PDF

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

Theme: Question Marks

Author/Opus: This is the 172nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Cross the Streams rules.

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

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30.

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.

(view directly for a larger image)

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: Question Marks

Author/Opus: This is the 171st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Each question mark must stand for some positive integer, and will combine with any other questions marks in that cell to form a typical Tapa clue.

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 = 3:15, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00

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.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between ship placement and shading modes. In ship placement mode, right click gives sea, left click gives circle/square, left click and drag for rounded ships.)

Theme: Question Mark

Author/Opus: This is the 170th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Variation of Battleships. Locate an unknown fleet of 1-cell wide ships into the grid. Each segment of a ship occupies a single cell, and ships do not touch each other, even diagonally. Some sea cells, without any ship segments, are given in the grid. Numbers on the right and bottom edges of the grid reveal the number of ship segments in that row or column. Numbers on the top and left of the grid indicate the number of distinct ships in that row or column.

See also this example:

Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a ship segment appears (enter just the last digit for any two-digit number). If the row is empty, enter 0. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other classic Battleships. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Battleships to get started on. More Battleships puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles collection.

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Theme: Antisymmetry

Author/Opus: This is the 76th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

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 = 4:00, Master = 5:45, Expert = 11:30

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.

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: 2×2 Squares (for Chris Green)

Author/Opus: This is the 292nd puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, each dashed region must have a different combination of shaded and unshaded cells. See also this example (from Chris Green).

See also this example:

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 = 10:00, Master = 17:00, Expert = 34:00

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

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.

PDF

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

Theme: Logical (for Randy Rogers)

Author/Opus: This is the 250th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Kakuro rules. Also, no two consecutive numbers (i.e., numbers that differ by 1) can be in cells that share an edge.

Answer String: Enter the values in each cell in the 3rd column from top to bottom and then in the 10th column from top to bottom, separating the two entries with a comma. Ignore black cells.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Kakuro puzzles. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli. Kakuro will also be featured in the upcoming The Art of Puzzles 2.

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: Primes (for Daniel Cohen)

Author/Opus: This is the 26th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Carl Worth.

Rules: Standard Fillomino rules, except that the size of all regions must be a prime number (2, 3, 5, 7, …).

Answer String: For each cell in the marked columns, enter the area of the polyomino it belongs to. Enter just the last digit for any two-digit number. Start with the 4th column, followed by a comma, followed by the 8th column.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 8:00, Expert = 16:00

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. More Fillomino puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in Fill o’ Fillomino by Grant Fikes.

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: Antisymmetric Borders (for Veep)

Author/Opus: This is the 38th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Palmer Mebane.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, if two cells are separated by a thick border, this means that exactly one of those cells is shaded and the other is unshaded. (Cells missing a border that appear as larger shapes are entirely shaded or entirely unshaded. The count of shaded cells is always based on 1×1 squares, meaning if a “large” cell with missing borders occupies multiple 1×1 squares around a clue it would contribute 2 or more cells if shaded for that clue.)

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 = 3:00, Master = 5:45, Expert = 11:30

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.

PDF

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

Theme: X’s and O’s (for Jamie Hargrove)

Author/Opus: This is the 291st puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Shade some cells black so that all unshaded number and arrow clues indicate the exact count of shaded cells in the given direction. Shaded cells cannot share an edge, and all white cells must remain connected as part of a single contiguous group. It is allowed to shade over some of the numbered cells; a shaded over clue may or may not be true.

Also, see this example:

Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of shaded cells as a single string. For the example, the answer is “20212”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other less common Shading puzzles.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic (for TheSubro)

Author/Opus: This is the 290th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Connect each pair of identical numbers with a path passing through edge-adjacent cells. No cell may be used on more than one path.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal line segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Loop/Path puzzles.