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October 2004 Games
The October 2004 issue of Games is out - feel free to discuss.
Thanks to Sean, who let us know, and pointed out that it includes contest results for "Hexed!" (May) and a new Hidden Contest (due Nov. 1) along with the usual goodies.
Comments
So what does everyone think of Games' new "supah-slick" interior on the color pages? At least Pencilwise still looks the same. Funnily enough, as I was watching the Olympic operning ceremonies last night, I actually found myself playing word games with the country codes ala this month's contest. Go figure.
Posted by: Stephen | Aug 14, 2004 2:17:43 PM
Guess it was due for a facelift. Only getting it for about four years, I can't remember when its last change was (not when I had it, I know). Not a bad style for sure.
Wonder how hard the hidden contest will be this time. I haven't found anything yet, though I have a couple of ideas. Still trying to think what the maximum score could be on the AFG-AHO contest. I think I've ruled out using Tajikistan and the Maldives...for now, anyway.
Posted by: Mike | Aug 14, 2004 4:16:16 PM
I thought the new format was a little hard to read on the Wild Cards page, where they printed a couple of teasers in white type on a deep pink background. Other than that, I like the new look.
The new contest looks like fun. The winning score is very unlikely to exceed 70, from what I've learned so far, unless Webster's contains an unexpected trove of words such as NZLSWZUZBQAT that I haven't noticed yet. Everybody's favorite, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, doesn't seem to contain any more than 3 usable codes. (Note that thanks to their rule change about word acceptability, the plural of that word would no longer be acceptable, as it doesn't appear in boldface. I wonder if they're planning to make that change standard from now on, or if it's just a one-time thing.)
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Aug 16, 2004 5:14:23 PM
I'd like to put in a good word for the contest which is featured in an ad on page 3 of the October issue. I have been competing in "The Great Maltese Circumglobal Trophy Dash" for many years. If you've seen the ad in previous years but have had second thoughts about entering, let me tell you a few things about it.
As you can gather from the ad itself, you receive maps and instructions for a trip around the world. You can complete the trip in a couple of weekends sitting at your kitchen table (far less effort than Calculatrivia, for example.)
The Trophy Dash is one of the most devious and tricky contests I know of, but also one of the most entertaining. In addition to a series of very challenging puzzles and problems, a story line ties the whole thing together as you meet strange and eccentric characters, hitch rides on exotic vehicles, and try to avoid the traps.
One of the reasons I like this contest so much is the effort and care that goes into designing it. If you take a wrong turn or make a wrong choice, you will soon find yourself back on the right track none the wiser for it. This makes it possible for beginners to avoid the frustration of having to backtrack from dead ends, while providing experienced contestants with plenty of tricks and traps to avoid.
Another reason this is a favorite is the excruciatingly fair manner in which the contest is run. Following the conclusion of the contest, an answer book is sent out which contains a full explanation of the entire course. Contestants are given a chance to submit protests for any answers they don't agree with. The situations are complex enough that more often than not, one or more questions are thrown out as a result. Final results are then tabulated, with trophies handed out to the top scorers (usually walnut plaques or acrylic paper weights). You get a complete results book showing everybody's score, top finishers in each state and foreign country, etc.
The entry fee has slowly increased over the years, but not any faster than the price of an average movie at a theatre. I remember years ago thinking that the Trophy Dash provided me with at least 6 movies worth of entertainment, and that's certainly still the case today.
I have no stake in this other than being a very satisfied customer for many years. Jim Sinclair, the creator of the Trophy Dash, also runs an even more devious and challenging contest in late winter called "The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre". This contest is a cross-country road rally using the Rand McNally road atlas which is provided to all contestants. Also highly recommended. If maps and road rallies aren't your thing, then be on the lookout for his other contest, "The Almaniac". This is closer to the concept of what we do around here: digging up trivia. You get a copy of The World Almanac and must answer 80 questions based on its contents. The spring Almaniac is designed by Jim. Spring contestants then get to submit their own devious questions based on interesting or tricky info they found along the way, and these are used as the basis for the fall Almaniac.
It goes without saying that any success I've had on the recent contests on this site has come as a result of cutting my teeth on Jim's work. Folks, you don't know what "tricky" is until you've tried some of these. I've won several Almaniacs and a couple of Trophy Dashes, but even though I have a shelf full of trophies, I have yet to win my first Massacre after almost 25 years of trying. Each year I'm convinced I've seen all possible tricks and traps, and each year I'm blown away by the sneakiness of the new ones.
I'll be happy to answer any other questions folks might have. Also, see Jim's web site at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~oldmaltese
Clive
P.S. My fantasy would be to enter a contest jointly designed by Bob Lodge and Jim Sinclair!
Posted by: Clive Dawson | Aug 17, 2004 1:26:03 AM
So, how do the Hidden Contests work? I've solved all the puzzles in the magazine but I can't find it, except for a remark in the credits section to get a copy of all the contests in this issue.
Posted by: WWG | Aug 21, 2004 10:18:12 AM
Well...
1) I can't find the hidden contest...but don't they usually put a message from the editor in the letters page when they do?
2) this afg-aho contest is alot harder than thought...i mean they expect people to own a copy of "Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged)"...which comes out with new editions every few years...which costs alot of money I don't have...i have a total of 20 words with 42 abbreviations used...of course there is no way to check to see if my words are valid according to the dictionary it uses...so my only option is to use dictionary.com...
3) when are they gonna brong back cartoon rebuses...that is my favorite contest...but i think they should do more than 14...
have a good one!
Posted by: The_Steppum | Aug 21, 2004 12:07:16 PM
I'm sure someone will clarify if I'm wrong (entirely possible), but my understanding is that the various new versions of Webster's Third put all added words into the addenda, keeping the main body the same, so by excluding addenda words from eligibility (last rule), any Webster's Third will have the same set to work from. Someday they will mix them all in and we'll have Webster's Fourth!
What bothers me is that Webster's Third is available in electronic form, which I presume could then be searched electronically. A savvy programmer might be able to come up with the maximum score, letting his computer do all the legwork. If the eventual winners are identical entry ties, I will suspect that might well be the case.
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Aug 22, 2004 10:59:50 AM
WWG and Steppum, I can't say I've worked all of the puzzles yet, but remember that nearly everything (with the exception of the actual ANSWERS section) is game for the hidden contest. Past contests have included messages in fake advertisements and even messages encoded in contest results! I have to admit, though, the most bizarre one that I wasn't able to find was related to those crazy vertical bars that now appear at the top edge of the colored pages. One had to measure the widths of the bars and assign the smallest width an "A", next smallest, "B", etc. Aside from that one, another creative one (for which I was unsuccessful) was hidden in the Cryptograms (Dszquphsbnt!) section such that the translated letters were then re-used to convert the puzzle titles into the hidden message.
I, too, noticed that there is no introductory message announcing the contest or providing the contest address, so GAMES must figure that enough "veterans" know what to do.
Good luck. This one doesn't seem to be as straightforward as last time.
Posted by: Sean | Aug 23, 2004 10:22:37 AM
Thanks. I had the answer and solution issues for one contest where you had to work your way through a crossword grid like the "Walrus and the Carpenter" contest, so I tried that. Unfortunately, all I could find was 'Sasparilla' in one of the puzzles and a lawyer joke in the Snoopy word search. Gee, being a GAMES fan at 14 is pretty hard.
Posted by: WWG | Aug 23, 2004 1:03:50 PM
Bob is right about the CR-ROM version of Webster's 3rd, but it would take some reverse engineering to do what he suggests. You can search for words with a pattern (for instance "*afg*aho*" will show you all the entries such as afgaholywar and leafgirltunahominy, but you can't do a copy (higlight and control-C) out of their results window. Also, there is no indication as to whether a word is in the addenda or in the main text, and it you also can't tell whether a word form shown in boldface in the computer version will also appear in boldface in the actual hardcopy. So if you're scanning the computer version and find 'BURGEONED' and get all excited because it's got a codes smushed into just 9 letters, you still have to go find a hardcover edition and look up 'burgeon' to discover that it doesn't show 'burgeoned' in the real McCoy. I've been gradually developing computer lists, but mine are riddled with errors, omissions, and superfluous addendal words (forget ANTiANGINAl, for instance).
The net result for this contest is that I'm scanning both the hardcover and the CD version. One thing I notice is that there aren't many useful suffixes. Mostly I have to get lucky and stumble across things.
It's probably still going to take some computer wizardry to come up with an optimal solution, but I have a good bit of fodder to work with. I'm beginning to think that 60 is possible.
