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The Honor Roll
Nov. 1st, 2012 07:10 amOK, I'll shut up about this now, but the Smithsonian Puzzle now offers various hints and such to help you run the gauntlet. And they've put up a list of the first umpteen correct answers. 13 answers within the first minute, 20 within the first five. I wound up at #35.
Better late than never
Oct. 23rd, 2012 12:57 pmTop Eleven Non-Solutions to the Final Challenge in the Smithsonian's Great American History Puzzle:
11 UCLA Test Diminution
10 Seminal Duct Tuition
9 At Unnoticed Stimuli
8 Mild Cautious Intent
7 Minute Tidal Suction
6 Diatonic Minuet Slut
5 Demonic Nautilus Tit
4 Lunatic Smut Edition
3 Loud Titanium Insect
2 Militant Nude Coitus
( #1 )
11 UCLA Test Diminution
10 Seminal Duct Tuition
9 At Unnoticed Stimuli
8 Mild Cautious Intent
7 Minute Tidal Suction
6 Diatonic Minuet Slut
5 Demonic Nautilus Tit
4 Lunatic Smut Edition
3 Loud Titanium Insect
2 Militant Nude Coitus
( #1 )
No time for losers
Oct. 22nd, 2012 08:10 pmMultiple correct solutions to the Smithsonian puzzle have been entered. Mine is not among them.
Alas, I gave up too soon on picking apart the final acrostic this past weekend. I thought the final clue was needed, but it wasn't. Several people apparently deciphered it over the weekend, and I only arrived at it this morning, an hour before the last clue was to drop. Some of them solved the puzzle, but that hour wasn't enough to get me to the answer. Nor were the ensuing hours. I still haven't solved it.
This might be the answer for all I know, but I don't know why. Nevertheless, it still seems appropriate.
LONG I thought that knowledge alone would suffice me—O if I could but obtain knowledge!
Alas, I gave up too soon on picking apart the final acrostic this past weekend. I thought the final clue was needed, but it wasn't. Several people apparently deciphered it over the weekend, and I only arrived at it this morning, an hour before the last clue was to drop. Some of them solved the puzzle, but that hour wasn't enough to get me to the answer. Nor were the ensuing hours. I still haven't solved it.
This might be the answer for all I know, but I don't know why. Nevertheless, it still seems appropriate.
LONG I thought that knowledge alone would suffice me—O if I could but obtain knowledge!
Smithsonian puzzle thing
Oct. 22nd, 2012 08:45 amToday the last piece of the puzzle drops (which only grants access to the ultimate puzzle). Dr. Pookie has correctly divined that I have gotten perhaps too obsessed with this thing. She also notes that, if I want to take a trip to the Smithsonian, there are easier ways to do that.
Be that as it may...
Puzzlemeister Ken Jennings made a blogpost with some interesting info on how the puzzlers are doing so far. I'm a bit astonished to see that, as of last night, the number of correct solutions to the hideous puzzle #8 is... 17. That's quite some winnowing that's occurred, despite the twitterpation going on. And I'm one of the 17. As long as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shad_0 isn't playing, I have pretty good odds, I think. So this may call for taking the afternoon off from work...
Be that as it may...
Puzzlemeister Ken Jennings made a blogpost with some interesting info on how the puzzlers are doing so far. I'm a bit astonished to see that, as of last night, the number of correct solutions to the hideous puzzle #8 is... 17. That's quite some winnowing that's occurred, despite the twitterpation going on. And I'm one of the 17. As long as
shad_0 isn't playing, I have pretty good odds, I think. So this may call for taking the afternoon off from work...week in a blur
Oct. 19th, 2012 09:43 pmRandom Lebowski obscure tangent.... Produced some babble for work that mentioned paraquat.
I thought work was going to ease off, but I was wrong. However, mucho profit in the week. Despite some snafus with mailing things to Russia.
Have continued with the Smithsonian Puzzle. Puzzle 7 was a walk down memory lane... Remember when the GRE still had those logic puzzle things... You know the sort of thing: Mrs. A, Mrs. B, and Mrs. C are an axe murderer, a bibliomancer, and a courtesan. The courtesan lives in a white house across the street from the cemetery. And so on. Anyway, it was fun. I love those things.
Puzzle 8 kicked my ass. Over and over. I was a little annoyed, since an earlier rule taught me that endless searching on the Smithsonian website was not the right way to solve it. Whereas this one did indeed require endless, but purposeful, searching on the Smithsonian website. I was three steps beyond giving up, when I lassoed Dr. Pookie into helping. And that maybe got me involved and reenthused again, and the answer almost miraculously appeared. I was more or less doing it right from the beginning, it just takes a lot of dedication. Ok, I'll admit when I was less dedicated, I wandered off into cloud cuckoo land and started decoding things into bit-7 ASCII.
