The second shading mini-playoff puzzle features a “star”, part of the logo for the 30th World Puzzle Championship. How long will it take you to solve this puzzle by Zoltán Horváth?

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.)

Author/Opus: This is the 20th puzzle from guest contributor Zoltán Horváth.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF for all Shading playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for classic Tapa and this link for Tapa variations. 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, in Tapa and Variations 1, 2, and 3, and in our beginner-friendly books Intro to GMPuzzles and Starter Pack 2: Tapa, all by Serkan Yürekli.

The 30th World Puzzle Championship had five “mini-playoffs” to determine the top solvers in five different genres. Today we’ll be releasing the Shading puzzles starting with this Aqre puzzle by Jamie Hargrove with a “Trophy” theme in the region shapes.

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.)

Author/Opus: This is the 8th puzzle from guest contributor Jamie Hargrove.

Rules: Standard Aqre rules: Shade some cells so that all shaded cells form one connected group. Regions with numbers must contain the indicated count of shaded cells, and it is allowed to shade over the numbered cells. There may not exist a run of four or more consecutive shaded or unshaded cells horizontally or vertically anywhere in the grid.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF for all Shading playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for more Aqre puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Aqre to get started on. More Aqre puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

The final Object Placement puzzle in the mini-playoff was this antisymmetric Statue Park puzzle by Jamie Hargrove.

PDF

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

Author/Opus: This is the 7th puzzle from guest contributor Jamie Hargrove.

Rules: Standard Statue Park rules. This puzzle uses a double tetromino set.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF for all Object Placement playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Statue Park and this link for Statue Park variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Statue Parks to get started on. More Statue Park puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

The Object Placement playoffs continued with this Battleships puzzle by Thomas Snyder with a symmetric pattern of sea clues.

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.)

Author/Opus: This is the 459th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Battleships rules. Use the indicated fleet.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF for all Object Placement playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for classic Battleships and this link for Battleships variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Battleships to get started on. More Battleships puzzles can be found in Battleships and Variations, in The Art of Puzzles, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.

The 30th World Puzzle Championship had five “mini-playoffs” to determine the top solvers in five different genres. Today we’ll be releasing the Object Placement puzzles starting with this “PLAYOFF” Star Battle puzzle by JinHoo Ahn.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; in composite Star Battle mode a left click places a star, right click in a cell marks off the cell, and a right click on an edge or corner marks in a dot as a placement note.)

Author/Opus: This is the 83rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster JinHoo Ahn.

Rules: Standard Star Battle rules. Two stars per row, column, and region.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF for all Object Placement playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Star Battles and this link for Star Battle variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Star Battles to get started on. More Star Battle puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

The last Number Placement playoff puzzle from the World Puzzle Championship was a Skyscrapers (Gap) puzzle with an empty cell in each row and column. How long will it take you to solve David Altizio’s puzzle?

PDF

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

Author/Opus: This is the 15th puzzle from guest contributor David Altizio.

Rules: Variation of Skyscrapers rules. Insert numbers into some cells of the grid so that each row and column of the grid contains the numbers from 1 to 5 once each and one gap. Each number in the grid represents the height of a building and the clues on the outside of the grid indicate how many buildings can be “seen” when looking from that direction. Taller buildings block the view of smaller buildings.

Estimated Difficulty: 1.5 stars

Solution: PDF for all Number Placement playoff puzzles.

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.

The second Number Placement playoff puzzle was a Cross Sums, for the Canadian puzzle invention by Jacob E. Funk that is now mostly known as Kakuro. Can you solve Serkan’s easy puzzle?

PDF

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

Author/Opus: This is the 414th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Kakuro rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 2 stars

Solution: PDF for all Number Placement playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for classic Kakuro and this link for Kakuro variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Kakuro to get started on. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in these books in our e-store.

The 30th World Puzzle Championship had five “mini-playoffs” to determine the top solvers in five different genres. The puzzles were designed to be on the easier side, able to be solved in marker on an easel, and sometimes themed with “trophy” shapes or important championship numbers like 30 and 23. Today we’ll be releasing the Number Placement puzzles starting with this TomTom puzzle by Thomas Snyder.

PDF

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

Author/Opus: This is the 458th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-6.

Estimated Difficulty: 2-2.5 stars

Solution: PDF for all Number Placement playoff puzzles.

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 these books in our e-store.

The final puzzle for the World Sudoku Championship playoffs is a tricky classic Sudoku with a trophy theme by Thomas Snyder. It was designed to have a narrow solving path at the sticking point, although speed solvers might choose to “bifurcate” to go faster as happened in the competition.

PDF

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

Theme: Trophy

Author/Opus: This is the 457th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules.

Estimated Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for other classic Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Sudoku to get started on. More Sudoku including variations can be found in these books in our e-store.

The last two closing puzzles of the World Sudoku Championship playoffs were very tricky, starting with this hybrid of Clone and Shape Sudoku by Joseph Howard.

PDF

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

Theme: 8 Rings

Author/Opus: This is the 33rd puzzle from guest contributor Joseph Howard.

Rules: Combination of Shape and Clone Sudoku rules. Insert a number from 1 to 9 into each cell so that no number repeats in any row, column, or bold region. Also, there are some numbered shapes that must be put into the grid. Shapes can be rotated, but cannot be reflected. Each shape outside the grid must appear exactly once inside the grid. Also, all remaining shaded regions of the same shape (“clones”) must be able to be paired together to include the same numbers in the same positions.

Estimated Difficulty: 3.5 stars

Solution: PDF for all playoff puzzles.

Note: Follow this link for more variations of Sudoku.