Archive for the ‘Other Shading’ Category:

Canal View (No Four in a Row) by Serkan Yürekli

This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.

Canal View (No Four in a Row) by Serkan Yürekli

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Avoiding the Center

Author/Opus: This is the 489th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Shade some empty cells black to create a single connected group. Cells with circles cannot be shaded, and the shaded cells cannot form a 2×2 square anywhere in the grid. Each numbered cell indicates the total count of shaded cells connected vertically and horizontally to that numbered cell.

Also, there may not exist a run of four or more consecutive shaded or unshaded cells (including clue cells) horizontally or vertically anywhere in the grid.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF and solving animation.

Note: Follow this link for other shading puzzles. More Canal View puzzles are in Shading Variety Collection by Prasanna Seshadri.

Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 5 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.

Pentominonogram by Elyot Grant

Pentominonogram by Elyot Grant

PDF

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

Theme: 11V

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor Elyot Grant.

Rules: Shade some cells so that the numbers outside the grid indicate the groups of consecutive black cells which are in that row/column in order, either from left to right or from top to bottom. There must be at least one white cell between any consecutive shaded groups. Rows and columns without outside clues can have any pattern of shaded and unshaded cells. Also, all the shaded cells must be able to be split into the eleven given pentomino shapes. Pentominoes may be flipped and/or rotated.

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 4:45, Expert = 9:30

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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

Pentominonogram by Elyot Grant

Pentominonogram by Elyot Grant

PDF

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

Theme: 11X

Author/Opus: This is the 5th puzzle from guest contributor Elyot Grant.

Rules: Shade some cells so that the numbers outside the grid indicate the groups of consecutive black cells which are in that row/column in order, either from left to right or from top to bottom. There must be at least one white cell between any consecutive shaded groups. Rows and columns without outside clues can have any pattern of shaded and unshaded cells. Also, all the shaded cells must be able to be split into the eleven given pentomino shapes. Pentominoes may be flipped and/or rotated.

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:15, Master = 4:15, Expert = 8:30

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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

Yajisan Kazusan by Serkan Yürekli

Yajisan Kazusan by Serkan Yürekli

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: Quarters

Author/Opus: This is the 359th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

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 connected group. It is allowed to shade over some of the numbered cells; a shaded over clue may or may not be true.

YajisanKazusan Example by Serkan Yürekli

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:15, Master = 9:45, Expert = 19:30

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

Note: Follow this link for other shading puzzles. More Yajisan Kazusan puzzles are in Shading Variety Collection by Prasanna Seshadri.

Heyawake by Prasanna Seshadri

Heyawake by Prasanna Seshadri

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: Winner is You

Author/Opus: This is the 226th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Shade some cells black so that all remaining white cells are connected as part of a single connected group; shaded cells cannot share an edge. No unbroken sequence of white cells in any row or column can cross two thick boundaries. A number in a region indicates the number of shaded cells in that region. Regions with no number may have any number of shaded cells. Cells with numbers can be shaded over.

Heyawake Example by Serkan Yürekli

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:45, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other shading puzzles. More Heyawake puzzles are in Shading Variety Collection by Prasanna Seshadri.

Canal View by Prasanna Seshadri

Canal View by Prasanna Seshadri

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: 135

Author/Opus: This is the 225th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Shade some empty cells black to create a single connected group. Cells with circles cannot be shaded, and the shaded cells cannot form a 2×2 square anywhere in the grid. Each numbered cell indicates the total count of shaded cells connected vertically and horizontally to that numbered cell.

Canal View Example

Difficulty: 3 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other shading puzzles. More Canal View puzzles are in Shading Variety Collection by Prasanna Seshadri.

Nurimeizu by Prasanna Seshadri

Nurimeizu by Prasanna Seshadri

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: Diagonal Pairs

Author/Opus: This is the 224th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Fully shade some outlined regions in bold to create a maze with paths made out of the unshaded regions. The direct path of the maze from the start (S) to the goal (G) must pass through all of the circles but none of the triangles. All regions containing S, G, circles, and triangles must be unshaded and part of the maze. No 2×2 area can be fully shaded or fully unshaded. All unshaded regions must be connected by edges, but there can be no loops anywhere in the maze.

Nurimeizu Example by Serkan Yürekli

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:00, Master = 3:15, Expert = 6:30

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

Note: Follow this link for other shading puzzles. More Nurimeizu puzzles are in Shading Variety Collection by Prasanna Seshadri.

Canal View by Grant Fikes

Canal View by Grant Fikes

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Twins

Author/Opus: This is the 364th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Shade some empty cells black to create a single connected group. Cells with circles cannot be shaded, and the shaded cells cannot form a 2×2 square anywhere in the grid. Each numbered cell indicates the total count of shaded cells connected vertically and horizontally to that numbered cell.

Canal View Example

Difficulty: 1 star

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:35, Master = 1:00, Expert = 2:00

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

Note: Follow this link for other shading puzzles. More Canal View puzzles are in Shading Variety Collection by Prasanna Seshadri and at this link on our site.

Pentominonogram by Elyot Grant

Pentominonogram by Elyot Grant

PDF

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

Theme: 7-L

Author/Opus: This is the 4th puzzle from guest contributor Elyot Grant.

Rules: Shade some cells so that the numbers outside the grid indicate the groups of consecutive black cells which are in that row/column in order, either from left to right or from top to bottom. There must be at least one white cell between any consecutive shaded groups. Rows and columns without outside clues can have any pattern of shaded and unshaded cells. Also, all the shaded cells must be able to be split into the seven given pentomino shapes. Pentominoes may be flipped and/or rotated.

Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 2:00, Expert = 4:00

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

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

Turf by John Bulten

This week we are sharing easy sample puzzles from our ebook The Puzzlemasters’ Workshop which showcases six authors exploring new puzzle styles or variations with 8-10 challenges in each section. Today’s post is Turf.

Turf by John Bulten

PDF

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

Theme: Happy Face

Background: Shading puzzle style created by John Bulten in 2015 and now more fully explored in this book. Turf draws partially on elements from other styles like Minesweeper, and is inspired by the pseudorandom regions of bicolor tiled floors.

Rules: Shade some white cells black so that one of the grid’s clues in each contiguous white or black region indicates the clued region’s area. (Each contiguous region must therefore have at least one clue.) Any other clue in the region must indicate how many of the clued cell’s immediate neighbors are white (up to 9, including itself).

Example by John Bulten:

Turf by John Bulten

(No official times or solution entry for this week; just click “SOLVE?” when finished.)

Solution: Last page of PDF

Note: More Turf puzzles can be found in The Puzzlemasters’ Workshop.