Archive for the ‘Puzzle’ Category:

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.

Kakuro (Kropki) by Serkan Yürekli [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.

Kakuro by Serkan Yürekli

Theme: Pi

Author/Opus: This is the 183rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Kakuro rules. Also, a white circle between two cells shows that the digits in those cells are consecutive (i.e., they differ by 1). A black circle shows that the digit in one of the cells has twice the value of the other. If there is no circle between adjacent cells, neither of these properties holds. (Note: between 1 and 2, either a white or a black circle can be given.)

Answer String: Enter the values in each cell in the 4th row from left to right and then in the 8th row from left to right, separating the two entries with a comma. Ignore black cells.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 6:30, Expert = 13:00

Note: Follow this link for other Kakuro puzzles. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli.

Scrabble (PI) by Carl Worth

Crisscross by Carl Worth

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a letter entry mode and a shading mode to mark off cells).

Theme: Pi Filling

Author/Opus: This is the 31st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Carl Worth.

Rules: Place each of the given words into the grid, one letter per cell, reading from left to right or top to bottom. All words must be connected, and no words other than the given words can appear in the grid. All occurrences of PI have already been entered into the grid (as the symbol π).

Answer String: Enter all crisscross letters (and spelling out PI where it is used) from left to right for the marked rows and top to bottom for the marked columns. Separate each row/column’s entry with a comma. Use CAPITAL LETTERS and ignore all empty cells.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 25:00, Master = 40:00, Expert = 1:20:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other word logic puzzles.

Double LITS by John Bulten

Double LITS by John Bulten

PDF

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

Theme: Pi All Round

Author/Opus: This is the 38th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Same as LITS, except that each region must contain two shaded tetrominoes. These two tetrominoes within a region cannot touch each other, and can be the same or different shapes.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded 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 = 4:00, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30

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

Note: Follow this link for more variations of LITS and this link for classic LITS. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest LITS to get started on. More LITS puzzles can be found in LOTS O’ LITS by Grant Fikes and Prasanna Seshadri and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

Thermo-Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli

Thermo-Sudoku by Serkan Yürekli

PDF

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

Theme: Pi Circle in Order

Author/Opus: This is the 182nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Thermo-Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 4th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00

Solution: PDF

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

Outside Sudoku by John Bulten

Outside Sudoku by John Bulten

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between Sudoku entry modes and a shading mode to mark off clues.)

Theme: 69 Slices of Pi

Author/Opus: This is the 37th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Standard Outside Sudoku rules. (Some digit clues are repeated but these behave no differently than single clues; 0’s can be ignored.)

Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 5th column from top to bottom.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Outside Sudoku puzzles. More Outside Sudoku puzzles can be found in Masterpiece Sudoku Mix 4.

Pentominous by Carl Worth

Pentominous by Carl Worth

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 letter entry mode.)

Theme: Pi

Author/Opus: This is the 30th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Carl Worth.

Rules: Standard Pentominous rules.

Answer String: Enter the letter associated with the pentomino occupying each cell in the marked rows from left to right and in the marked columns from top to bottom, separating the groups with a comma. Use CAPITAL LETTERS!

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:45, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Pentominous puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Pentominous to get started on.

Cross the Streams by Murat Can Tonta

Cross The Streams by Murat Can Tonta

PDF

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

Theme: Pi

Author/Opus: This is the 85th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments from left to right for the marked rows, going in order from A to B to C to D and separating each entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:45, Master = 2:45, Expert = 5:30.

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Cross the Streams. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cross the Streams to get started on.

Tapa by Serkan Yürekli [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.

Tapa by Serkan Yürekli

Theme: Pi

Author/Opus: This is the 181st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded 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 = 1:40, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

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.

Tapa by Prasanna Seshadri [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.

Tapa by Prasanna Seshadri

Theme: 1&4

Author/Opus: This is the 159th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded 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 = 1:15, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

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.