Puzzle 276: Regional Tapa

Instructions

Theme: Pyramids

Regional Tapa Instructions

Rules: The challenge is to shade some cells, subject to the following rules:

1. All shaded cells must eventually connect, but must not form 2x2 areas.
2. Numbers on some cells indicate the number of consecutive shaded cells around that cell, if there is more than one number then there must be at least one unshaded cell between the shaded regions, "?" is wild and can stand for any number between 1 and 8.
3. Clues also indicate the length of shaded cell groups in its region. Regions without clues have no restrictions.
4. Cells with numbers can never be shaded.
   
   
   
   

Puzzle 275: Frozen Pentominoes

Instructions

Theme: Lining Them Up

Frozen Pentominoes Instructions

The objective is to place all twelve pentominoes into the grid once each, subject to the following rules:

1. Pentominoes are allowed to touch, but not overlap each other or the clue cells.
2. Clue cells indicate which pentominoes, if any, touch that cell vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Cells with no letters have no touching pentominoes.
3. Upon completion, all pentominoes must be frozen in place, blocked from moving horizontally or vertically by the boundary, a clue cell or another pentomino.

Example uses tetrominoes for illustration.

Puzzle 274: Easy as LITS

Instructions

Theme: Pairing Up

Easy as LITS Instructions

The objective is to shade four connected cells in each shape, subject to the following rules:

1. No two of the same tetrominos, including rotations / reflections are allowed to touch.
2. All shaded cells must connect horizontally or vertically upon completion.
3. No 2x2 area of shaded cells is allowed.
4. Letters outside the grid indicate the first tetromino encountered in the corresponding direction.

Puzzle 273: Binary Heyawake

Instructions

Theme: Rotations

Binary Heyawke Instructions

The objective is to shade some cells, subject to the following rules:

1. Shaded cells must never touch horizontally or vertically.
2. Unshaded cells must form one, connected area.
3. A straight line of unshaded cells can only connect two rooms, a line of white cells which connects three or more rooms is not allowed.
4. If a cell containing a number is shaded, it indicates how many shaded cells are in a room.
   
5. If a cell containing a number is unshaded, it indicates how many unshaded cells in that room it is connected to in a horizontal or vertical path without going over a room boundary or shaded cell, excluding the cell itself.