December 17, 2016

Puzzle 100 (Tapa) [Difference]

This is a Tapa [Difference] puzzle for TVC XX practice. (from IB:) Follow regular Tapa rules. Additionally, replace each clue with two nonzero digits which difference is equal to the clue.


December 6, 2016

Puzzle 99 (Oasis)

This is an Oasis puzzle.

From WPC Instruction Booklet: Shade some cells in the grid. Shaded cells cannot touch each other orthogonally. All unshaded cells must be orthogonally interconnected. Unshaded cells cannot form a 2x2 square. Cells with circles cannot be shaded. A number indicates how many other numbers or circles can be reached from that cell by passing only orthogonally through empty unshaded cells (it cannot pass a shaded cell nor a cell with a number / circle).


December 5, 2016

Puzzle 98 (Outside Kropki)

This is an Outside Kropki puzzle. This was US Team practice for the 2016 WPC.

From WPC Instruction Booklet: Fill in the whole grid with digits 1 to N (where N is the size of the grid) so that each row and column contains each digit exactly once. If there is a white dot between a pair of orthogonally adjacent cells, then the cells must contain numbers whose difference is exactly one. If there is a black dot between a pair of orthogonally adjacent cells, then the cells must contain numbers whose quotient is exactly two. There can be either a black dot or a white dot between 1 and 2. All dots from each row and column have been removed from the grid. They must appear in the corresponding row or column in the given order. There may be some gaps between the circles. All possible dots have been given.


December 4, 2016

December 1, 2016

Puzzle 95 (Domino Divide)

This is a Domino Divide puzzle. This was US Team practice for the 2016 WPC. 

From WPC Instruction Booklet: Divide the grid along the given lines into dominoes. Each domino is formed by two orthogonally adjacent cells. When there is a cross [x] between two dominoes, they must have different orientation. When there is a dot [o] between two dominoes, they must have the same orientation. Symbols cannot lie inside of a domino.


November 11, 2016

Puzzle 93 (Sentry Nurikabe)

This is a Nurikabe variation inspired by Anderson Wang's Sentry Fillomino.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules; also, no two regions of the same size can be in the same row or column.



November 6, 2016

November 4, 2016

Puzzle 90 (Irregular Fillomino)

This is an Irregular Fillomino puzzle (a type at WPC 2016).

Rules (from WPC 2016 Instruction Booklet):

Divide the grid along the given lines into regions so that no two regions with the same area share an edge. Each given number must represent the area of the region it belongs to - counted in number of cells of that region, regardless of the sizes of those cells. A region may contain none, one, or more of the given numbers. 


November 1, 2016

Puzzle 89 (Slovak Sums)

This is a Slovak Sums puzzle.

Rules (from Puzzle Graffiti): Place digits from 1 to 4 in some blank cells so that each digit appears exactly once in each row and column.  Clue numbers indicate the sum of orthogonally adjacent digits. The number of circles under a clue number indicates the number of cells that should have a digit placed in them.


October 30, 2016

Puzzle 88 (Slovak Sums)

This is a Slovak Sums puzzle.

Rules (from Puzzle Graffiti): Place digits from 1 to 4 in some blank cells so that each digit appears exactly once in each row and column.  Clue numbers indicate the sum of orthogonally adjacent digits. The number of circles under a clue number indicates the number of cells that should have a digit placed in them.


September 30, 2016

Puzzle 84 (Product Cave)

This is a Product Cave puzzle.

Rules (from Grandmaster Puzzles): Variation of Cave rules. Each clue represents the product of the # of row cells visible (including the cell itself) with the # of column cells visible (including the cell itself).


September 8, 2016

August 24, 2016

Puzzle 79 (Island Line Nurikabe)

This is a Nurikabe variation inspired by Palmer Mebane's Line Nurikabe.

Rules: Standard Nurikabe rules, except that there may not be four consecutive white cells in a row or column. (Equivalently, you can not overlay an I tetromino on any island cells.)


August 12, 2016

Puzzle 78 (Tapa)

This is a Tapa puzzle. This puzzle type was created by Serkan Yürekli. 



July 20, 2016

Puzzle 76 (Nurikabe Pairs)

This is a Nurikabe Pairs puzzle. This variation was created by Palmer Mebane.

Rules, with the change that every region of unfilled cells must contain exactly two numbers (instead of one) and have total size equal to the sum of the two numbers. (rules taken from Palmer Mebane's blog)


July 16, 2016

Puzzle 75 (Tapa)

This is a Tapa puzzle. This puzzle type was created by Serkan Yürekli. 



January 24, 2016

Puzzle 65 (Shape Fillomino)

This is a Shape Fillomino puzzle. This variation was created by Palmer Mebane.

Standard Fillomino rules. Also, the shapes shown [next to] the grid must appear as polyominoes in the grid. Shapes may be rotated, but may not be reflected.


January 4, 2016