PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between edgex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s and a line drawing mode to mark the dominoes.)

This is a “Twisted Tuesday” puzzle variation.

Theme: Double Domino – both domino-based clue groupings, and a domino-based loop.

Rules: Standard Slitherlink rules; also, the interior of the loop must be divisible into dominoes (1×2 rectangles) in at least one way without any overlaps.

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 = 4:30, Master = 7:00, Expert = 14:00

Editorial Note: This puzzle is a fair bit more difficult than our usual Tuesday puzzles, but this may be a side effect of the new Twisted Tuesday format.

Solution: PDF

PDF

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

Theme: Bracket Buster. Our 64th prescription is the perfect cure for anyone concerned with their logical decision making after the last 48(+4*) basketball games.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, including the possibility for multi-cell subtraction or division by starting from the largest number.

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 3rd row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:15, Master = 1:45, Expert = 3:30

Solution: PDF

*Editorial Note: That the NCAA basketball tournament now starts with 68 teams is an accident of greed that I try not to think about too much. Like those two unclued cells in this grid that just don’t seem to fit in completely.

In addition to FoxFireX’s incredible sudoku gift that he made for someone’s birthday (some puzzles are meant to keep more private), we got three other submissions for our first Hidden Contest. We’re posting them here in increasing order of difficulty.

First up is an “Anti-Symmetry” Nurikabe from Giovanni P. where every clue that is odd/even has an even/odd clue in the corresponding symmetric place. Standard Nurikabe rules are all you need for this challenge.

Solution image

Next up is a real RARITY for this website, a Shakashaka. For the general rules, we’ll direct you to Nikoli.com where the puzzle originated. Here, Bryce Herdt has made a cipher version of the puzzle. The letters AIRTY each stand for a different number from 0 – 4 which the solver must determine.

Solution image

Finally, the hardest of the bunch, is an intriguing variation called “Sudoku Slitherlink” by its designer Scott Handelman. In addition to standard Slitherlink rules, a different number from 0-3 must go into each green cell. No number in a green cell can repeat in that row or column. As Scott warns, this is one of the hardest puzzles he’s constructed and, from his original post, he’s “still kinda shocked that the middle just kinda ‘works'”.

Solution image

All of these puzzles are grouped in this single PDF.

If you enjoy these puzzles, please comment here and say so, thanking each of the authors. As contest entries, these didn’t go through editorial review (except making sure there was a single answer), but we found them all quite interesting and worthy of being some of the first puzzles from other authors to appear on this web-site. We’re considering keeping Sunday open for “guest” submissions each week from new puzzle authors. And once we get through a stack of puzzle submissions for The Art of Puzzles, more authors will be appearing throughout the week too.

For the last couple weeks Sunday has been a day where we’ve seen a huge increase in page views, strictly because a new hint was released for the site’s first Hidden Contest. This led a few dedicated solvers to scour the site again looking for something out of place.

This Hidden Contest was an experiment in having “other” puzzle styles here; I’m a huge fan of puzzle hunts and secret codes and the like and was curious to see if my more observant solvers would catch onto something odd.

(more…)

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

Theme: On a scale of difficulty from one to five — this is “Mostly Five”

Rules: Standard Skyscrapers rules.

Answer String: Enter the 4th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 7th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:45, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

Solution: PDF

Editorial Note: This should go without saying, but it is advised that you pursue logic as far as you can take it instead of guessing.

PDF

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

This is a “Franken-Friday” puzzle variation.

Theme: Mostly Themeless! – Besides elements of symmetry and some patterning in the numbers, the design is focused on the logical solution path.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Clues in the grid represent typical “Seek and Spell/Kanaore” clues; specifically, it must be possible to read each of the numbers listed below the grid by starting at the indicated letter, moving one cell in the direction indicated by the arrow, and then continuing to move one cell at a time up, down, left, or right to complete the number. No cell may be used more than once in a single number’s path, but the same cell can appear in the paths of different numbers.

Answer String: Enter the 3rd column from top to bottom, followed by a comma, followed by the 9th column from top to bottom.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:00, Master = 12:30, Expert = 25:00

Solution: PDF

PDF

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

Theme: Rubber Band – the set of middle clues will stretch your mind a bit.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments (the unnumbered, connected “ocean”) 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 = 2:15, Master = 3:00, Expert = 6:00

Solution: PDF

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: Spelunking 101

Rules: Standard Cave rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the cave 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 = 1:45, Master = 3:00, Expert = 6:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Cave variations and this link for other classic Caves. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cave Puzzles to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between Battleships placement and line drawing modes.)

This is a “Twisted Tuesday” puzzle variation.

Theme: A Fleet of Clues

Rules: Variation of Battleships rules. Place the fleet of ships in the grid so that no ships touch each other, even diagonally. The grid contains internal clues (a number and an arrow) that show how many ship segments are in the indicated direction. All remaining cells containing neither a ship nor a clue must be able to form a single loop, as in a Yajilin puzzle (see for example here but note the “black square rules” are replaced with battleships placement rules).

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

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

Solution: PDF

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: Mostly themeless? A mostly straight-forward puzzle to start the week.

Rules: Standard Masyu rules.

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. If the loop only has vertical segments in the marked row, enter 0. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:15, Expert = 2:30

Solution: PDF