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Aug 26, 2004 1:47:55 PM
I wonder what would happen if I asked for a copy of all the contests in this issue?
Posted by: WWG | Aug 27, 2004 1:05:13 PM
The hidden contest does exist. I am 90% finished. There are clues throughout the magazine as to where to look. I will admit this was tough--but certain clues kept pushing me toward the right place to look.
Posted by: MLR | Aug 28, 2004 10:16:08 AM
Does the "Wallpaper by" credit line in the answers have anything to do with it? How about the changed letters in the "Editor's Choice" puzzle?
Posted by: WWG | Aug 29, 2004 7:28:09 AM
I don't think the "wallpaper by" or "editor's choice" have anything to do with it. I am not done yet--it keeps getting more complex!
Posted by: MLR | Aug 29, 2004 9:31:53 AM
Well, d'you have a hint to where to start looking?
Posted by: Michael | Aug 29, 2004 9:40:36 AM
The cover, the game reviews, the toymaker article. Clues in crosswords point to a particular column. The month. Interpret things in multiple ways.
Posted by: MLR | Aug 29, 2004 9:54:37 AM
About the 'fake ads,' what was the May 04 one?
Posted by: WWG | Aug 29, 2004 9:55:15 AM
Great. I just realized that my copy had all the pages after 72 ripped out. :p
Posted by: WWG | Aug 29, 2004 9:58:22 AM
They still do fake ads? I know they used to (it was a fun part of the magazine; some were even connected to hidden contests!), but I haven't seen any recently. Just checked my May 2004 issue with no reference to it.
Interesting hints, MLR. I know that this one seems like a tough HC (everyone I talked to outside this forum has no clue), but I love the comment on how it keeps getting more complex. This sounds like a really challenging one (I like the ones like that)...I'll see if I figure anything out in the upcoming days. Again, thanks for the hints.
Posted by: Mike | Aug 29, 2004 11:06:24 AM
Sry about the fake ad thing. Thought it was always in them, from hearsay.
Posted by: WWG | Aug 29, 2004 12:03:17 PM
The game reviews, the cover, the toys? What, does it have to do withthe Golden Arches or Happy Meal toys?
Posted by: Michael | Aug 29, 2004 12:07:25 PM
In honor of the Olympics, enjoy this quick 'n easy teaser:
GROUP 1: Italy, Denmark, Peru, Dominican Republic, Pakistan
GROUP 2: Nauru, Togo, Denmark, Greece, Fiji
GROUP 3: Japan, Morocco, Somalia, Turkey, Kiribati
To which group should each of the following three countries be assigned? Note: a country may be assigned to more than one group (like Denmark), or none.
Great Britain, Kyrgyzstan, Paraguay.
Posted by: Stephen | Aug 29, 2004 3:29:41 PM
I don't want to give too many hints. However, in interest of fairness, I must say that a previous response was not entirely correct.
Posted by: MLR | Aug 30, 2004 9:17:49 AM
I'm sending a scenic postcard and a joke, just to be safe.
Whether or not you even find the Hidden Contest, most of the time it decodes to "Send me a riddle" or "Send us a card".
I felt like Ralph in Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story"
when he finally decoded Little Orphan Annie's secret message and it said "Drink more Ovaltine".
Posted by: Tim Szeliga | Aug 30, 2004 10:46:29 AM
One of the most useful contests recently was in a Games product review issue, that forced everyone (in a nice way)
to read every line and examine every picture with a proofreader's eye. What better way to ensure the advertisers that their ads are really being seen?
Posted by: Tim Szeliga | Aug 30, 2004 10:50:00 AM
Hidden Contest--
I have looked EVERYWHERE from cover to cover...MLR telling us that "The cover, the game reviews, the toymaker article. Clues in crosswords point to a particular column. The month. Interpret things in multiple ways."...is too vague...we need more of a clue...cause game reviews, toymaker article, and the crossword clues I have read til I'm blue in the face...and I still come up with nothing!...Maybe u should give us a clue as to something we are supposed to look for...maybe a page number where certain 'clues to a crossword' appear...something!!!
Posted by: The_Steppum | Aug 30, 2004 6:47:27 PM
To me, a part of something MLR gave us seems to be glaring to me to have to do with the hidden contest. That's all I have so far. However, I agree with MLR in saying that not many hints should be given. What was given to us already probably would be useful if we fooled around with it for a little bit (though from The_Steppum, maybe even that would be hard!) With a HC this hard, however, I personally wouldn't want any more hints. Then again, that's just I.
Posted by: Mike | Aug 30, 2004 7:19:35 PM
I'm not even messing with the hidden contest anymore. I hunted around for a little while and now I would rather concentrate my energies on solving the other contest in the magazine.
I'm curious to know how many of you are sending in an entry to the Olympic Abbreviations contest and (after the deadline of course) what your best score was. I have a valid entry of 50+ abbreviations used, but I'm still trying to fine tune it and eke out every possible abbreviation I can from these words.
Posted by: Jeannette | Aug 31, 2004 7:05:31 AM
I like my hints subtle and vague, if at all.
Not that I have any control over this unmoderated forum, but my preference would be to see this not become a swap shop for answers to GAMES puzzles, but a forum for discussion of said contests, with posts relating to progress, and answers revealed only after the deadline.
Oh, and the user-generated contests. I have not yet participated in these (I need to let my wife and my job know about my real priorities), but watched with great interest.
Again, just my opinion, but I don't read the last chapter of a book first, and I don't read the online walkthroughs of any PC games that I play.
Posted by: Jay Winter | Aug 31, 2004 11:36:23 AM
Jay pretty much summarizes our position, too. Please don't reveal any answers before the deadline or we will have to delete your comments. Not because it's not fair, but because spoiling other people's fun is not nice. And that's a violation of rule #2 and impacts on rule #1. And since we only have two rules...
Of course what you do in e-mails that you pick up here is your business.
Posted by: JmSR | Aug 31, 2004 1:09:20 PM
Hi! Hey, tell me if I am in the letters section of the next issue (or the one after that.) Found a mistake in a recent issue.
Also, I was bored the other day and crafted this little teaser. Hope you like it!
"I was flipping through an alternate version of the bible and found this female Jonah story called "A Gal in a Cod" by Dave Loon and R. Cini. I thought it was interesting that the authors and their tale could be anagrammed into a famous painting and its artist. Which one?"
P.S.- If you need a hint, check my website! ;)
Posted by: WWG | Sep 3, 2004 3:11:53 PM
That was an easy one -- no hint needed.
Posted by: Andrew | Sep 3, 2004 3:25:05 PM
artist is leonardo da vinci ... painting = ??
STILL need help with hidden contest...
Posted by: The_Steppum | Sep 3, 2004 3:32:06 PM
The painting is more famous than the artist!
Oh, and here's another diversion for you-
I have a green apple, a purple crayon, an orange umbrella, and a red glass. What color is my T-shirt?
Posted by: WWG | Sep 3, 2004 7:44:53 PM
WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO DIVERT ME...INSTEAD TRY TO HELP ME WITH THE HIDDEN CONTEST...I ALREADY SOLVED THE MIXED BAG CONTEST FROM G:WOP SEPT. 2004...
as for ur t-shirt...i say white
Posted by: The_Steppum | Sep 3, 2004 10:04:54 PM
Does the hidden contest have something to do with a certain article that deals with the month or should I read a litle more into the words on the cover and in the toy article.
Posted by: jared | Sep 4, 2004 1:07:28 AM
UGH! I'm afraid to read this web site any more for fear of clues being given to me about contests. Especially this hidden contest!
People, you reveal much information about contests, even if it's just talking about eliminating this or that kind of approach, or not-so-veiled descriptions of discoveries, etc. Please stop it. Web site maintainers???....
Jim
Posted by: Jim Miller | Sep 6, 2004 4:21:57 PM
I'll try to keep my methods secret (is random brute force a method?). How about using this site for posting red herrings? That's a tactic which luckily no one has tried so far...
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Sep 7, 2004 4:43:54 PM
(Actually, Matt, how would we know??)
This issue is one that we try to avoid because we'd hoped people would have sense enough not to ruin each other's fun, but then people have different defintions of fun.
Our (previously) unwritten guidelines:
1. Don't give away any explicit answers to a contest.
2. Don't offer to exchange/sell answers on the site. (What you do in e-mail is your business.)
3. Feel free to give status updates on where you stand.
The new rules we'd probably add to this list are:
4. Don't talk about hidden contests at all other than status updates (e.g. "I found it" as opposed to "I found it on page 291").
