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 Sure, it was later rescinded because it wasn’t a new device, but just a composite of two existing products, but we still celebrate the day as National Pencil Day.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: Seethrough #1 – The Invisible Dungeon
When he took a fantasy wargame and created his own rules focused on small-scale combat with only a few individuals, Gary Gygax started a revolution. Gradually, Chainmail evolved into Dungeons and Dragons, and the concept of role-playing games was born. When he passed away in 2008, fans around the world declared his birthday, July 27th, to be Gary Gygax Day. So let’s celebrate with a new type of puzzle!
Featured Puzzle: Shikaku #1
Shikaku is a popular area division game, often used to teach about the area of rectangles. Divide the grid into a series of rectangles. Each rectangle must contain one and only one number.
Featured Puzzle: Shikaku #2
Today, we have another Shikaku puzzle! Divide the grid into a series of rectangles. Each rectangle must contain one and only one number. That number must match the area of the rectangle.
Featured Puzzle: Snake #1 – Escape the Zombie Horde!
Your town has become the latest target of the zombie horde! Make your getaway through the sewer tunnels! You know the manholes where you will enter and exit, but you need to figure out the correct path to take.
Featured Puzzle: Snake #2
When they’re not in your boot, snakes are often found sunning themselves in some peaceful place. In this grid, you can see the head and the tip of the snake’s tail. Can you safely uncover the rest of its body?
Featured Puzzle: Snake #3
When they’re not in your boot, snakes are often found sunning themselves in some peaceful place. In this grid, you can see the head and the tip of the snake’s tail. Can you safely uncover the rest of its body?