The seventh edition saw five enthusiastic participants. Zafer H. Ergan emerged the winner! Urmas Raude was a close second. The results are uploaded for you to view. The best solutions are available here.
Lexomino and Pentomino Corridors were the picks for the most favorite.
Thanks for participating.
Edit: Updated with the actual best solution for Lexomino - an impressive 645-pointer by Gerhard Richter. Solution sent before the deadline had escaped my notice.
The POC returns with the seventh edition. Here are the problems for you to download and start working on.
Rules: Shade some cells in the grid to form blocks of any shape.
1. Each block must contain exactly one number or a question mark.
2. A number indicates the size of the block that contains it.
3. Diagonally adjacent blocks form a chain. A chain cannot contain two identically shaped blocks, counting rotations and reflections as the same.
4. All blocks must be diagonally adjacent to at least one other block.
Rules: Shade some cells on the board such that each region includes exactly two shaded blocks and they have the same shape, counting rotations and reflections as the same. Numbers cannot be shaded. A number indicates the size of the block that occupies the adjacent cell in the indicated direction. Shaded cells must not be adjacent across borders.
Rules: Divide the grid along the gridlines into some regions, and fill each of the empty cells with a number. When two cells containing the same number touch along an edge, they must belong to the same region. Given numbers represent the area of the region they belong to. A region may contain none, or one or more of the givens.
Rules: Divide the grid into pentominoes (Regions of five cells ) such that every cell in the grid is a 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 given letter.
Rules: Shade some cells on the board such that each region includes exactly two shaded blocks and they have the same shape, counting rotations and reflections as the same. Numbers cannot be shaded. A number indicates the size of the block that occupies the adjacent cell in the indicated direction. Shaded cells must not be adjacent across borders.
Rules: Shade some cells on the board such that each region includes exactly two shaded blocks and they have the same shape, counting rotations and reflections as the same. Numbers cannot be shaded. A number indicates the size of the block that occupies the adjacent cell in the indicated direction. Shaded cells must not be adjacent across borders.
Rules: Shade some cells in the grid such that each block of shaded cells is cut exactly once by a single straight segment of region borders, across which it must have reflectional symmetry. Numbered regions must contain the indicated amount of shaded cells.
Rules: Draw single path through all the cells. The path may not branch or self-intersect or cross given bold edges. The path must enter and exit the grid exactly once.