Puzzle 419: KenKen

As perhaps one of the worst years humankind has ever seen leads to another one, here is a kenken. 

To retain the theme, some cells are not caged. However, that should not discourage you, as this one  has a near clean solving path. 

Puzzle 418: Blockchain Kakuro

This is a Blockchain Kakuro.

Puzzle 417: Cipher Tapa

Rules: Paint some squares to create a continuous wall of connected squares. Number(s) in a square
indicates how many painted squares are contained in a continuous black cell block in its
surrounding cells. If there is more than one number in the square, there has to be at least one
white cell separating the black cell blocks. Painted squares cannot form a 2x2 square.
Numbered squares cannot painted. Numbers are replaced by letters. Each different letter
stands for a different number.

Puzzle 416: Heterogenous Loop

This is a new loop style.

Rules: Draw a closed loop that connects the centres of all cells horizontally or vertically.
The loop may not cross itself or branch off, and must turn in every circle. For each circle,
the sum of lengths of segments connecting the circle on either side has to be different.

Puzzle 415: Non-consecutive Fillomino

Rules: Divide the grid along the gridlines into several polyominoes, and fill each of the empty cells with a number. When two orthogonally adjacent cells belong to different polyominoes, they
cannot contain the same number. Given numbers represent the area of the polyomino they belong to. A polyomino may contain none, or one, or more of the givens. No two polyominoes of consecutive areas may share an edge.

Puzzle 414: Product Snake

Rules: Draw a snake one cell wide, that does not touch itself, not even diagonally. The head and tail are given as black cells. If a row/column contains a number outside, it represents the product of  lengths of all groups of contiguous snake cells in that row/column.

Puzzle 413: Fillomino

Rules: Divide the grid along the gridlines into several polyominoes, and fill each of the empty cells with a number. When two orthogonally adjacent cells belong to different polyominoes, they
cannot contain the same number. Given numbers represent the area of the polyomino they belong to. A polyomino may contain none, or one, or more of the givens.

Puzzle 412: Product Snake

Another new variation.

Rules: Draw a snake one cell wide, that does not touch itself, not even diagonally. The head and tail are given as black cells. If a row/column contains a number outside, it represents the product of  lengths of all groups of contiguous snake cells in that row/column.

Puzzle 411: Cascade Snake

This is a novel snake style.

Rules: Draw a snake one cell wide, that does not touch itself, not even diagonally. The head and tail are
given as circles. Numbers outside rows/columns indicate how many snake segments in that row/
column have at least one neighboring snake segment in a row/column that is different than the one it is contained in. To make it simpler, for example, if the snake occupies R5C5-C7, the cell R5C6 adds 1 to the total for that column.

 

Non-puzzle

       I grew up in the state that I am residing in, and to my utter and persisting annoyance, I keep struggling to get my second name(sometimes the first name too) spelled and pronounced correctly ever since I was as young as I remember! This is no short of a tragedy. I can't find a sane reason why this happens, except that the people involved are certainly too ignorant, apathetic, insensitive and sometimes uneducated, some of those attributes being so native to my place. When I don't, EVER, misspell or mispronounce anyone, and absolutely anyone, and at least made a sincere effort if I have ever failed, is that not obligatory on the part of every other person, no matter what ethnicity they belong to? As outrageous as it may seem, they write down a name that they think is a near match, something that is usually common and prevalent in the country.
      This personal grief, apart from being a source of frustration, has often taken larger dimensions as it permeates into legal territory where I am forced to run pillar to post to get bad documents fixed, despite spoon-fed spellings. Especially with the present ruling entity that has set a benchmark for 'legalized lies" and legalized terror , these paperwork and corrections are a reason for deeper anguish. Dreaming of a digitized, 2 billion strong nation is one thing, knowing that you have efficient workforce to do so, is another.
    I also disliked that a person from the puzzle community did not care to find out the correct pronunciation, thankfully not the spelling, before announcing my name at a national event.