Puzzle 9 was a splendid rebus. Although I was briefly flummoxed, due to not counting my low brass accurately. I thought I was going crazy, because I had a message in plain English that was obviously correct, but it wasn't working.
Next up. Puzzle 10. Rumored to be a doozy. And then the final acrostic.
I thought work was going to ease off, but I was wrong. However, mucho profit in the week. Despite some snafus with mailing things to Russia.
Have continued with the Smithsonian Puzzle. Puzzle 7 was a walk down memory lane... Remember when the GRE still had those logic puzzle things... You know the sort of thing: Mrs. A, Mrs. B, and Mrs. C are an axe murderer, a bibliomancer, and a courtesan. The courtesan lives in a white house across the street from the cemetery. And so on. Anyway, it was fun. I love those things.
Puzzle 8 kicked my ass. Over and over. I was a little annoyed, since an earlier rule taught me that endless searching on the Smithsonian website was not the right way to solve it. Whereas this one did indeed require endless, but purposeful, searching on the Smithsonian website. I was three steps beyond giving up, when I lassoed Dr. Pookie into helping. And that maybe got me involved and reenthused again, and the answer almost miraculously appeared. I was more or less doing it right from the beginning, it just takes a lot of dedication. Ok, I'll admit when I was less dedicated, I wandered off into cloud cuckoo land and started decoding things into bit-7 ASCII.
Puzzle 9 was a splendid rebus. Although I was briefly flummoxed, due to not counting my low brass accurately. I thought I was going crazy, because I had a message in plain English that was obviously correct, but it wasn't working.
Next up. Puzzle 10. Rumored to be a doozy. And then the final acrostic.
this and that
Oct. 10th, 2012 01:15 pmRemember the $25K Gandhi Montblanc pen?
Now you can get the matching $5K Gandhi cufflinks.
Got through another Smithsonian puzzle. A crossword puzzle that I'm sure must have been much harder to create than to solve. Pretty impressive.
Rebecca really wanted to get Tokyo Jungle, but now it's I who obsessively plays it.
Is that how you get votes from people on both sides of an issue, or neither?
Now you can get the matching $5K Gandhi cufflinks.
Got through another Smithsonian puzzle. A crossword puzzle that I'm sure must have been much harder to create than to solve. Pretty impressive.
Rebecca really wanted to get Tokyo Jungle, but now it's I who obsessively plays it.
“There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda,” the Republican presidential nominee told The Des Moines Register in an interview.
The Romney campaign walked back the remark within two hours of the Register posting its story. Spokeswoman Andrea Saul told National Review Online's Katrina Trinko that Romney "would of course support legislation aimed at providing greater protections for life."
Is that how you get votes from people on both sides of an issue, or neither?
Puzzling along
Oct. 6th, 2012 08:09 pmAs I mentioned, Smithsonian is putting on a puzzle contest. So far, I'm still in the hunt. I was getting into the swing of a new puzzle every other day, but apparently there's nothing for Sunday.
So far....
Puzzle #1 (in the magazine): pretty much all it takes is some tedious work.
Puzzle #2 A fine riddle. At first blush, all I had was a giant puzzled expression on my face and a question mark hovering over my head. Then you tease it apart, and with luck it leaps out and bites you.
Puzzle #3 caused a disturbance in the force. There are a few desperate comments on Ken's puzzle blog. I suffered a lot. I got real close to the answer, just lacking one step, and then spent a lot of wasted time on other things. Then I read Ken's hint, and wasted more time. A day later, I read a comment that said that Ken's hint was helpful, and then I solved it in the next five minutes.
Puzzle #4 looks pretty mysterious. But the second thing I thought of turned out to be the right track.
So far....
Puzzle #1 (in the magazine): pretty much all it takes is some tedious work.
Puzzle #2 A fine riddle. At first blush, all I had was a giant puzzled expression on my face and a question mark hovering over my head. Then you tease it apart, and with luck it leaps out and bites you.
Puzzle #3 caused a disturbance in the force. There are a few desperate comments on Ken's puzzle blog. I suffered a lot. I got real close to the answer, just lacking one step, and then spent a lot of wasted time on other things. Then I read Ken's hint, and wasted more time. A day later, I read a comment that said that Ken's hint was helpful, and then I solved it in the next five minutes.
Puzzle #4 looks pretty mysterious. But the second thing I thought of turned out to be the right track.
The Great American History Puzzle
Oct. 2nd, 2012 07:21 amAnother thing the Smithsonian magazine had in it was a puzzle contest. I didn't mention it, because I figgered you'd have to have the physical magazine in your hands to do it. But they have kindly made a digital copy of the issue available on the puzzle page, though you will have to part with personal details to get it for free. If nothing else, you get to read a great issue of a great magazine. Or you can join me in the long gauntlet of 10 puzzles leading to a final puzzle; first to solve it wins a grand prize of a trip to DC for four people with a behind-the-scenes "Secrets of the Smithsonian" tour.
