Theme: 4-way Intersections

Author/Opus: This is the 218th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Kakuro Rules.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 9:30, Expert = 19:00

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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

Theme: Knight’s Moves

Author/Opus: This is the 9th puzzle from guest contributor Salih Alan.

Rules: Standard Kakuro Rules.

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 6:15, Expert = 12:30

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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Theme: Squaring the Circle

Author/Opus: This is the 17th puzzle from guest contributor Dan Katz.

Rules: Standard Kakuro Rules.

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 5:45, Expert = 11:30

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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Theme: 2 by N

Author/Opus: This is the 54th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Palmer Mebane.

Rules: Standard Kakuro Rules.

Difficulty: 2 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:00, Master = 2:45, Expert = 5:30

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

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.