One more Nanro Signpost.
Rules Shade some cells, so that all shaded cells are connected, and such that shaded cells don’t fill any 2×2 square. Clues indicated the number of shaded cells in an area; each area must have at least one shaded cell. Whenever two shaded cells touch across walls, the number of shaded cells within both areas must be different.
Or see the instruction booklet, with a somewhat different formulation of the rules.
One more practice puzzle, a Nanro Signpost.
Rules Shade some cells, so that all shaded cells are connected, and such that shaded cells don’t fill any 2×2 square. Clues indicated the number of shaded cells in an area; each area must have at least one shaded cell. Whenever two shaded cells touch across walls, the number of shaded cells within both areas must be different.
Or see the instruction booklet, with a somewhat different formulation of the rules.
Another Pentominous Borders, presumably closer to what we’ll get on the GP.
Rules Split the grid into pentominos by placing some walls between cells. Pentominos that touch by an edge must be different, where two pentominos are considered the same if one can be rotated and/or reflected to become the other. Some walls are already given. Black cells aren’t part of the grid.
Or see the instruction booklet.
Here’s a Pentominous Borders, a type that will be on the US GP round next weekend.
Rules Split the grid into pentominos by placing some walls between cells. Pentominos that touch by an edge must be different, where two pentominos are considered the same if one can be rotated and/or reflected to become the other. Some walls are already given. Black cells aren’t part of the grid.
Or see the instruction booklet.
Here’s a Twopa puzzle that I probably made in preparation for the German GP round.
Rules Solve each grid as a regular Tapa, such that the configuration of shaded cells around each clue differs between the two grids. The solution is unique up to swapping the grids.
Or see the GP instruction booklet.
Here’s a puzzle I made quite a while back, I believe the type was on some Sudoku GP round. It’s more puzzle than sudoku. I’m not sure the “different digits” constraint is required to make this one unique, but it should help.
Rules Solve as a standard sudoku. In addition, subdivide the grid into rectangles, such that each rectangle contains exactly one shaded cell, and such that the number in that cell is equal to the area of the rectangle. Rectangles must not contain any digit more than once.
Here’s a fractional fillomino. Please excuse the lazy rendering, I don’t expect to make more of these.
Rules Subdivide the grid into areas. Numbers within an area must equal the size (in unit squares) of that area. Areas of the same size must not touch along an edge.
The next Tapa Variations Contest is coming up: TVC XVIII. Once again, Bram is kindly sharing a set of practice puzzles (intro, part 1). To give a little bit back, here’s one more Tapa LITS.
One other of the types that will show up is Different Tapa, so solve the one from this blog if you haven’t: Puzzle 70: Different Tapa.
Rules Solve as a standard Tapa. In addition, the shaded cells must form a valid LITS solution (minus the rooms), i.e., the wall consists of tetrominos, and similar tetrominos can’t touch by edge.
To welcome the new year, here’s a Tapa “knapp-daneben”, i.e., all clues are off by one. The type features on Tapa Variations Contest XVII which takes place on the week-end. I’m really looking forward to that! For a more thorough preparation, check the practice puzzles on Bram’s blog. 
Rules Increase or decrease each digit by one, then solve as a regular Tapa. Digits may become zero, even multiple, but not negative.
Most of you have probably hear the sad news: Florian Kirch passed away last week. I can’t claim to have known him well; a little better after preparing for and competing at the WPC this year with him. That was a great experience, I’m glad I had the opportunity. The whole thing is quite a shock, more so since he seemed full of plans: He’s behind the first German youth sudoku championship that is being held this year, and was actively working towards a WPC hosted in Germany, besides a variety of activities in other fields.
If you’d like to solve some of the puzzles he constructed, I’ve collected what I was able to find. I’d be happy to extend the list. The 2015 Logic Masters certainly stands out, my favourite of his rounds there being “Vorsicht klebrig”, a set of Tapa, Fillomino and Slitherlink puzzles that had to be matched to normal, cylindrical and Klein bottle topologies.
I’ll close by reposting a puzzle dedicated to Florian’s memory that I first published here on the portal.
Rules Glue the grid to form a Klein bottle, by identifying one pair of opposing edges directly, the other pair after flipping. Then solve as an ordinary Tapa.
Maybe Puzzles 