PDF

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

Theme: Sixes

Author/Opus: This is the 159th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

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

Answer String: Enter the 5th row from left to right followed by the 5th column from top to bottom. Separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:30, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: 5-8-19

Author/Opus: This is the 340th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right followed by the 4th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 255th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-8. Also, identical digits cannot be in diagonally adjacent cells

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right followed by the 6th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 10:00, Master = 15:00, Expert = 30:00

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

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

PDF

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

Theme: Three Thirty

Author/Opus: This is the 13th puzzle from guest contributor Ashish Kumar.

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

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right followed by the 6th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: Jackpot

Author/Opus: This is the 139th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

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

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right followed by the 5th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: Even

Author/Opus: This is the 15th puzzle from guest contributor Dan Katz.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the indicated set of integers {0,2,4,6,8}.

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right followed by the 4th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

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

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: Powers of Two

Author/Opus: This is the 337th puzzle from Thomas Snyder, aka Dr. Sudoku.

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

Answer String: Enter the 2nd row from left to right followed by the 4th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:20, Master = 2:00, Expert = 4:00

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: Tetra Z

Author/Opus: This is the 14th puzzle from guest contributor Dan Katz.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-5.

Answer String: Enter the 1st row from left to right followed by the 5th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:00, Expert = 2:00

Solution: PDF

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

Here are our best Number Placement puzzles of 2018, selected from the 50 web posts in this category:

We haven’t had many puzzles from Palmer Mebane recently (in part it seems he mostly constructs for World Puzzle Championship preparation), but this WPC prep puzzle — Skyscrapers (with Sum Baskets) — has a very elegant logical solving path that our solvers appreciated.

Regular contributor and grandmaster Grant Fikes shared this Kakuro (Gapped) puzzle that also earned a good number of FAVE votes.

Murat Can Tonta won another best of award for this Thermo-Skyscrapers combination which, like some prior examples, avoided needing to give any given numbers to get its logical solution going. The presence of only three short thermos outside the grid was a cute new twist on this style.

Our runaway winner in the category though, and the runner-up for Best Puzzle of 2018, was this TomTom (Mystery) written by Thomas Snyder as his 300th post here on the site. [Breaking third-person self reference:] While I haven’t had the chance to write as many puzzles this year, focusing more on editing, it was great to receive recognition from so many of you for this milestone puzzle.

(view directly for a larger image)

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Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 123rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard TomTom rules, using the integers 1-8.

Answer String: Enter the 5th row from left to right followed by the 8th row from left to right. Separate the entries with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:00, Master = 9:00, Expert = 18:00

Solution: PDF

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