Hidden contests are a different beast than most puzzles because getting there is nearly all of the fun. Saying "I found it" proves that it can be done. While the above comments are not really spoilers, they do ruin part of the journey for some solvers. It's probably better to not discuss these until their deadlines have passed.
And:
5. Remember that this is, in part, an unofficial GAMES contest discussion site.
Some people in their exuberance are going to spoil things unless we bar ANY discussion of a contest and that feels just as wrong as saying "spoil away!" So, if you don't want to spoil certain contests or read how other people are planning to solve contests, then you probably shouldn't visit here.
While I like the lists above, I prefer the list of rules in the "About" page. These are just reasoned extentions of those rules. If an issue has a hidden contest in it, we'll reference it in the post as a reminder that it shouldn't be discussed in depth.
We really are glad all of you are here and we don't want to kick anyone out for being rowdy, so please respect each other and HAVE FUN!
Posted by: JmSR | Sep 7, 2004 5:29:03 PM
I agree completely with JonMichael. I am very honored that this site has evolved from my humble contribution to GAMES, and I would enjoy seeing it stay around. I am just a free lance contributor and not part of GAMES staff, but I know they are aware of this site and have given it their tacit approval. But if comments here start seriously affecting outcome of contests, I assume that could change. I am as bad as anyone at being eager to share some breakthrough or insight I discovered on a particularly difficult challenge (the old teacher in me, I guess) but we all need to hold our tongues until contest end. There is plenty of time between deadline and published answers for bragging rights to be established. And of course it has always been OK for any communications whatever to occur privately between two individuals (with the exception of my spilling information on an ongoing puzzle I wrote, of course). So please let's keep potentially revealing comments cryptic, curtailed, or private, especially regarding ongoing GAMES contests, but also for the ones posted here. I for one would really appreciate it.
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Sep 7, 2004 7:07:11 PM
Hidden Contest Found! (at 1:50 AM CST, 9/8)
It's amazing how the mind works at weird hours of the morning. I still don't know what made me do it, but I decided to pursue something peculiar, and it worked.
In all fairness, I have to say that I don't know if there truly are other clues in the magazine to point you in the right direction since I haven't worked all of the puzzles yet, but, in abiding by the rules above, and in continuing the tradition of past Hidden Contests, I can say there won't be any doubt you've found it once you do.
Good Luck, Everyone.
Posted by: Sean | Sep 8, 2004 1:53:57 AM
Hi everybody.
I have a question regarding the AFG-AHO contest. Well, not a question really, I just want someone to verify that I'm not losing my mind.
I hope I'm not violating site rules by giving too much information. If you think I am then feel free to delete my post. Personally, I don't think it's enough info to really help anyone come up with a solution. Ok, on to the question.....
Hyperventilate is one of the words that I was considering using. However it's only 1 of several hundred words on my not-so-short list. However, I made a trip up to the library today and looked up several of my words in Webster's 3rd and was shocked to find that hyperventilate was not listed.
I thought this was a fairly common word, (ok it's a word I actually know the definition of as opposed to many of the other words in my list). Could my copy just have a typo or is this really not a usable word.
No big loss if I have to toss it. There's more words where that one came from.
Posted by: Jeannette | Sep 8, 2004 11:58:39 AM
I believe you are correct, Jeannette -- I looked it up some weeks back and experienced the same sinking feeling. I guess people didn't use to hyperventilate as much as they do these days.
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Sep 8, 2004 2:06:23 PM
WWG:Regarding "A Gal in a Cod", I believe I figured out the answer, but after cross-referencing each letter, I have two extra letters.
I've checked it several times and still come up with two letters remaining.
("A Gal..." and authors = 23 letters, the painting and artist = 25 letters)
Possibly I have the wrong well-known painting, or the wrong spelling of the painting's title, but not wanting to ruin it for anyone else, I won't reveal any more information.
Have I gotten the wrong answer?
Posted by: Toni | Sep 9, 2004 11:47:53 AM
I have one letter left over, an N.
Posted by: Andrew | Sep 9, 2004 7:34:21 PM
I found the hidden contest!!! For a clue turn to page 92!!!
And all you were complaining it couldn't be found. Especially that whiny cry-baby, The_Steppum. Yuo didn't look hard enough people!
There's my clue...now what you do with it is up to you. All I know is I'm gonna be a few hundred richer!
Posted by: Hidden_Contest_Solver | Sep 9, 2004 8:03:14 PM
Oops...
I am sorry, sorry, sorry.
I looked up my answer and realized that I misread a letter.
Make it "Olga in a Cod."
Posted by: WWG | Sep 9, 2004 8:03:23 PM
I REALLY don't think name-calling is appropriate!!!
Posted by: The_Steppum | Sep 9, 2004 8:10:43 PM
Page 92? That's the page opposite the back cover, right? :p
Posted by: SkepticOnIce | Sep 9, 2004 8:10:48 PM
Just so you know, my t-shirt isn't white. Here's a hint for you- my colors have to do with -see 'website' for hint, as some people might like to do without-
Posted by: WWG | Sep 9, 2004 8:20:15 PM
what is ur website?? u never gave a link?
Posted by: The_Steppum | Sep 9, 2004 8:35:38 PM
Look. It's a fake website. When you post a message, you have the option of specifying a website. If you do, someone can check the alt tag -- the message that comes up when you hold your mouse over a picture or a link-- on the person's name to see the website. You can check it on this message or my previous one. That is why my 'website' was in single quotes.
Posted by: WWG | Sep 9, 2004 8:44:42 PM
WWG...Having "Olga" instead of "A Gal" only switches O for A, still have two left-over letters.
Posted by: Toni | Sep 9, 2004 9:13:45 PM
ok...i got the famous painting...
it's: La Gioconda
now since i don't know ur website...
guessing that ur shirt is blue
Posted by: The_Steppum | Sep 9, 2004 9:17:35 PM
Page 92?? Where might I find that in Oct. GAMES since the BACK cover would be 82?
Posted by: Toni | Sep 9, 2004 9:22:24 PM
Steppum,that's what I got, but the letters don't match up. I have an extra "A" and "D". But, no big deal. Thanks WWG for the brain-teaser.
Posted by: Toni | Sep 9, 2004 9:28:02 PM
I got my November GAMES today! The contest is a double cross (such as my Cubic Challenge, First Family Factors, etc) but the answer grid is a CRYPTOGRAM!! Oh, yeah, and the author has the initials HH. :-)
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Sep 9, 2004 9:44:05 PM
Thanks, Bob! We've established a November issue thread.
Reminder: PLEASE follow Rule #2: Be nice. Namecalling will get your IP address blocked. Thanks, y'all!
Posted by: nichole | Sep 9, 2004 9:59:32 PM
So what's the most 3-letter abbreviations people have found for the "AFG-AHO" Contest? Has anyone found over 70? And how many have solved the HC? I've come up with a bunch of goose chases.
Posted by: Gamesurfer | Sep 21, 2004 8:19:29 PM
I don't think 70 is very likely for AFG-AHO, but more power to anyone that manages it within the rules given.
If someone does do it, it's a clear sign that I need to discard my tattered old copy of Webster's 3rd and get a new one with lots more words!
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Sep 23, 2004 1:58:16 PM
Well, if someone has found a solution with 70 I would love to know it! Matt, I'll toss my dictionary out with yours.
I've been working on this one for over a month now and I have what I hope is a winning solution, but it's nowhere near 70!
Posted by: Jeannette | Sep 24, 2004 1:21:03 PM
I've been struggling to get over 50. I don't have an unabridged dictionary, which makes finding larger words difficult. I'm going to send in an entry just to give them a low score.
I've found many words that have 3 of the codes, but many are duplicates of the codes that I have already used.
Posted by: Laurie | Sep 24, 2004 2:06:14 PM
Has anyone found any valid words with 5 or more abbreviations? I haven't, so to get to a score of 70, I'd need 10 words with 4 abbreviations and 10 words with 3-- and I don't see that happening. I think the winner will be much closer to 60 than 70.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Sep 26, 2004 5:30:26 PM
I found a few words with 5 abbreviations, but alas none of the words survived the disqualification process. (Trekking up to the library and looking up the words in Webster's 3rd)
I had a wonderful solution with a score of 65 until I found out that 10 of the words didn't qualify.
I'm still hyperventilating over the fact that "hyperventilate" isn't in the dictionary. Geez, it was the only word on my list that I actually knew the definition of before looking it up.
Posted by: Jeannette | Sep 27, 2004 8:24:32 AM
Really, there are words with 5 distinct, non-overlapping codes? With overlap, I've found up to 6 codes in one word, but if we're talking non-overlapping codes, the valid 4-code words I've found so far could be counted on one hand. And most of them contain the same codes!
