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

Theme: Chess (pattern of squares, and the large numbers equal the number of letters in respective chess pieces)

Author/Opus: This is the 6th puzzle from guest contributor Bryce Herdt.

Rules: Standard Slitherlink rules. Also, there are some large shaded squares. The loop cannot pass through the interior of these squares. Numbers in the large squares indicate the count of unit cell segments used around that square (a maximum of 8).

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 = 6:45, Master = 11:00, Expert = 22:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

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

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PDF

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

Theme: Quadruple Quandary

Author/Opus: This is the 12th puzzle from guest contributor Carl Worth.

Rules: Standard Pentopia rules: Place some of the given pentominoes in the grid so that no pentominoes are in adjacent cells that share an edge or corner. Pentominoes cannot repeat in the grid; rotations and reflections of a pentomino are considered the same shape. The arrow clues indicate all the directions (up, down, left, and right) where the nearest pentominoes are located when looking from that square. (Arrow clues cannot contain pentomino shapes.) Also, see this example:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded pentomino segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma. The example has the solution “21,23”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 7:00, Expert = 14:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Pentopia puzzles and this link for other puzzles involving Pentominoes.

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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: Gotta Catch ‘Em All (all characters that can be spelled with pentomino letters)

Author/Opus: This is the 211th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Pentominous rules.

Answer String: Enter the letter associated with the pentomino occupying each cell in the marked rows from left to right, separating the groups with a comma. Use CAPITAL LETTERS!

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 11:30, Master = 14:30, Expert = 29:00

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 shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 131st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: (Variation of Cave/Shading Puzzles). Shade some empty cells black to create a single connected group. Cells with numbers 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.

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 = 8:00, Master = 11:00, Expert = 22:00

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 shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)

Theme: Powers of Two

Author/Opus: This is the 37th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: (Variation of Cave/Shading Puzzles). Shade some empty cells black to create a single connected group. Cells with numbers 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.

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 = 5:30, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

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 in a composite mode for line/edge drawing)

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 118th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: In this puzzle, the symbols represent a Rock Paper Scissors game (as expected: rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, paper beats rock). Divide the grid into connected regions so that every cell belongs to one region and each region contains exactly two kinds of symbols. In each region there must be only one “winning” symbol and two or more “losing” symbols.

Or see this example:

Answer String: (similar to Fillomino): For each cell in the marked rows, enter the area of the region it belongs to. Enter just the last digit for any two-digit number, and separate the rows by a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 7:45, Expert = 15:30

Solution: PDF

PDF

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

Theme: X-Box

Author/Opus: This is the 8th puzzle from guest contributor Swaroop Guggilam.

Rules: Standard Thermo-Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 8th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 13:00, Expert = 26:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Follow this link for more Thermo-Sudoku puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Thermo-Sudoku to get started on. More Thermo-Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku 2.

PDF

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

Theme: Weightlifter

Author/Opus: This is the 115th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Thermo-Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 6th column from top to bottom.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:30, Master = 8:30, Expert = 17:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Thermo-Sudoku puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Thermo-Sudoku to get started on. More Thermo-Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku 2.

PDF

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

Theme: Bob Marley

Author/Opus: This is the 114th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Arrow Sudoku rules.

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 5th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:00, Master = 7:45, Expert = 15:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for more Arrow Sudoku. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Arrow Sudoku to get started on. More Arrow Sudoku puzzles can be found in The Art of Sudoku 2.

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 128th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Isodoku rules, using numbers 1-8.

Answer String: Enter the 5th “row” from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 7th “row” from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 6:00, Expert = 12:00

Solution: PDF

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