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Theme: Eight 8s

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Shinichi Aoki.

Rules: Divide the grid along the boundary lines so that every cell belongs to a snake. A snake is a one-cell-wide path at least two cells long that does not touch itself, not even diagonally. Circled cells must be at one of the ends of a snake. A snake may contain one circled cell, two circled cells, or no circled cells at all. Numbered cells must be part of a snake with a length of exactly that number of cells. A snake may contain one number, multiple identical numbers, or no numbers at all. Two snakes of the same length cannot touch each other horizontally or vertically. Cells with an X cannot be an end of a snake.

Also see this example:

Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the length of the snake it belongs to. Enter just the last digit for any two-digit number. This example has the key “33553,44664”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:15, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00

Note: Follow this link for other Snake puzzles.

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Theme: Bridge Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 1st puzzle from guest contributor Yuki Kawabe.

Rules: Shade some cells to make sunglasses. The sunglasses consist of a bridge (a given line, in red) and two lenses made out of orthogonally connected black cells that are symmetric with respect to the perpendicular bisector of the bridge. Two lenses may not share an edge, but can intersect at a point. Cells with the bridges are not shaded, except at the bridge ends. The numbers on the right and bottom edges of the grid indicate the number of shaded lens cells in that row or column.

Also see this example:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black lens segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. This example has the key “22,121,12”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:00, Master = 3:45, Expert = 7:30

Note: Follow this link for other shading puzzles.

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Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 247th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Same as LITS, except that each region must contain two shaded tetrominoes. These two tetrominoes within a region cannot touch each other, and can be the same or different shapes.

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 = 4:00, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30

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. More LITS puzzles can be found in LOTS O’ LITS by Grant Fikes and Prasanna Seshadri and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

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Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 246th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: Standard LITS rules.

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 = 1:20, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

Note: Follow this link for other classic LITS. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest LITS to get started on. More LITS puzzles can be found in LOTS O’ LITS by Grant Fikes and Prasanna Seshadri and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

(view directly for a larger image)

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Theme: Four Squares

Author/Opus: This is the 72nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.

Rules: Standard Tapa rules.

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 = 4:00, Master = 9:00, Expert = 18:00

Note: Follow this link for other classic Tapa and this link for Tapa variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa to get started on. More Tapa puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in Tapa and Variations, both by Serkan Yürekli.

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Theme: Alternating Stripes (Originally on 2017 Brand’s Sudoku Open)

Author/Opus: This is the 166th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Sudoku rules. Also, cells with a square contain an even digit; cells with a circle contain an odd digit.

Answer String: Enter the 5th row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 4th column from top to bottom.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:45, Master = 6:00, Expert = 12:00

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

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Theme: Hidden

Author/Opus: This is the 165th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: Standard Kakuro Rules.

Answer String: Enter the values in each white cell in the marked rows from left to right, separating the groups with a comma.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 5:00, Expert = 10:00

Note: Follow this link for other Kakuro puzzles. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli. Kakuro will also be featured in the upcoming The Art of Puzzles 2.