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Sep 27, 2004 1:13:03 PM
I agree with everything Matt Dickey said in his last post. I couldn't find any valid words with 5 unique, non-overlapping codes, and of the handful of valid words with 4 unique, non-overlapping codes, many of them cancelled each other out because they shared the same codes.
BTW, I solved this problem with the aforementioned method of "computer wizardry." I used a text file of words from the unabridged dictionary (although many of them weren't "valid", so I had to check out all selected words with the library's copy of the dictionary), and I wrote several versions of a computer program designed to optimize the answer. The optimization algorithm took several iterations, so chances are that different people who try to solve this problem by computer will come up with different answers. (The "computer wizardry" method is also only as good as the words found in the text file.)
Posted by: KHF | Sep 27, 2004 3:00:23 PM
Just by browsing I found a couple 9-letter words using 3 non-overlapping triads, one using a very unusual triad. That was sweet to find.
Posted by: Jim Miller | Sep 28, 2004 1:12:36 PM
Ok, I admit. I'm also using the "computer wizardry" approach and I think any serious competitor for this one is also using computers.
However it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to number crunch all the possible combinations. (Ok, my calculator whimpered and died when I asked it how many possible combinations of 20 there are from 75,000 words)
For the past 2 months, I've been using my computer to widdle the 75,000 possible words down to 180 possible words. I've found at least 1 valid combo of 20 from my words that uses the best possible # of abbreviations, now I just have to start finding shorter words.
I don't think I have the optimization routine down pat yet, but I am hopeful that I'll finish before the deadline.
My math and computer skills aren't the best, but what I lack in science knowledge I hope to make up with raw determination.
Posted by: Jeannette | Sep 29, 2004 7:06:10 AM
Shoot, I haven't even bothered to write an optimization routine yet. Usually when I try, the estimated run time is several orders or magnitude greater than the age of the universe. I just came up with a 1st-order solution, and since then I've been squeezing it by hand, but it's gotten to the point where it's about as compressible as water.
I just hope I haven't missed any usable words with 4 codes. I'm pretty sure I found the same word as Jim Miller, but I don't remember if I found it by computer search or by just browsing the hard copy.
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Sep 29, 2004 1:53:28 PM
I did all my word-searching by computer, and I also found what may be the same "sweet" word -- a 9 letter word with 3 non-overlapping abbreviations, including one with really unusual combination of letters. Of course I had never heard of the word before, and it was an acceptable variant of an equally obscure word with a bizarre definition. But, according to the contest rules, the word was valid.
My optimization routine was stepwise to keep the program from running from now to eternity. I also did some manual intervention between steps to make each step run faster.
Again, as I said, I know my solution is only as good as the words contained in my text file. I did try some manual hunting through the 5" thick unabridged dictionary, but it struck me as being a futile waste of time because I couldn't find anything that I didn't already have.
Posted by: KHF | Sep 29, 2004 3:58:50 PM
I find this all very interesting. I'm curious what programming language you folks are using for this task.
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Sep 30, 2004 1:46:12 AM
Well, I'm using PICK Basic (Yeah, I know, you've never heard of it), combined with an Access database to store results. It runs on an HP mainframe here at work.
It may not be the best language for the job, but it's the only language that I'm fluent in and the mainframe is pretty speedy. I'm currently asking it to hash out all possible combos of 20 words from my short list of 180 words. Of course, I've added a few shortcuts so that some combos can be skipped entirely.
Let's see that equals .... possible combinations. Darn it, another calculator just went up in smoke!
Posted by: Jeannette | Sep 30, 2004 6:52:08 AM
I'm using a statistical package called SAS, because that's what I use professionaly for my job. I mostly used a part of SAS called "data step programming" to look for specific character strings embedded in the words in the text file. I also used very basic aspects of the built-in statistical capabilities of SAS to do the optimization routines. (However, I am very well aware that my answer is only as good as the words contained in that word text file.)
By the way, I also used SAS data step programming to solve your contest in the previous issue of Games magazine -- the numeric "cross number" puzzle! SAS kept crashing on me due to the enormous possible number of combination of answers, until I had an "Aha!" epiphany. I realized, logically, how the numbers **HAD** to be connected, due to mathematical information contained in the clues. Once I figured that out and modified the program, SAS ran in mere seconds and spit out the one beautiful, perfect answer! Thanks for the great contest puzzle!
Posted by: KHF | Sep 30, 2004 6:59:34 AM
How did you get a text file of all of the entries from the unabridged dictionary? Does this come with the CD-rom version?
I can see that anyone who doesn't have the text file is at a tremendous disadvantage in the AFG-AHO contest compared to those who do.
For the Cross-Number Conundrum contest, I didn't really see that a solution could be programmed that easily. I was able to solve it in about an hour with any programming.
Posted by: Laurie | Sep 30, 2004 8:02:18 AM
I used two separate text files of words, which I combined.
The first word text file was an old UNIX text file of the Websters 2nd Edition Unabridged Dictionary that we have on our Mac at home. I was given a second text file of over 800,000 words, most of which were garbage, but I was able to cull a few additional useful words from it. All selected words needed to be manually verified by looking them up in the dictionary, as a great many of them were not valid under the contest rules.
I absolutely agree with you about the major advantage of having a word text file -- I honestly don't see how anyone can solve this contest by manually playing "needle in the haystack" with the massive unabridged dictionary.
As far as the Cross-Number Conundrum contest goes, it was very easily programmed once I figured out how the numbers had to be connected to each other. The program took minutes to write and seconds to run.
Posted by: KHF | Sep 30, 2004 8:44:34 AM
My word list for the contest is pretty good, but it could definitely be better. I've been manually building a word list for several years now and it's as close to Webster's as I think I can get without actually typing in each word manually from the hardcover.
I didn't use any computers for the Cross Number contest, unless you count downloading a list of primes from the internet. At least, I didn't use any computers for the math calculations. I thought it was fairly easy to solve and managed it in less than a day. Unfortunately, that also means that GAMES will receive thousands of correct answers and mine will get lost in the shuffle.
Posted by: Jeannette | Sep 30, 2004 8:46:02 AM
Jeannette, I too, did not use the computer to do the Cross-Number contest (I wouldn't know how), but I did use it to look up the primes. All my calculations were done manually, by trial and error, until I got the right combinations. My answers seem to coincide with the given clues.
I hope Mr. Lodge posts the answers as soon as the contest ends. I'm anxious to have my answers verified.
Name That Text wasn't as difficult to solve as I had expected. I happen to like crytograms and do well with them. I think this contest will also have a lot of entries.
Posted by: Toni | Sep 30, 2004 10:03:36 AM
Bob- It pretty much doesn't matter what programming language anyone is using; it's the algorithm that matters. That and the starting word list (to avoid garbage in / garbage out).
With Jeanette's example of 180 words, there are 1.75 x 10^26 possible 20-word combinations (most calculators choke on this because they try to evaluate the factorial of 180, but you just need to multiply 180 x 179 x ... x 161, then divide by the factorial of 20).
This is obviously far too many to ever test out, so that's where the puzzle gets interesting. There are many 3-abbreviation words but only a few 4-abbreviation words, so the highest score possible is 60 plus the number of usable 4-abbreviation words. Given equal starting word lists, everybody will be able to get the maximum score, so the winner will need to minimize the letter count.
This is a very tough problem, with no general solution. Typically, you find a low letter count solution, then randomly swap in other words to see if that improves matters. The level of sophistication in the minimization algorithm can range from very low (such as my home-grown method) to very high (simulated annealing genetic algorithms).
For this contest, luck will probably play a role- if I concentrate my search around a pretty good solution, it may turn out that a lower letter count is substantially different from my answer, so I would never find it from my starting point- I'm stuck in a "local minimum". The more sophisticated algorithms try to avoid this. My simple code doesn't, so I'm changing things manually to help shake things up.
Sean
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Sep 30, 2004 6:07:30 PM
Yes, I'm quite familiar with the huge numbers that come from permutations. I was just wondering what languages or systems are used for this type of task. Not that I'm that familiar with any of them--my programming skills are pretty much limited to BASIC, but I may buckle down and learn something more modern one of these days. I've managed to solve some pretty daunting challenges with BASIC, but I don't know what I would have done with this one. I'm afraid "simulated annealing genetic" is over my head.
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Oct 1, 2004 4:05:52 AM
Bob- genetic algorithms keep track of the best answers found so far and attempt to merge them together to form even better answers. The idea is to mimic natural selection. Simulated annealing is a method to help find better answers that aren't "close to" your best answer found so far. It's a way to introduce "mutations" into your solution that will hopefully result in a better answer.
