Virginia Is For Lovers -- Complete!

The contest is over!  You can find the answers at my puzzle "site"; and if you're coming late to the party, you will also be able to find a copy of the puzzles there as well.  I had 62 people request the puzzles, and they (you!) donated $602 to the cause, which is quite frankly very exciting.  I also received 41 correct answers, which is also very exciting.  The lucky winners drawn by random.org received gift certificates to ThinkGeek (1st place a $50 gift certificate went to J.T. Williams of Pasadena, 2nd place $25 went to Giovanni P.).  This would normally be the place where I'd make a bad joke about "don't spend it all in one place", except of course you have to.

Some comments about the puzzles:

• Probably the most common response I got was: "Didn't you kinda do the final metapuzzle backwards?"  The answer is: Of course.  I got stuck on doing the final puzzle in strict numerical order and forgot where I had gotten the idea from in the first place.  I think I was just so happy to get Postscript to draw a moderately-acceptable daisy that I wasn't thinking.  Still: Next time I will Do Better.
• The Bogey & Bacall puzzle was one of the last puzzles actually completed, and it showed a bit.  The original inspiration is allegedly the card solitaire game Golf (you know the one, where you can remove a card that is one above or one below the card you just played) but it turned out to look a lot more like "One Away" from The Price Is Right.  More importantly, I was unable to spot the alternate answers that are all over the place in that puzzle, which is bad.  I had intended to write a little computer program to generate all the possibilities from a string to check, but didn't.  I will now as penance.
• I know a lot more Crossword People than Puzzle People, so I was expecting a little bit of confusion from Skyscrapers.  I put the rules in the packet, but either I wasn't clear about it or people just weren't expecting me to actually explain the puzzle (or some of both), so a lot of people were a little bit stuck there.
• The voting for people's favorite puzzle (at least as reported to me) was fairly spread out -- I think just about everything except Romeo & Juliet got a mention from somebody.  I guess that's a good thing.
• The difficulty was deliberately easier (probably a lot easier than some previous work of mine), as the original concept involved two packs, to be solved in pairs, with the easier puzzles loaded into the "partner" pack.  That got dropped relatively quickly, but I stuck with the easier puzzles for a "general population" -- this isn't MIT Mystery Hunt, it's a charity fundraiser, and I knew that a fair bit of my audience wouldn't necessarily be expert at creative-type puzzles.  I think that some solvers got a bit less of an experience than they were hoping for, but I hope it was fun nonetheless.
• We'll definitely do this again sometime!

Puzzle Contest!

I am proud to announce a puzzle contest that I have created, "Virginia Is For Lovers". I am using it to raise money for a local charity, Transitions. Randomly selected winners will receive ThinkGeek gift certificates. (Even if you've never shopped there, I feel confident that you can find something you'll want.)

DETAILS
The contest will run through February 14th, 2012. Interested people need to get a puzzle pack (see next sentence), solve the puzzles inside, and follow the directions given there. To get the puzzle pack and make a donation, click the button:

Alternatively, if you've "given at the office" (or are a starving student, or just don't want to donate to this particular charity), you can send me an email at tabstopva plus sign vifl at sign gmail.com to request a set of puzzles for free, no annoying questions asked. (Also, no non-annoying questions!)

After the end of the contest period, I will randomly choose two people who sent me correct answers as winners, and will then send them their gift certificates.

WHAT ABOUT THESE PUZZLES?
There are eight puzzles (plus a ninth "meta" puzzle to get the final answer), mostly word-based with a little bit of logic. The main puzzles are named for famous couples, and in some cases knowledge of who these people are may be needed to solve the puzzle. I've tried to go for a generally gentle solving experience, although there may be a few tricky points to navigate through.

CAN YOU GIVE ME A RECEIPT?
I could give you a receipt, but I'm just this guy, you know? I'm certainly not registered with the IRS. If you need a receipt for tax purposes, then I suggest donating to the charity directly (if you're donating to Transitions, you can use the link above to find their donation page; or you can donate to a charity of your own choice -- it's your money, after all). I won't mind; just send me an e-mail so I can send you the puzzle pack.

ERRATA:

• The first part of Bogey & Bacall (the "word golf" part) has a couple words with ambiguous possibilities. However, once you work out the method for getting the final answer, you will see which ones are intended. (Thanks Eric Maddy!)
• The first clue in Bertram & Helena is in error; it should read "Site of a supposed UFO landing". (Thanks David Stein!)

INTERESTINGNESSES:

I was originally planning to use Transitions' Paypal button to transfer the money I collected over to them. However, the Paypal button on their web page is broken! However, I believe I have copied the button code and will put it here so that I can use it. (Yes, this is just as complicated as you think it is.)

(Note: This button goes straight to Transitions, not to me.)