Aunt Susan loves to buy Christmas presents in bulk at Costco. And just like Aunt Susan’s gifts, today’s puzzle involves some cloned presents (or ‘extra regions’). Extra regions are shaded areas that also contain all of the digits, sort of like having additional boxes in the grid. The standard version is also a ‘windoku’, which…
Day 4 brings us to our first non-sudoku. Today we are doing an icelom puzzle (which is a variation on icebarn puzzles). You must draw a path from the ‘IN’ to the ‘OUT’, passing through all the numbered cells on the way. There are specific rules about the blue regions and white cells, so make…
On to Day 3, and today’s puzzle is a combination of XV and King’s move sudoku called ‘We 3 Kings’. Cells with an X or a V between them sum to 10 or 5 respectively. No digit may appear within a Chess King’s move of itself. Additionally, there are a few short thermometers, along which…
Day 2! Today’s puzzle is a palindrome sudoku called ‘Palindromic Stocking’. The family version contains standard palindromes, but the ‘full strength’ version has a bit of a twist on normal palindromes, so make sure you read the rules carefully. If you are subscribed to the standard or family advent calendars, you’ll find links to the…
Today is the first day of the Advent Calendar of Puzzles. Each puzzle will be available as a printable pdf download, but most of the puzzles will also include a link to solve the puzzle online if you prefer. Today’s puzzle is a renban sudoku called ‘Candles’. In a renban sudoku, marked regions must contain…
The Advent Calendar starts tomorrow! This post is mostly a test to make sure subscribers can see the ‘premium content’ properly. If you are subscribed to the standard advent calendar, the family advent calendar, or both, you should be able to see the appropriate sections below. If you can’t, make sure you are logged in,…
Happy Thanksgiving! I decided to create a puzzle themed on a ‘turducken’ (turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken) to celebrate Thanksgiving. Just like all the puzzles in my upcoming Advent Calendar of puzzles, I’ve created a junior, or family, version of this one as well. The junior version is perfect for kids…
I’m excited to announce that I will be releasing a series of puzzles next month, that I’m calling an ‘Advent Calendar’ of puzzles. Every day from December 1st through December 25th, I will post a different puzzle. There will be many sudoku variants, along with a few pencil puzzles and even some logic type puzzles…
I decided to do something a little different this time and share a trick you can use to solve sliding puzzles. Let me know if you think it’s helpful, or if you know a better trick.
Cracking the Cryptic (sudoku-solving YouTube channel) featured another of my puzzles today, called ‘Hidden Arrows’. It is a new variant I invented, combining killer cages with arrows. You can try the puzzle here: https://logic-masters.de/Raetselportal/Raetsel/zeigen.php?id=0004GK and then watch Simon Anthony solve it in the video below. (p.s. for anyone who is confused by the ‘naked single’…