BASIC on a modern home PC stands a pretty good chance of finding the winning answer in this contest. More efficient programming languages and faster computers will speed the search, but a better algorithm on a slower computer will do better.
I'm using a 3 GHz Pentium 4 WinXP machine and programming in Visual FoxPro and C. I use FoxPro as an interactive rapid development language, and also to generate code for C. When I get the algorithm the way I like it, I translate it to C to get the performance boost.
A good place to start with this contest would be to write a program that randomly picks out 20 different words from your valid word list, then checks to see what the score and letter count is. If the score is better than your current best score, or the score is the same and the letter count is lower, keep a copy of this word list. Then loop back to the top to pick out 20 different words. Once this is working, try to think of a way to add intelligence to the search.
Sean
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Oct 1, 2004 11:50:41 AM
Thank you, Sean, for that information. Very interesting to me, albeit at present beyond my complete understanding. (But some day...!)
My best triumph in BASIC was a program which solved the beehive problem. Make a grid of 19 hexagons, in nested rows of 3,4,5,4,3, which in three different orientations gives 15 rows. Put the numbers 1 to 19 into the cells so each row has the same sum! My program was in about 1980 on a friend's .004 ghz computer (no kidding--4 mhz) with 64k of RAM! It ran 22 hours, finding the unique soution in about 5 and determining there were no other solutions on the remainder of the run. Wish I could find a copy to rerun it today. Must be one buried somewhere. The same friend (I've known him almost 40 years) helped me build my new 2.8 ghz screamer, yet unlaunched (no monitor, etc), but getting very close.
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Oct 1, 2004 12:15:15 PM
Bob, thanks for creating the "Cross-Number Conundrum" contest. It appears that this contest will have a good amount of participation.
Am I safe to assume that contest contributors cannot enter their own contests?
How does someone become a contest contributor for GAMES?
Posted by: Laurie | Oct 1, 2004 12:28:51 PM
Hi Laurie--
Thank you for your comment. Actually, I sent that puzzle thinking GAMES might wish to print it as a quick "Wild Card" type, with the solution elsewhere in the magazine, but they responded they wished to use it as a contest! It seems to have worked out pretty well.
I got started by simply looking up their address in the masthead and sending in my first submission all neatly printed out, in a flat manila envelope. (Editorial submissions is the same box # as contest entries.) I was thrilled and delighted to get a positive response! That was "Capital Challenge" in 1999.
Since then they have used four other submissions of mine for contests, plus the Conundrum (which I didn't intend as a contest) makes six. I've also sent a few quickie items now and then. One of these days I'll have to make a resume of all my GAMES published items.
I've had only one rejection, a massively complicated puzzle which had some unanswered questions as to how it could be presented, and we mutually agreed it was best to shelve it. A couple of years later they contacted me and said they wanted to revive it, but it still had unresolved problems, so I convinced them to instead run another submission they had been sitting on for about a year, which they did. That was my "Cubic Challenge".
In recent times I've done a lot of the necessary communication by email, and even submitted some smaller items that way. For anything complicated they usually need a hard copy, partly because there is an incompatibility between their computer system and my version of Word that prevents some exotic symbols from coming through correctly. This was especially exasperating on the Calculatrivia formula with all the Greek characters.
So, I'd say if you have a submission to make, print out a nice typo free copy and mail it to their box 184 address. Be sure to include your email address, as they may prefer to respond that way. Also be sure to retain a copy on your hard drive. They may wish you to email it to save composing time.
Yes, of course contributors cannot enter their own contests. In fact, just as I referenced the masthead to write this, I see the prohibition also mentions "regular contributors", so perhaps I am not eligible for ANY contest! I wasn't aware of that before, but I suppose there might be a few suspicions if any entrants recognized my name in the winners list of another contest. I am not an employee of GAMES, nor have I ever seen their offices or met any of their staff. I may have to find out some day what threshhold denotes "regular". 6 contests in 6 years is hardly every other month, but at the contest level I guess it is kind of high profile. At any rate, a single contribution isn't "regular", so do carry on!
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Oct 1, 2004 10:08:23 PM
Bob, you've piqued my interest. What kind of challenge is the "massively complicated puzzle" that you and Games have not figured out how to present properly? Will it ever see the light of day? If it's more involved than, say, Ultimate Calc. Trivia or (my personal favorite) Capital Challlenge, then I certainly hope it finds a home in an upcoming issue!
Posted by: Stephen | Oct 1, 2004 10:19:37 PM
I wrote the bulk of it 3 or 4 years ago. It is basically a fair size irregular crossword puzzle with a few unique features and surprises (some I believe unprecedented in crossword puzzledom) that pose a challenge on how to best capitalize on them. Cross referencing (including non-transitive daisy chains) is just the beginning of some of the delights.
Just the daunting prospect of checking entries for accuracy is one hurdle--it's quite a bit more work to check over a hundred crossword entries in a grid, compared to a single boiled down final answer, or even a neat list of a few dozen such as in Calculatrivia. I suppose one way is to highlight key cells and have just a string of those letters submitted. They would be carefully chosen as most likely to be altered in wrong solutions.
There are a very large number of 2-letter entries that are either state abbreviations, element abbreviations, or in some cases, both. So my title for it is Elementary States. For the person who completely unravels all its secrets, it could be called Ultimate Epiphany. On my work sheets I had prepared tables of both state and 2-letter element abbreviations, ordered both by first and second letter. Ideally these would be provided as a solver aid.
Hopefully one of these days I'll dig it out and think on it some more, and maybe come up with a workable approach to run by GAMES. I can't say much more without spoiling some of the key secret twists involved.
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Oct 2, 2004 12:47:47 AM
Hi Bob,
You've got me interested for your "Elementary States"...
I hope to someday have the enjoyment of solving it...
Posted by: Jim from Minnesota | Oct 2, 2004 4:31:38 PM
The programming language I've been using lately for this kind of thing is Perl. I can use it on either Windows or Unix systems without running into issues like portability, and since it's not provided by Microsoft, there aren't enormous headaches involved in just writing a quickie program and running it forthwith. Also, it's got a number of features that make programming solutions more entertaining -- hashes come to mind as a technique that is handy for a zillion different things.
For the Crossnumber Conundrum I used it to generate lists of primes satisfying the constraints given in the clues -- but basically I had to think about the possible configurations for the grid, eliminating the impossible, by hand, to get the final answer. Good luck to everyone in the lottery!
I'm just starting in on an optimization procedure for AFG-AHO. I don't think the number of variations to be tried comes even close to C(180,20), since each choice of a word does not eliminate only itself from future consideration, but all the other 3-code words containing any one of the 3 codes in the selected words. Still, the number is very large, so I'm trying to think of a graph-theoretic way of handling things, something that will quickly boil down the set of solution spaces. But I believe I'm going to send in my largely hand-generated entry before I get too caught up in coding....
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Oct 4, 2004 3:11:37 PM
When I received Oct's issue, I made a modest attempt at searching for the Hidden Contest but when I was unsuccessful I dropped the idea. It seemed hopeless and I didn't want to spend a lot of time on it.
After reading all the notes here, and because I enjoy a challenge, I decided to make use of the 'hints' and 'clues' and continue the search. What a mistake! I've spent hours (too many) looking, reading, solving; at pictures, in articles, doing puzzles......turning the mag upside-down and sidways. I even used a magnifying glass! Nothing! Not a clue!
This is a Hidden Contest that doesn't want to be found!
P.S. I think you guys/gals who do find it deserve more than a tee shirt!
Posted by: Toni | Oct 11, 2004 9:51:38 PM
Whewwww!
Well, I'm finally done with the AFG-AHO contest. I don't know if I've found the absolute best solution or not, but I'm sure I have the best solution for my pitiful little word list.
I'm going to submit my best answer and 2nd best answer just in case I've made a mistake and one of my words gets disqualified.
Posted by: Jeannette | Oct 15, 2004 7:41:51 AM
Looking at the rules for AFG-AHO, it only makes references to "your entry" in the singular form. It doesn't state if multiple entries will be accepted.
Are multiple entries accepted in contests that don't state that you may enter more than once?
Posted by: Laurie | Oct 15, 2004 8:00:47 AM
I would think that unless they specifically state only one entry per person, multiple entries are not disallowed. Be sure to send each in a separate mailing, however. That's been their standard setup for years--enter as many as you wish, but mail each separately. They put a cute twist on it in the last "Greetings From..." contest, requiring an ORIGINAL postcard with those words to be used for the mailing. That puts a bit of a crimp in cranking out a few dozen (or a few hundred) on your computer.
