PDF

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

Author/Opus: This is the 242nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

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. (Pentominoes cannot sit on the cells with arrow clues.)

Also, see this example:

Difficulty: 3.5 stars

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

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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

Theme: Unique Groups

Author/Opus: This is the 241st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Place some of the given polyominoes in the grid so that no polyominoes touch, not even diagonally. Polyominoes cannot repeat in the grid; rotations and reflections of a polyomino are considered the same shape. The arrow clues indicate all the directions (up, down, left, and right) where the nearest polyominoes are located when looking from that square, ignoring the clue cell itself. Polyominoes can sit on the clue cells.

Difficulty: 4 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:30, Master = 12:15, Expert = 24:30

Solution: PDF and solving video.

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

PDF

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

Theme: TILT

Author/Opus: This is the 15th puzzle from guest contributor Bryce Herdt.

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. Also, see this example:

Difficulty: 2.5 stars

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 4:45, Expert = 9:30

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: Back and Forth

Author/Opus: This is the 13th puzzle from guest contributor Bryce Herdt.

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. 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.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:45, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

Solution: PDF

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

(view directly for a larger image)

PDF

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

Theme: One-Way Arrows

Author/Opus: This is the 170th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Place some of the given pentominoes in the grid so that no pentominoes touch, not even diagonally. 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. Also, see this example:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded pentomino segments from top to bottom for the marked columns, starting at the left. Separate each column’s entry from the next with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:00, Master = 10:45, Expert = 21:30

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

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

Here are our best Object Placement puzzles of 2016, selected from the 23 posts over the year.

The last year (+ one week) saw two new puzzlemasters join the team. Murat Can Tonta proved a master of clever puzzles, including this all black Statue Park puzzle.

Our other new puzzlemaster, Carl Worth, while still a “guest” of the site, contributed this Pentopia puzzle that a lot of solvers liked.

(view directly for a larger image)

Another Pentopia, this time a “Transparent” variation, from Prasanna Seshadri also got high marks.

The best object placement puzzle of 2016 though was this challenging Star Battle puzzle from Thomas Snyder, posted here from the US round to the Puzzle Grand Prix. Amusingly, it narrowly edged out in votes this other Star Battle from Thomas that was voted the best by the coordinators of the Grand Prix. Reviewing the votes across the board, our GMPuzzles voters do seem to prefer the super tough, unique challenges, and that is something the “Cornered” Star Battle certainly embodies.

(view directly for a larger image)

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: Place some of the given pentominoes in the grid so that no pentominoes touch, not even diagonally. 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. 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.