I still am not quite prepared to talk in detail about the Mystery Hunt, because a lot has to do with my team experience, which was awesome, but also more personal. So instead, here's a list of recommended puzzles from this year's Hunt ( Read more... )

The last thing I'm posting today is the crossword I mentioned two days ago. It's available as a PDF and Across Lite. The solution was scrambled just to avoid temptation: the unscramble code is "1417".

The theme is based on the username of the recipient (theashgirl), but know other knowledge of her is needed to solve. However, to make the puzzle ( Read more... )

Thank you to everyone who offered me support based on yesterday's entry. I woke up feeling better; and then I had oral surgery, which was a bit of a downer, but I've bought lots of oatmeal, and everything's looking good for now.

I mentioned I was making fanmixes for whedonland. It's part of a gift exchange that the community's been participating in for the ( Read more... )

One of the most popular after-hours games at con this year was "Exquisite Fruit," a game received by tmcay in a dream, as befits any pastime of the surrealist vein. One person writes down an answer to be guessed, then seven people collaborate to form a clue for that answer in the style of Exquisite Corpse. The first person writes three words, then folds ( Read more... )

This week's NY Times Sunday crossword was annoyingly twee, and I'm not just saying that because it took me 40 minutes.
Twee? Belle & Sebastian are twee. My crossword fucked your shit up. That is not twee. That is BAD-ASS.
(Source, includes spoilers for Sunday's puzzle.)

This journal has moved to Dreamwidth. Entry originally posted at http://tablesaw ( Read more... )

We're already in a countdown to Christmas. Various things like ojouchan's new job and some annoyingness with banks have meant we got a really late start. And it was only yesterday that I fully realized that I wasn't going to have any more free days before Christmas Eve. (Thursday and Friday are my days off, so my last pre-Christmas weekend just finished ( Read more... )

Some things wanted this gifting season:

• A new backpack. I love my trusty Jansport, but at some point, the stuff that's supposed to keep the weight off my shoulders melted on the left side. And recently, It's been leaking out red goo if I try to wear it other than one-shouldered.
• Tablesaw. ojouchan wants some new furniture. We've been talking about getting a ( Read more... )

On Sunday, I was wiped out and still a little off balance because of my gut. Still,
( Read more... )

I just got an Amazon gift certificate as a prize for being on the first team to solve Mark Halpin's Short Story. That's really exciting.

With lots of help from selinker, my first Mystery Hunt puzzle for the year is looking good. Some formatting soon, then off to something new over there.

I also have two flats in the September Enigma I'm particularly ( Read more... )

When I was looking at my budget last month, I made one seemingly insignificant cut that's had a huge effect. I ended my subscription to NikoliIt's not going to save a lot of money, 550 yen per month is not a whole lot. But it's given me backa lot of time. The kind of logic puzzle that Nikoli serves up so consistently and elegantly is like an ( Read more... )