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Oct 15, 2004 12:12:48 PM
All numbers in the question below are examples--I haven't seriously tried the AFG-AHO contest.
Even if you could have only one entry:
If the entry claims to have 60 abbreviations, but GAMES disqualifies 1 word with 3 abbreviations, so that they say the entry only has 57 valid abbreviations, wouldn't they still accept those 19 words as a valid entry if 57 was the highest number of valid abbreviations (i.e., if no one gets 57 or more using all 20 words)? They might not be able to use it as a tiebreaker if more than one person has 57 abbreviations, because fewer words would probably have a fewer number of letters. But, if you could manage the absolute highest number of abbreviations with fewer words, I would think you ought to win.
Posted by: MLR | Oct 15, 2004 12:12:55 PM
MLR- I don't think the rules are clear about the point you make; is your answer worthless if one word is unacceptable, or do the rest count? But the results of the Hexed! contest say that some words in that contest winner's answer were deemed unacceptable, so it'll probably work the same way for this contest.
But since it's possible both Jeannette's best and second-best entries have the same score, and differ only in the total number of letters, it would definitely be better for her to enter both (even though the "acceptable words" rules seem to be clear enough so that if you checked all your words in a Webster's Third, you should be sure all of them are OK).
I don't see anything in this or the previous contest's rules that disallows multiple entries, but it would be nice if that were explicitly spelled out.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Oct 15, 2004 7:22:45 PM
Sean,
I see the wording you're referring to in the Hexed! results:
"The winner, as well as the runners-up, actually submitted some additional words that were deemed unacceptable for a variety of reasons."
I interpreted this to mean that the winner and runners-up submitted additional entries which contained the disallowed words, but their winning entries had all correct words. I could be wrong. I'm basing my interp on the fact that, over the years, Games has consistently mentioned, in various Websters 3 contest results, disqualifying entries because of a single bad word. Maybe they "lightened up" for the Hexed! contest because it brought to light so many iffy word situations.
I suspect, however, that they won't be lenient for the AFGAHO contest, since their rules changes make word acceptability crystal clear. I would submit separate entries if any words are in doubt.
Posted by: Jim Miller | Oct 16, 2004 2:03:32 PM
"Be sure to send each in a separate mailing, however. That's been their standard setup for years--enter as many as you wish, but mail each separately."
What does "separate mailing" mean exactly? I've been wondering for a while now.
Posted by: Mikey | Oct 16, 2004 11:58:08 PM
Each entry must be mailed separately. No stuffing two into the same envelope, or sending them all in one package.
Posted by: Andrew | Oct 17, 2004 12:35:57 AM
Oh, and the </b> tag is EVERYONE's friend.
Posted by: Andrew | Oct 17, 2004 12:38:00 AM
OK, it's too late to enter the AFG-AHO contest now, so here goes: my best attempt is 62 points, 224 letters. If you are interested, take a look at http://members.cox.net/seanriddle/afgaho.html. Anyone have a better score or smaller letter count?
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 1, 2004 11:05:06 PM
I had the same score of 62, but a slightly higher letter count of 226. I knew that my word list wasn't great, but at least I was able to improve my score from the mid 50's. What were all of the valid 4-abbrevation words? I only found 4.
Where was the hidden contest?
Posted by: Laurie | Nov 2, 2004 7:29:47 AM
My answer for the hidden contest was "Feet Center". However, at least one other person found a different, more explicit answer (in a totally different place). Let's see if anyone can explain my answer before I give my own reasoning.
Posted by: MLR | Nov 2, 2004 9:09:32 AM
Laurie- I only found 4 valid 4-abbreviation words, too: somnambulant, barbermonger, turbosupercharger and pleasuremonger. Since the last 3 all have the abbreviation GER, only one of them could be used. The funny thing is that the shortest total letter count that I found was using pleasuremonger, which has 2 more letters than barbermonger. My word list has 193 unique words, giving 226 unique abbreviation sequences.
Sorry, I spent too much time on this one to find the hidden contest....
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 2, 2004 9:13:11 AM
Sean, I think we may have the same entry. I also have the same 4 4-abbrev words and a final score of 62/224.
This was a really fun contest to work on. I started out with a program to identify all words with at least 1 abbreviation in them. The program spit out 75,000 words.
Next I started counting the number of unique abbreviation combos and threw out any subsets that couldn't qualify. For example I had 140 words with "GER" & "MON" and I threw away all the words with just "GER" or "MON" as the only abbreviation in them. This narrowed my list down to around 2,000 unique combos.
I then wrote some optimization routines to try and find the best set of 20 combos out of the 2000. I just let it try random sets until I found a valid set of 60 abbreviations. At that point I was able to throw away all the words with only 1 or 2 abbreviations and keep the 3+ words. This narrowed my word list from 75,000 to 230.
Like I said above, I found the same 4 words that Sean did with 4 abbreviations and since there were repeats within those 4 I determined that the max answer was 62. I next wrote an optimized routine that would concentrate on finding only answers with "62" scores. I was surprised that the routine found over a 1,000 answers and the best one was 224 letters.
Posted by: Jeannette | Nov 2, 2004 12:09:57 PM
Feet Center??? usually hidden contests tell you to send them something...and u managed to come up with 'Feet Center'?? I seriously think that you are the ONLY one who came up with that one...
Posted by: The_Steppum | Nov 2, 2004 12:57:39 PM
Maybe so, but I did have a reason for it, that connected many parts of the magazine (similar to what Tim Szeliga says above about "read every line and examine every picture" ), including those parts that I mentioned way back. Did you notice any alternate answers (i.e., answers not mentioned in the official Answers section) to anything in the October issue?
Why you didn't reveal YOUR answer yet? At least I posted my answers, to give people something to think about. I did send GAMES something besides my answer--specifically, an ad for a shoe store (I couldn't find an explicit request). Maybe if you knew where I live, you would figure out my reasoning more easily.
Don't forget to vote today!
Posted by: MLR | Nov 2, 2004 1:22:39 PM
Jeanette- at what point did you verify your words were in Webster's 3rd?
I started out by taking a word list and selecting all words that had at least 2 different abbreviations, since I figured that would give me plenty to work with. Then I kept only the shortest word for each unique abbreviation set. Some words had more than one abbreviation set: for instance, CANDLESTAND could be CAN LES TAN, AND LES TAN, CAN LES AND or CAN EST AND.
I also discovered that there was a solution with the two 4-abbreviation words and 18 3-abbreviation words, so I threw out all the 2-abbreviation words.
Then I looked all the remaining words up in Webster's 3rd. But for every word that got eliminated because it wasn't in the dictionary, I had to replace it with the next-shortest word with the same abbreviation set (if there was one), and look that one up.
So it was an iterative process, but when I was done I was confident that my word list contained the shortest valid words that covered all possible abbreviation sets. Then all I had to do was find the set of 18 3-abbreviation words to go along with my 2 4-abbreviation words that minimized the total letter count.
I wrote a program that chose 18 words at random until it got a list that scored 62 points, then kept some of those words and randomly swapped in some others. It then checked that list to see if it was 62 points with a lower letter count. After several loops swapping random words in, it would go back to my best current list and start over. That program found my 2 answers after just a couple of minutes, and never found any others.
I was paranoid that my program wasn't searching deep enough, so I also wrote a program that just chose 18 words at random from my list, and kept track of the shortest letter count from all the 62-point scores. This method found my 2 answers after a few hundred thousand loops, and hadn't found any others after several million.
So I'm pretty confident that 62/224 is the best possible from my word list, but I'm still concerned that there might be other valid words that I didn't have in my starting word list or that I accidentally discarded that would allow for a better entry.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 2, 2004 1:58:57 PM
I followed most of the obvious steps for producing a list, checking it twice, hoping to catch words naughty & nice. I had only the same 4 four-code words, and the best solution I came up with was 62 codes, 225 letters; it used pleasuremonger (so that barasingha would work) and parandrus instead of cantharus (so that canchalagua would be available). My 'optimization' routine still needs work, apparently. I had 3 9-letter 3-code words, 6 10-letter 3-code words, 5 11-letter ones, 3 13-letter 3-code words and one 14-letter 3-code word.
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Nov 2, 2004 4:21:37 PM
That's odd -- when I add up the number of letters now, it keeps coming out 221
12 + 14 + 27 + 60 + 55 + 39 + 14 = 221
Oh well, maybe GAMES will be able to sort it all out.
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Nov 2, 2004 4:39:02 PM
I checked the actual entry I sent in, and my list did have 221 letters.
