Dead tree solving - eco edition! 
Best of both worlds - paper and pencil/pen solving, but rather than curled up with the newspaper, you're curled up with your tablet/iPad/Android! Write, even draw, in the grid, directly on the screen. 

Perfect for rebus puzzles, like this one from a recent Thursday NYTimes puzzle. Use a stylus, for the feel of really writing, or just use your fingertip - it is remarkably easy and is your real writing... I filled this one out using my finger - the stylus is just there for show. (The rebus was MAN - as in TAXMAN at 54D...) If you would like to try it out, click on "About Me" on this page and send me an email.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Happy Birthday, Will!

Warmest wishes for your 60th birthday, Mr. Shortz, and many happy returns!
We were just coming back up for air after having spent 3 delightful weeks of playing tourguides and innkeepers to waves of friends from near and far, when what should appear in my Inbox but an email from Andrea Carla Michaels pointing me towards a seemingly endless slew of tribute puzzles.  And here I thought I was actually going to be productive this week...

Well, of course I can't resist, so beauty sleep be damned, full speed ahead!
Here are my musings and tags on the first 3 I tackled...from the King and Queen of Mondays, Tom Pepper and Andrea.
I'll post the others as I am able to steal time away.
At the right is the very apropos KUDOS I get whenever my puzzle is correct - a smiling Will!  Today he has even more reason to smile.

(Please click read more below to read my summaries on the 2 ACME and the Tom Pepper puzzles.)

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Lollapuzzoola 5

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Lollapuzzoola 5, a set on Flickr (courtesy Bob Kerfuffle).
My first Lollapuzzola was a blast. It was a fun gathering of like-minded smart people who decided it would also be fun to do a few puzzles together.

Brian Cimmet was a Master of Ceremonies par excellence. The getting-to-know-you "People Bingo" game was inspired...you had to run around the room filling out a bingo card with things like "Someone wearing purple"; "Can name all six Friends"; Can speak more than one language"; Can make a sound like a fire alarm (make them do it)". Getting you entire card filled out with names earns you a prize. But of course, it was jsut fun to have a completely inane excuse to walk up to total strangers and strike up a conversation.

I liked that it was very relaxed - the rather loose time frames gave us time to talk with old friends and make new ones. Because face it, most of us** are there for the camaraderie, not to make it to the finals! A few other group games kept things loose and kept us from having our brains fried by the really challenging puzzles.

For the record, I am the 99th greatest crossword puzzle solver in the world*!
(I've decided that from now on, my ranking will be reflected by either 1) my most recent competition, or b) my highest ranking, whichever is highest...)

Oh yeah - Joon Pahk and Glen Ryan won!!!! Congratulations! See the official writeup at Brian's site.

*"World" in this context is defined as all the people that were at Lollapuzzola 5...a grand total of 122 folks!

** With the exception of some of you - you know who you are - who actually ARE right up there in the stratosphere...

 P.S.  Really liked that there is a Pairs competition - might convince puzzle husband to join in...
Only disappointment was missing out on some of the zaniness that I heard about from the previous years - maybe if we all clap really hard, they'll bring it back for next year!