Saturday, January 24, 2009

Puzzles

So the blog has moved, hasn't it. That means all those hard-coded links to cox.net are dead, doesn't it. Maybe when I completely fail to get to sleep tonight I'll go and fix them.

That does mean I'm going to have to re-post the puzzles too. I plan to do that; I'm pretty sure I have all the files and can get them up. My original next crostic wasn't working very well at all; maybe I'll make another one when I completely fail to get to sleep tonight.

The MIT Mystery Hunt puzzles aren't up yet. This is a good thing, as I should really be in "nothing but crosswords" mode for the next month; but I always like to read the Hunt puzzles so that I can say "I'm glad I didn't have to try to solve that". And it gives me an excuse to not think about the many many NC puzzles I haven't solved in the current P&A Magazine.

(Of course, all that really means is that I am neither fish nor fowl: neither pedestrian enough to have a legitimate claim on the word "normal", nor fully embracing the puzzle mindset to be (a) a competent solver (yes, top 10% at ACPTs; yes I did manage to solve a metapuzzle once in P&A; call it "competent enough for my standards" if it makes you feel better) or (b) a competent constructor or even (c) really engaged in the world (no NPL membership; no MIT team -- my mantra is "no one's invited me on their team, and no one's going to either, understood?"). But any claim on normality, no matter how slight, has been a prized possession, so the situation probably won't change much either.)

Edit: NOOOOOOOOOOO! The new P&A comes out on Valentine's Day. (Fitting.) And the MIT puzzles are up, too! Well heck.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Maybe I Should Work for the Airlines

I'm planning my trip to NY for the ACPT (like I plan trips; let's call it "booking a flight" and be done with it). Anyway: I know I'm going to use Airtran, most likely, but I thought I'd at least see what Delta could do for me. The automatic deal routes me always through Atlanta, which I think is odd, so I look at the full published schedule. And the schedule confirms: Newport News to LGA is gone, as a route. We still have flights to Pensacola and Key West, and in its place, effective February 12 and flying on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays: Newport News to Wichita. I'm sure it will sell well.