Did everyone else have comitadji?
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Nov 2, 2004 5:05:41 PM
Matt-
My answers both have comitadji (http://members.cox.net/seanriddle/afgaho.html). Could you list your other words? I'd like to see what I missed. Thanks.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 2, 2004 5:54:17 PM
I found a text file of an unabridged dictionary in mid-October. I was able to get some additional words from it. I found another file later in October that added some more. I didn't have enough time to look up all of the new words that I found.
Here are the words from my entry:
barasingha
branchiest
campanulate
cantharus
chamberwoman
chromatographic
comitadji
cyphonautes
inframarginal
islandless
massasauga
methylparaben
microsporange
persecutrix
pleasuremonger
polyvinylidene
pursuivant
somnambulant
tunbellied
turbanned
Both comitadji and massasauga were great because they used less common abbreviations.
Posted by: Laurie | Nov 2, 2004 5:56:36 PM
Laurie-
I think all of those are valid words (I looked them all up myself except for microsporange- I used macrosporange). I'd be interested in knowing if your word lists had these words: fractographic, perdominant, ventricolumna, burdenless, hypernephroma and philandering.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 2, 2004 6:29:11 PM
ok...u want my answer....my answer was "PUZZLING"...cause in the puzzle 'Square Deal'...if u figured out what to do with the puzzle, it said something to the effect of 'send us the word "puzzling"'...
now how did u manage to arrive at 'feet center' pray tell?
Posted by: The_Steppum | Nov 2, 2004 6:46:43 PM
Since this is a puzzle website, before I tell everything, I will give some hints regarding the comment I made earlier (i.e., Did you notice any alternate answers (i.e., answers not mentioned in the official Answers section) to anything in the October issue?):
1. What is the title listed on the front cover of the October issue?
2. Does #1 sound like anything else in the magazine?
I used the above (and other stuff) to link various parts of the magazine together.
Additional hints to get to my answer (not necessarily in order of how I found them):
3. What is today?
4. What was happening in late July (when I received this issue in the mail) that is related to the answer in #3?
5. Where did #4 take place?
6. Did anything else in the magazine discuss an event that parallels the events in #3 and #4 (though the event for #6 is in a completely different part of life)?
7. What series does WWG's true email address (not his "fake websites") remind you of?
8. What in the magazine is related to #7?
9. #8 should lead you to something in #2.
10. #8 should also lead you to a movie this summer (besides the obvious one).
11. WWG mentioned finding a joke when first looking for the hidden contest. "Without naming anything" [that's a hint, too! (for both #8 and #10, though the unnamed thing is not the same in both)], the answer to #10 can be related to #6 (think about the joke). This gives a specific building, in a certain part of the country.
12. Words repeated in #8 lead me to a title based on the fact that this was the October issue. This title could also relate to a character in #10.
13. Something goes on in the part of the country where #11 is located, which could be described by the title in #12. What is it? The location specified by #5 is also in this part of the country.
14. Think about the AFG-AHO contest. Think about winter two years ago. Think about a certain game show that was in the news this summer. To what event does that lead you? Someone who is related to that event is head of the location of #5 and #11 (on a broader scale). What broader location?
15. #8 mentions something fitting in small places. By doing this as described in #8, you will get the location in #14. This will also allow you to find the location in #14 in the name of the director of the movie in #10.
16. Something else mentioned by WWG early on was key to my relating various parts of the magazine, including editing an answer above to get my final answer.
17. The building in #11 is in a location that could be described by the title in #10. This location is a brand name of something (related to my submission for the contest).
18. Another brand name of the common item mentioned in #17 could be used to describe the answer to #2 (as well as two other things in the magazine, one of which gave me the question that I answered for my submission).
19. The title of a song from a musical can be used to describe the part of the magazine that I used as a question to come up with my submission. This musical has a character mentioned in the magazine, related to #3. Another character is known for having something that is a color that relates to #10 (and is in abundance in this website). What musical? What is the song title?
Note that I didn't specifically use WWG's comments in my finding "Feet Center"--they just make nice hints to relate the statements above to this website.
I'll wait to see if anyone comments on my questions (and the answers to them) above before I give any more explanation of my submission. I hope you see some of the connections that I did.
Posted by: MLR | Nov 2, 2004 8:15:42 PM
Matt, congrats on a score of 221. 224 was the best that my word list could generate. May I ask where you got your word list?
Sean, you asked at what point I verified my words against Websters. I kinda left that alone until I put together a good answer of 20. Each time my program found a new "best answer" I would take that answer and check the 20 words. If I had to cross out any words I would just take them out of the program and re-run it. When I got the full list down to around 180 words, I took the entire list to the library and verified them all. That knocked it down to 123 words.
My program actually never found the 224 length answer. It found an answer of 225 and I manually substituted some words to get to 224. If I had had more time on the computer, the program would have eventually found it, but sometimes just having a human eyeball the list can be more efficient.
I can't remember my final list of words (I have it on the PC at work), but all of the words listed above look very very familiar. I'm sure comitadji was on the list and either the micro or macro sponage was there. I don't think I used chamberwoman. I remember looking it up in Websters, but I threw it away for some reason later on.
Ok, my eyes are glazing over. Time to sign off the computer.
Posted by: Jeannette | Nov 2, 2004 8:49:22 PM
I only had about 100 words in my word list. I had ventricolumna, hypernephroma, and burdenless. I was missing words that would have gotten a letter count of 224. I thought that another 4-abbreviation word might exist, so I didn't try too much to lower my word count.
Assuming that the winning letter count is around 220, this is the best entry that I have ever had on a dictionary-based contest. I've entered a few of the dictionary-based contests before, and my entries were nowhere near the winning entries.
Posted by: Laurie | Nov 3, 2004 7:05:38 AM
MLR--
that's a long drawn out process that you have explained...i mean i personally think that ONLY people with too much time on their hands would think of all 19 steps that you have reached to come up with Feet Center... hidden contests are NOT usually all that brain strenuous....
1) the super super market
3) election day? (or the day after election day)
2, 4-19) ????
Posted by: The_Steppum | Nov 3, 2004 12:07:36 PM
Yes, it was a long drawn out process. Your title for #1 is wrong. Look at the orange title at the top of the page. #3 is correct: Election Day. Who lost? Where is he from?
I live in the town that is the "largest town in North America" (this claim goes by population--Google that phrase, and you should figure out the town). The town is 20 miles (approximately) from #5.
Posted by: MLR | Nov 3, 2004 12:21:54 PM
Also, if you thought *that* was long, you should see all of the other stuff that I connected together in my search for the hidden contest.
Posted by: MLR | Nov 3, 2004 1:00:20 PM
Jeannette,
I have the CD version and the hard-copy version of Webster's 3rd, and I've been accumulating words over the years. For the Lucky 13 contest I did searches on the CD for long words, and I've kept them around; for this puzzle I had to fill in some gaps -- I didn't have all that many 9 through 12 letter words, so I did many searches through the CD for words 9 letters long or longer with each code, using clauses to eliminate compound entries, and entries with hyphens or apostrophes. Searching for 'ger', for example, my search string looked like this:
?????????* & *ger* & !([ '-])
This then produces a list of some 2200 entries, which I mostly entered laboriously by hand, thanks to Merriam-Websters having failed to provide a Select All option for the pane with the list of words in it; some of these queries exceeded the number of entries which could be held in the word list pane, which was a pain, because then I had to break the queries down into multiple subqueries:
[a-m]????????* & *tri* & !([ '-])
and
[n-z]????????* & *tri* & !([ '-])
(And here I should thank Jim Miller who pointed out that
the Webster's CD accepts more of the regular expression
syntax than their own documentation bothers to mention: they never say a thing about the [characterlist] feature which greatly facilitated this searching process.)
Eventually I ended up with a great long list of stuff, which I fed through a Perl script which identified all the words with 3 or more entries (at least on the second iteration, when I was pretty sure that each winning word would contain at least 3 codes). This pared the list down from probably 70,000+ words down to under a thousand. I made numerous manual passes of the list, winnowing redundant things like microsporange/microsporanges/macrosporange/macrosporanges down to just macrosporange; at the same time I checked any and all dubious looking words against the hard copy (at which point, of course, I discovered that hyperventilate is a neologism, along with many other disappointments). My final list of words was about 186 words, including some duplicates, since a word like hypernephroma can use either rom or oma in addition to per and nep. The list was elaborated somewhat, with the
codes found and their count included on each line. The
list was sorted by the length of the words, with the
shortest ones first so that the earliest solutions found would tend to be shorter.
