Featured Puzzle: Paint by Pairs #1
Today’s puzzle will create a picture! Connect numbers with lines, and then shade them in, leaving only cells without numbers or lines empty.
Featured Puzzle: Paint by Pairs #2 – Kakizome
I love finding unique holidays to theme a puzzle around. In Japan, Kakizome takes place on the second of January. It’s meant to celebrate one of the major traditional arts – calligraphy. This practice began as a court event during the Heian era during the late 8th century. They would make ink with water drawn on the morning of the first day, then write short aspirational poetry for the year.
Featured Puzzle: Pencils #1 – National Pencil Day
On this day in 1858, Hymen Lipman received US Patent # 19,783 for a pencil with an attached eraser. Sure, it was later rescinded because it wasn’t a new device, but just a composite of two existing products, but we still celebrate the day as National Pencil Day.
Much later, in 2017, a Japanese teenager submitted a new puzzle themed around pencils to Nikoli magazine that quickly gained popularity, because it seemed to capture the essence of solving pencil puzzles.
Draw pencils into the grid. Each pencil must also draw a line as long as itself, so that all grid cells are used.
Featured Puzzle: Pencils #2 – Back to School Supplies!
It’s that time of year again! Head to the store with a list for pencils, pens, tissue paper, a new design for your Trapper Keeper — wait, wrong decade… Anyway, today we have another Pencils puzzle. I still love that this particular type of puzzle was invented by a student.
Draw pencils into the grid. Each pencil must also draw a line as long as itself, so that all grid cells are used.
Featured Puzzle: Plan for Trick-or-Treating
One eager ghost is really looking forward to trick-or-treating, and is already planning a route through the neighborhood. Can you find a route that circles the entire neighborhood, visiting every house one time?
Featured Puzzle: Presidential Pentominoes
Happy Presidents Day! Today, I put together a puzzle with a presidential quote, then broke it up into polyominoes. Simply assemble them in the grid above to reveal the wisdom from the past.
Featured Puzzle: Pure Loop #1 – Map the Parade!
You’re in charge of mapping the route for the Thanksgiving Day parade. It has to pass through every block in the city, and end where it begins. Can you deduce the correct path so that every attending citizen gets a chance to see their favorite float? Be on the lookout for a future Pure Loop…
Featured Puzzle: Pure Loop #2
Today, we have a Pure Loop puzzle. Draw a route that visits all empty cells without crossing itself or branching.
Featured Puzzle: Retrograde Battleships #2
Hidden in this grid is a specific battleship fleet, pictured below. It contains a Carrier, two Battleships, three Cruisers, four Destroyers, and five Submarines. Given that no ship may be adjacent to another in any direction, can you deduce the correct positions?
Featured Puzzle: Retrograde Battleships #3 – Candy Box
Everyone loves candy, so you picked up a gift box. The problem is, they only want a specific set of pieces, and none of them can touch each other, even diagonally. Can you deduce which of the possible placements to fill in with the candy that fits their preference?