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.

Theme: Primes Inside, Outside, and with a Square

Author/Opus: This is the 9th puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Fill each cell with a digit from 1 to 9 (1 to 6 in example) so that no digit repeats in any row or column, and also draw a single, non-intersecting loop through some of the cells in the grid. The loop cannot pass through gray cells. Numbers on the outside of the grid show the sum of digits of ALL horizontal/vertical loop segments in that row/column in order. (Note: as in column 5 of the example, only segments that pass horizontally/vertically in a row/column appear as clues; the 5 in that column is not part of a vertical segment and is not represented by a clue). Not all outside clues are given, and unclued rows/columns can have any possible distribution of loop segments/sums.

Answer String: Enter the digits in the 3rd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 20:00, Master = 30:00, Expert = 1:00:00

Note: Follow this link for other less common Number Placement puzzles.

PDF

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

Theme: Symmetrical Corners

Author/Opus: This is the 8th puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Standard Statue Park 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 = 9:00, Master = 12:00, Expert = 24:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other Statue Park Puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Statue Parks to get started on.

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: Square Numbers

Author/Opus: This is the 7th puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Standard Pentominous rules. Additionally, there are some gray cells that do not contain any pentominoes. The numbers in these gray cells indicate how many pentomino regions are present in the 8 neighboring cells.

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

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 8:15, Expert = 16:30

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.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between letter entry and a composite mode for line/edge drawing.)

Theme: Snakes in a Bee Hive

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Variation on Snake Pit (new rules in italics). Divide the grid along the boundary lines so that every cell belongs to a snake. A snake is a one-cell-wide path at least two cells long that does not touch itself, not even diagonally. Circled cells must be at one of the ends of a snake. A snake may contain one circled cell, two circled cells, or no circled cells at all. Each snake houses a word (given below the grid) with one letter in each cell. Some letters are given. Snakes of the same length cannot touch each other horizontally or vertically.

Also see this example:

Answer String: Enter the letter placed in each cell in the marked rows from left to right, separating the two rows by a comma. Use CAPITAL LETTERS!

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Snake puzzles.

PDF

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

Theme: A Fairly Basic Puzzle

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Standard Statue Park rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded segments from top to bottom for the marked columns, starting at the left. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Statue Park Puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Statue Parks to get started on.

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: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 4th puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Standard Pentominous rules. Additionally, there are some gray cells that do not contain any pentominoes. The numbers in these gray cells indicate how many pentomino regions are present in the 8 neighboring cells.

Answer String: Enter the letter associated with the pentomino occupying each cell in the marked row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the marked column from top to bottom. Use CAPITAL LETTERS!

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:00, Master = 4:45, Expert = 9:30

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.

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 shading mode.)

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 3rd puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Standard Spiral Galaxies rules.

Answer String: Enter the number of cells in each connected group (between bold lines) in the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for classic Spiral Galaxies puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Spiral Galaxies puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Spiral Galaxies Puzzles to get started on. More Spiral Galaxies puzzles will soon be found in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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.

Theme: Antisymmetry

Author/Opus: This is the 77th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Statue Park rules, using a full set of tetrominoes.

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 = 0:30, Master = 0:45, Expert = 1:30

Note: Follow this link for other Statue Park Puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Statue Parks to get started on.

Our subscribers receive access to bonus puzzles each week. 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, click here for more info.

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 31st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster John Bulten.

Rules: Combination of Double Minesweeper and Slitherlink.

Place either 0, 1, or 2 mines into each empty cell so that each number represents the total count of mines in all neighboring cells, including diagonally adjacent cells. See also this example:

After solving the Minesweeper, convert these cells’ contents to numbers (use corresponding cells in additional grid), then draw a single, non-intersecting loop in the additional grid that only consists of horizontal and vertical segments between the dots, where the number inside each of these cells indicates how many of the four edges of that cell are part of the loop.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the internal loop 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 = 4:15, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

Note: Click here for other Double Minesweeper puzzles and here for other Slitherlink puzzles.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools. Use left click to place 1 or 2 mines, right click (in cell) to mark unused, right click (on edge/corner) to mark a note; hitting tab will also enable a shading mode. If you want more solving options, turn off Penpa-Lite option.)

Theme: 2×

Author/Opus: This is the 296th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Place either 0, 1, or 2 mines into each empty cell so that each number represents the total count of mines in all neighboring cells, including diagonally adjacent cells. See also this example:

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows, enter the number of mines (0, 1, 2) for each cell. Enter 0 if the cell is a number cell. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma. In the example, the answer is “022102,002000”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:30, Master = 14:30, Expert = 29:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Click here for other Minesweeper puzzles.