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Big Trouble in Little China |
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Written by Tyler Hinman
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Tuesday, 02 March 2010 |
On Saturday, I participated in the Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt, a madcap dash around San Francisco in pursuit of clue answers. The clues referred to street names and business locales through kinda-sorta-cryptic-type clues. Once the correct location was found, the answer the clue was some minor detail on something nearby, such as letters from a manhole cover.
I joined a team of wiseasses that spent a lot of time making fun of their surroundings. Needless to say, we got along famously. This group, without me, had handily won last year's event, so I was optimistic about our chances. However, a few clues tripped us up and we slid into fourth place. This still earned a prize, but we weren't around to collect it because we were at Chevy's drinking margaritas, which we all agreed was the real victory of the evening.
So how was the Hunt? It was OK, I guess. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but this was largely due to my own personal experience and not necessarily because of problems with the event. My team included two brothers who were marathon runners, so they routinely reached clues before we did. For most of the game, I was reaching a clue, hearing that the guys had solved it, and dashing off to the next clue again. I did make a few solid contributions to our pre-run clue solving session. Said clues were decently satisfying to puzzle out, but there were a few exceptions. The one clue we missed entirely seemed pretty much immune to reasoning; if you weren't lucky enough to know what was in the provided picture, you were more or less hosed.
So, in summary, it certainly wasn't like the Noe Valley disaster, and I had a pretty good time because I enjoyed the company I had. However, the ratio of pure running around to puzzle solving was a little high for my tastes. A decent event, but it's not really for me.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 March 2010 )
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Written by Tyler Hinman
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Friday, 26 February 2010 |
I had yesterday's CrosSynergy puzzle. Enjoy some light Thursday fare.
Do you ever mishear "fifteen" as "fifty"? If so, you might have a good laugh when you hear "15x15 crossword" as "50x50 crossword". Ha ha! Surely a puzzle of such insane size doesn't exist!
Whoops, hold the phone. Check out the Ubercross Fiddy, a monstrosity of those very dimensions. Constructed by T Campbell and tested and approved by Amy Reynaldo, this massive puzzle obeys all the standard rules of American crosswords. You can solve it for free online, but undertaking it on the computer might prove tiresome, so you can savor the experience on paper for just fifteen (not fifty!) bucks. DO YOU HAVE THE GUTS?
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Written by Tyler Hinman
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Monday, 22 February 2010 |
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In news broken on this site last night, I did not win the crossword tournament, bringing my streak to an end at five. My wrap-up won't be as long this year; I'm in the mood for a bulleted list, which I present after the jump due to length and its inclusion of a few spoilers.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 23 February 2010 )
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Read more...
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Written by Tyler Hinman
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Monday, 22 February 2010 |
Not only did I thoroughly fail to post an ACPT preview here, I then went out and lost.
Congratulations to Dan Feyer for what was frankly a ludicrously dominant performance. Those who say my five-peat will never be duplicated may want to cool their jets.
More thoughts later. You know, because I'm such a good, consistent blogger.
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Written by Tyler Hinman
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Monday, 15 February 2010 |
Well, not really. I actually had a pretty easygoing interview with the prolific constructor ahead of this little puzzle event happening this weekend.
I'll preview the event here in a few days. Get excited, people.
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And now for something I'll likely regret |
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Written by Tyler Hinman
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Wednesday, 10 February 2010 |
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This thing seemed pretty cool. So get in there and ask me a question. I reserve the right to be a smartass if your question is stupid.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 10 February 2010 )
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