Theme: Back to 2020
Rules: Place the given standard 10-ship fleet. Ships cannot touch each other, not even diagonally, but you may rotate the ships. Each given number indicates the length of the first ship visible in that direction. Every bold outlined region contains one ship. Some regions are colored to accentuate the theme.
Rules: The grid is a Primate Park divided into one or more cages. Each cage is made of partitions of the same size and each cage has the same number of partitions. Within each cage, partitions of identical shapes cannot share an edge. All partitions of the same size make a single cage - there cannot be two different cages with the same partition size. It must be possible for each caged animal to trace a path - not necessarily unique - through the entirety of its cage, and the path has to be a loop that does not intersect itself. Shaded cells are not part of any cage. All unshaded cells belong to cages. Partitions in different cages can be of any sizes as long as they are consecutive integers. Some partition outlines are given. Find all the cages along with their partitions.
About: Primate Park was invented by Anurag Sahay.
Shading in two of the quadrants (and words outside) are thematic and are not intended to have a consequence on the solve.
Theme: The persisting need for Social Distancing
Rules: Divide the grid into pentominoes such that every cell in the grid is part of exactly one pentomino. Pentominoes of the same shape (rotations and reflections of a pentomino count as the same shape) cannot touch each other along an edge (but they may touch diagonally). Given letters, if any, must be part of a pentomino with that letter’s shape. It is permissible for a pentomino to contain more than one letter.
Rules: Shade in two cells in each row and column. Place a white circle or a black circle in each of the unshaded cells. Adjacent cells sharing a side cannot contain circles of the same color. In the end, the grid must contain equal number of circles of either color, and each row and column must contain at least one circle of either color. Cells marked 'X' cannot be shaded or used by the circles. Numbers outside indicate how many circles of the given color are present between shaded cells in the corresponding row or column.
About: Tic Tac Bloc was invented by Anurag Sahay.
Rules: Fill in the gird with numbers 1 to 6, one per cell. No two cells adjacent by the side can contain the same number. Every row and column has its own combination: exactly 3 numbers, with each number from the triplet occurring at least once in that row. Multiple rows and columns are allowed to use the same combination.
About: Interlaced Files was invented by Anurag Sahay.
Rules: Draw a single non-intersecting loop vertically or horizontally through some cells. The loop must visit each bold outlined region once. In every second region visited along the path of the loop, the loop uses an even number of cells, while in every other region, it uses an odd number of cells. Letters 'O' and 'E', if given, indicate that the loop uses an odd/even number of cells in that region.
About: Euler's Expedition was invented by Anurag Sahay in 2021.
Rules: Locate two loops that do not overlap or cross with each other and that each follow Masyu rules, except, all circles in one of the loops would be inverted (a black functions as a white and vice versa).
Masyu: Draw a single loop that consists of horizontal and vertical paths through the centres of cells, and does not intersect itself or enter the same cell more than once, and has to pass through all of the circles. The loop must pass straight through the cells with white circles, making a turn in at least one of the cells immediately before or after visiting each white circle. The loop must make a turn in all the black circles, but must go straight in both cells immediately before and after visiting each black circle.
As one of the most passionate consumers of puzzles, I opine this has to be the most fun of Masyu variants.
Theme: As many dots as black circles
Rules: Draw a single loop that consists of horizontal and vertical paths through the centres of cells, and does not intersect itself or enter the same cell more than once. The loop must pass straight through the cells with white circles, making a turn in at least one of the cells immediately before or after visiting each white circle. The loop must make a turn in all the black circles, but must go straight in both cells immediately before and after visiting each black circle.
Some nodes are labelled with a black dot indicating a checkerboard pattern - the loop turns in one pair of diagonally opposite cells and goes straight through the other. Not all such nodes are necessarily labelled - meaning there possibly are unlabelled nodes following the same pattern.
Rules: Shade in two cells in each row and column and draw a single non-intersecting loop vertically or horizontally through some of the unshaded cells. Numbers outside indicate the total length of loop segments between the shaded cells in the corresponding direction.
About: Asteroid was invented by Anurag Sahay in 2021.
Rules: Draw a single non-intersecting loop vertically or horizontally through some cells. The loop must visit each bold outlined region once. In every second region visited along the path of the loop, the loop uses all the cells. And in every other region, it leaves one or more cells empty.
About: Oscillatory was invented by Anurag Sahay in 2021.
Edit: For those who solved this before I fixed the puzzle (there was an alternative solution). One cell in the 4-cell area on the top-right goes to the L-shaped area right below it in the fixed version.
Theme: Some Intel
Rules: Shade in some cells so that each bold outlined region consists of two adjacent shaded cells that form a domino - a domino cannot be adjacent to another, except diagonally. Then, draw a single non-intersecting loop vertically or horizontally through some cells. The loop must visit each bold outlined region once, including each domino in its entirety.
About: Domino Trek was invented by Anurag Sahay in 2021 and the puzzle here is the first to be put out.
Rules: Fill in the square grid of side N, with digits 1 to N, one digit per cell, so that each digit appears exactly once in each row and column. The clue in each outlined cage indicates the result of a mathematical operation applied successively to each of the digits in the cage, starting from the largest to the smallest for division and subtraction. The operation may or may not be given in the cage, but at least one of the four operations must apply. Digits can repeat within a cage.
An unfortunate event erased one digit off of each clue. Information about which place the digit was in is not given, but the digits that are still standing remain in the same relative positions. For example, a '24' cannot be restored to 420 or 204. So, all the given numbers as seen are remnants of multi-digit numbers. Restore each clue and solve the resulting TomTom puzzle.
About: This variant was invented by Anurag Sahay in 2021 and debuts today.
Rules: Draw a single non-intersecting loop vertically or horizontally through some cells. The loop must visit each bold outlined region once. In every cell visited in a region, the loop behaves consistently - either makes a turn or passes straight through. Between every two regions visited immeidate succession, the loop must either turn or go straight.
About: Two Worlds was invented by Anurag Sahay in 2021 and debuts today.
This post introduces a Pentomino variant.
Theme: The Dial
Rules: Place the full set of twelve pentomino shapes in the given grid without repetition. Pentominoes may be rotated and reflected, but may not touch each other, not even diagonally. Given black circles represent dead-end cells of the shapes, while the given white circles represent the other kind of cells belonging to the shapes. Not all circles are given.
About: Binary Pentomino was invented by Anurag Sahay in 2021.