March Mutant 20: Pearls of Wisdom (alternating)

In this Pearls of Wisdom puzzle, the loop must alternate between black circles and white circles. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

Happy Quantity-Not-Quality Month!

March Mutant 19: Cross the Streams / Tetra Firma (arbitrarily inverted)

Shade in tetrominoes such that the black cells are all connected to each other through their edges, and no 2x2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. No two congruent tetrominoes may share an edge, even if they are rotated or reflected versions of each other. In a normal Cross the Streams, numbers to the left of a row or above a column represent the groups of consecutive black cells which are in that row or column. For example, a clue of "3" means the row or column has three consecutive black cells, and a clue of "3 1" means that the row or column has a group of three consecutive black cells followed by a single black cell, separated by at least one white cell. A question mark (?) represents a group of consecutive black cells whose size is unknown; an asterisk (*) represents any number of unknown groups of black cells, including none at all. However, in this puzzle, some of the clues are inverted, and refer to the groups of white cells in that row or column. (A clue may coincidentally function as both a normal clue and an inverted one simultaneously.)

When will the arbitrary madness end???
ERRATUM: The original version of this puzzle had no clue in column 5, and more than one solution. Happy Quantity-Not-Quality Month!

March Mutant 18: Streampunk / Tetra Firma

Shade in tetrominoes such that the black cells are all connected to each other through their edges, and no 2x2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. No two congruent tetrominoes may share an edge, even if they are rotated or reflected versions of each other. Numbers in a cell indicate the sizes of the orthogonally contiguous groups formed by black cells sharing a corner or an edge with that cell. For example, "3" means that the cell shares a corner or an edge with three black cells, and they form a single group, whereas "1 3" means the cell shares a corner with four black cells which form a group of three cells and a single separate cell. Cells with numbers cannot be black.

The Print-and-Play edition of my two-player board game Battle of LITS is officially available! Based on a Japanese logic puzzle, Battle of LITS is, among other things, about not having neighboring tetrominoes which are congruent. Nah, don't let my self-deprecation deter you from trying it; I'm actually proud of it. :)

March Mutant 17: Polyominous / Dominnocuous

When this Polyominous puzzle is solved, the partitioned grid will be solvable as a Dominnocuous.

Happy Quantity-Not-Quality Month, everybody.

March Mutant 16: Polyominous / Quad-Wrangle (non-consecutive)

In this Polyominous puzzle, every region must be shaped like a rectangle. (Thus, the puzzle is similar to a Quad-Wrangle puzzle, but without the restriction that every region must contain exactly one number, and with the restriction that regions with the same area may not share an edge.) Additionally, no two horizontally or vertically adjacent cells may contain two consecutive numbers.

March Mutant 15: Straight and Arrow / Pearls of Wisdom (total blacks)

In this Straight and Arrow puzzle, the loop may pass through a black cell, but only if it turns in that cell, and goes straight through both adjacent cells in the loop (as though passing through a black pearl in Pearls of Wisdom). All such cells (where the loop turns in that cell and goes straight through both adjacent cells) must be black. The other rules regarding black cells still apply.

March Mutant 14: Polyominous (cipher)

In this Polyominous puzzle, the given numbers have been replaced by letters; all instances of a particular letter represent the same number, but two different letters must represent different numbers.

March Mutant 13: The Inner Limits (total multiples of 3)

In this The Inner Limits puzzle, a multiple of 3 has been placed in every cell which can legally contain one. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 12: Streaming Content (cipher)

In this Streaming Content puzzle, the given numbers have been replaced by letters; all instances of a particular letter represent the same number, but two different letters must represent different numbers. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 11: Room and Reason (symmetry)

In this Room and Reason puzzle, a room with an S in it must have 180-degree rotational symmetry, and a room with an A in it must NOT have 180-degree rotational symmetry. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 10: Seek and Spell / Crowd Nine

In this Seek and Spell puzzle, every row, every column, and every outlined box consisting of nine cells each must contain every letter in FOX BADGER exactly once (as in a Crowd Nine puzzle, but with letters). The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 9: Fencing Match (crosslink)

In this Fencing Match puzzle, the loop may pass through a dot twice, but only if the loop goes straight through that dot both times, once horizontally and once vertically. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 8: Polyominous / Quad-Wrangle (cipher)

In this Polyominous puzzle, every region must be shaped like a rectangle. (Thus, the puzzle is similar to a Quad-Wrangle puzzle, but without the restriction that every region must contain exactly one number, and with the restriction that regions with the same area may not share an edge.) Additionally, the given numbers have been replaced by letters; all instances of a particular letter represent the same number, but two different letters must represent different numbers.

March Mutant 7: Polyominous / Quad-Wrangle

In this Polyominous puzzle, every region must be shaped like a rectangle. (Thus, the puzzle is similar to a Quad-Wrangle puzzle, but without the restriction that every region must contain exactly one number, and with the restriction that regions with the same area may not share an edge.) The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 6: Crowd Nine (sum skyscrapers)

In this Crowd Nine puzzle, a number to the left or right of a row or above or below a column represents the sum of the numbers in that row or column which can be seen from that direction. A number is visible if and only if it is greater than any other numbers in the row or column between that number and the edge (and is blocked from being seen if a number greater than it is in the way). The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 5: Spirits of Serpentine (seconds)

In this Spirits of Serpentine puzzle, the clues represent the second number encountered in the direction of the arrow, rather than the first; if only one number or no numbers are encountered before the edge of the grid or the nearest black cell (whichever is closer), then the clue is 0. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 4: Straight and Arrow (domino)

In this Straight and Arrow puzzle, instead of no two black cells being allowed to share an edge, every black cell must share an edge with EXACTLY ONE other black cell. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 3: Process of Illumination (all 3's)

In this Process of Illumination puzzle, a 3 has been placed in every black cell which could legally contain one. The number of light bulbs adjacent to a black cell without a number must not be 3. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 2: Tetra Firma / Dominnocuous

Solve this grid as a Tetra Firma and a Dominnocuous simultaneously. No cell may be black in both solutions.

March Mutant 1: Cross the Streams (arbitrarily inverted)

Shade in some cells black such that the black cells are all connected to each other through their edges, and no 2x2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. In a normal Cross the Streams, numbers to the left of a row or above a column represent the groups of consecutive black cells which are in that row or column. For example, a clue of "3" means the row or column has three consecutive black cells, and a clue of "3 1" means that the row or column has a group of three consecutive black cells followed by a single black cell, separated by at least one white cell. A question mark (?) represents a group of consecutive black cells whose size is unknown; an asterisk (*) represents any number of unknown groups of black cells, including none at all. However, in this puzzle, some of the clues are inverted, and refer to the groups of white cells in that row or column. (A clue may coincidentally function as both a normal clue and an inverted one simultaneously.)

This is an extension of the idea presented in Monday Mutant 94. Now you don't know which clues are inverted and which are normal! Gwa ha ha!