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

Theme: Logical (inspired by a 2015 USPC puzzle by Craig Kasper)

Author/Opus: This is the 2nd puzzle from guest contributor Dan Katz.

Rules: Enter the digits 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 into the grid so that each digit (and one empty square) appears exactly once in each row and column. Numbers outside the grid are either Easy as ABC or Skyscraper clues: either the clue is the first digit that appears in the corresponding row or column from the direction of the clue, or it is the number of digits in the corresponding row or column that can be “seen” from that direction (higher digits block the view of lower digits).

Answer String: Enter the letters in the marked rows in order from left to right, separating each row’s entry with a comma. Use a capital X for empty cells.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 8:45, Expert = 17:30

Solution: PDF

Note 1: This puzzle is much harder than a usual Tuesday puzzle.

Note 2: Follow this link for other classic Skyscrapers and this link for variations on Skyscrapers puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Skyscrapers to get started on.

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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode, a shape mode for entering stars, 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.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 79th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, each row and column must contain exactly two stars (one in the example). Stars cannot touch each other, even diagonally, and all stars must be on the Tapa wall.

See also this example:

Answer String: (Like Star Battle) For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a star appears. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:15, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa variations and this link for classic Tapa. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa 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 composite Yajilin mode where left click marks cells, right click marks dots in cells or X’s on edges, left click+drag draws lines.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 78th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, unpainted cells form separated areas, “islands”, that contain at most one clue cell. If there is a clue cell in an island, at least one digit of the clue equals the area of the island in cells.

See also this example:

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 = 2:15, Master = 3:45, Expert = 7:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa variations and this link for classic Tapa. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa 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 composite Yajilin mode where left click marks cells, right click marks dots in cells or X’s on edges, left click+drag draws lines.)

Theme: Corners

Author/Opus: This is the 77th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, there may not be four consecutive black cells in any row or column.

See also this example:

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 = 1:45, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode, a number/letter entry mode for placing the word list, 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.)

Theme: IPC Message (Originally on 2015 Indian Puzzle Championship)

Author/Opus: This is the 96th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Also, all of the empty cells will be filled by letters/numbers so that each word/number next to the puzzle appears once reading across or down in the grid and no other words are formed in the grid by adjacent letters. Words can cross, but they do not all need to be connected. Some letters (in red) are already given in the grid and will be part of one or more words in the grid.

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 = 7:00, Master = 9:15, Expert = 18:30

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a letter entry mode and a shading mode. CAPS LOCK is recommended for letter entry.)

Theme: TWENTY-15 (Originally on 2015 Indian Puzzle Championship)

Author/Opus: This is the 95th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Fill some empty cells with the letters E, N, T, W, Y (A, B, C, D, E in the example) so that each row and column contains each letter exactly once. Also, each bold outlined region as well as the set of gray cells contains each letter exactly once. Some cells will remain blank. The clues outside the grid, which contain a letter ‘X’ and a number ‘N’, indicate that X is the Nth letter seen in that row or column.

Answer String: Enter the letters in the marked rows in order from left to right, separating each row’s entry with a comma. Use an X for empty cells, and USE CAPITAL LETTERS. This example has the key “XDACEBX,CBXDXEA”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:45, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other less common Number Placement variations.

PDF

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

Theme: Four Squares (Originally on 2015 Indian Puzzle Championship)

Author/Opus: This is the 91st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard LITS rules. Also, the letters outside the grid indicate the first tetromino encountered in the corresponding direction. Or see this:

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 = 1:00, Master = 1:30, Expert = 3:00

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

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

Theme: C (Originally on 2015 Indian Puzzle Championship)

Author/Opus: This is the 89th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: Standard Kakuro Rules. Also, some cells may remain empty but empty cells cannot share an edge with other empty cells.

Answer String: Enter the values in each white cell in the marked rows from left to right, separating the rows with a comma. Enter a capital X for any blank white cells, and ignore all black cells.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 7:00, Master = 9:30, Expert = 19:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Kakuro puzzles.

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 number entry mode.)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 175th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Variation of Fillomino rules. No two polyominoes with the same area, or with areas that differ by one, can share an edge.

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the area of the polyomino it belongs to. Enter just the last digit for any two-digit number. Start with the 7th row, followed by a comma, followed by the 7th column.

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

Solution: PDF

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

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use the tab key to alternate between shading and number entry modes)

Theme: Clueless

Author/Opus: This is the 174th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard Nanro rules. Also, when any two numbers are orthogonally adjacent across a region boundary, the numbers must be at least two or more apart (i.e., they cannot be the same number or consecutive numbers).

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the segments labeled with numbers 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 = 2:30, Master = 4:00, Expert = 8:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Click here for other Nanro puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, please first try out the example on the Rules and Info page as well as this easy Nanro post.