Just visually examining the list, you can see that there are two main choices: barbermonger/pleasuremonger, and
cantharus/parandrus, giving about 4 main ways to build up lists. Before I wrote an optimizer script, I played with them by hand for a while, coming up with a list of about 242 letters, which I then quickly improved to
225, and then each subsequent letter gain required a lot of shuffling, and finally as an experiment I tried using pleasuremonger instead of barbermonger, which finally got the list from 222 down to 221 letters, at which point I could not find any way to improve. Then I wrote my optimizer script, which popped the same list out rather quickly, but I don't know if there aren't better solutions out there -- it didn't make a thorough search of the solution space.
The result was this list...
somnambulant
pleasuremonger
comitadji
parandrus
turbanned
barasingha
branchiest
burdenless
massasauga
pursuivant
tunbellied
campanulate
canchalagua
cyphonautes (or cyphonautae)
perdominant
zauschneria
fractographic
macrosporange (or microsporange)
ventricolumna
argentaffinoma
A lot of work, but a lot of fun. And I won't be surprised if some else does better, because my lists were subject to plenty of human error.
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Nov 3, 2004 3:12:52 PM
Matt-
I don't think Zauschneria is acceptable. It is a genus, which are always capitalized. I remember looking this one up.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 3, 2004 3:38:03 PM
mlr:
this is getting tiresome and tedious...there is NO way that games magazine could have predicted that kerry would have LOST the election...in order to come up with the hidden contest...i think u just did all this becuase you had too much time on your hands...now be a gentleman (or lady) and kindly disclose to us step by step on how u thought it was feet center...alot of us don't have time to go researching your 1-19 clues on google due to the fact that we're working on present contests...
thanks
my name is the_steppum and i approve this message...
Posted by: The_Steppum | Nov 3, 2004 4:05:04 PM
Well, my answer had nothing to do with the fact that Kerry lost the election. Kerry was just a hint to some of my other clues. He is from *Massachusetts*, and that was obviously known a long time ago.
1. Food for Thought
2. Fud4Thot
Alternate answers for Fud4Thot:
Embedded Reporter--> Terrible (or terrific) oxymoron (the reporter's statement is an oxymoron, and the man and woman are scared)
Raking in the Dough--> Sinkin' in the grain ("Singin' in the Rain", part of the Paint By Numbers, p. 39).
Comedy Bit--> Flying awl (see below)
Beam me up, Scotty--> Here we go, Shorty (or 'This is it, Shorty' [I wasn't quite sure, as it wasn't an obvious reference to a common phrase, but the dog could be a "shorty" (also a Jack Russell, or a terrier ['Terriers' is the name of Boston University's sports teams])]
3. Election Day
4. Democratic National Convention
5. Fleet Center, Boston, Massachusetts **IMPORTANT**
6. National Toy Hall of Fame (p. 16) nominations, with inductees to be decided in November
7. amagicalmuggle--> Harry Potter
8. Game Review, p. 71
9. "as you pilot the owl Hedwig" made me think of "flying owl"--made me think of "flying awl" in #2
10. 'Lucius Malfoy' is in "Harry Potter". 'Lucius Hunt' is in "The Village". One of the new Harry Potter books is "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". Joaquin Phoenix played Lucius Hunt in "The Village".
11. Joke in Snoopy word-search puzzle refers to the "Third Question". The 'Third Question' in the Toy Hall of Fame quiz (p. 16) is about Crayola crayons. The question mentions shades of yellow and blue, but not 'red'. These are the three Primary Colors. 'Without naming anything' refers to Voldemort in Harry Potter (#8), where Voldemort is known as "He Who Must Not Be Named". It also refers to 'The Village' (#10), as the creatures in the woods are "Those We Must Not Speak Of". Moreover, if you look up Crayola on the Toy Hall of Fame website, you see that, before making crayons, they made red barn paint. Since I live in Massachusetts, I thought of "Motif No. 1", a famous red barn in Rockport, Massachusetts.
12. The phrase "the book and the movie" was repeated several times in the Harry Potter game review on p.71. Since I already had several clues to red, this made me think of "The Hunt for Red October" (I was 'hunting' for the hidden contest). Many other Tom Clancy books have "red" in the title, and Tom Clancy is mentioned in a different game review. As stated above, a character in 'The Village' is Lucius 'Hunt'. Another movie this summer was "Clifford's Really Big Movie", from the book about Clifford The Big Red Dog.
13. In Massachusetts and the rest of New England, "leaf peeping" (looking for fall foliage, which can be *red*) is a popular tourist activity in October--i.e., "Hunt for red in October".
14. Two winters ago, the Olympics (AFG-AHO contest) were in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jeopardy was in the news this summer, because Ken Jennings, from Salt Lake City, was on for so many shows in a row (still is even now, actually). Jeopardy Lane is mentioned in the letters to the editor (123 Sitcom Street, about Al Bundy, a shoe salesman). Mitt Romney, the governor of Massachusetts, headed the Olympic Committee for the Salt Lake City olympics.
15. The Harry Potter review says Hermione can get into tight spaces. In the Harry Potter movies, Hermione Granger is played by "Emma Watson". The abbreviation for Massachusetts is "MA", which could be described as squeezing "Emma" into a smaller space (say the letters individually "M-A"). The director of The Village is M. Night Shyamalan (find "MA" in his last name). You can find "AM"/"MA" and "AL"/"LA" in his last name, which is like the "Back at Ya Again" WildCard, p.63. Note that, counting "GP" in the introduction to that WildCard, there are 6 degrees mentioned in that puzzle. This made me think of "Six Degrees of Separation" (also, one of Shyamalan's other movies was "The Sixth Sense"). Six Degrees of Separation is a theory about the world's interconnectedness.
16. Editors' Choice, p. 53--add, delete, or change a letter to get the real clue.
17. Rockport is a small town, or "Village". Rockport is a brand of shoes.
18. Skechers is another brand of shoes. The people who draw Fud4Thot and Please...Take My Wife! (p. 21) are "Sketchers" (add a "T" to Skechers, in keeping with Editors' Choice). The Harry Potter review also talks about "spotty graphical elements"--these sketches could be "spotty graphical elements", in that they are not extremely detailed. We are also asked to draw pictures in the Sandwiches puzzle, p. 32 (see last line of instructions in grey section of p. 33). The pictures, including those Oreos, are all black and white (as is the rest of the magazine). In Alpha Zoo, p. 10-11, the X-Man is Yelling Zebra. Zebras are black and white, and "yelling" could draw attention to the Zebra. There were some other reviews that talked about graphical quality.
19. Franklin D. Roosevelt is quoted by the parrot in Alpha Zoo (p. 11), and is a character in "Annie". Annie has red hair (and a red dress at the end). In 'The Village', red is a forbidden color. In the third question in the Toy Hall of Fame article, red is the only primary color not mentioned. This website (jumbledpileofperson) is red. A song, sung at the Bert Healy Oxydent Hour in the play, is "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile." (Did you know that the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts is *Kerry* *Healey*?)
Now, go back to "Please...Take My Wife!", p. 20-21.
In the first cartoon, the guy tells a story starting with saying his elbow got hurt, and, after a long drawn-out process (because the lady keeps asking "Why? Why? Why?"), says his house was on fire. As you already stated, my solution was long and drawn-out.
In the second cartoon, the winning answer is "Red", but the lady travels across the world and back to figure it out. Again, long process to get answer.
The kid in Morning Ritual can't find anything (I couldn't find the contest). He keeps screaming "Maaa!" (Massachusetts!). His socks are in the bottom drawer (this is the bottom picture--or bottom draw-er [person who draws]). His shirt is in the Laundry basket (a GAMES column, p. 2, as you know). The prize for the hidden contest is a T-shirt. The GAMES address (you have to send in your answer to somewhere) is on the Laundry page. The Laundry/Eureka page gave me many clues, including sitcoms, bulls, and, especially, the Eureka letter about Fud4Thot having multiple answers. That letter changes a bunch of "W"s to "V"s, which would make it "Wise Crack" at the end. The kid walks out without his shoes, then comes back and asks "Where's my shoes?" The mother says, "I thought you'd never ask." Between the three cartoons and all the rest of the stuff, I took this as "I thought you'd never ask the question for the hidden contest." The title of the song from Annie, "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" describes Morning Ritual--the kid isn't fully dressed, and you "smile" at the joke.
In the PhotoMystery (p. 14), the butler Hampton says in #5 "...somebody out to put that MISERLY old woman out of her MISERY...". MISERLY becomes MISERY by "deleting the L". The lawyer James McClaren says in #6 "if only she had popped her SOCKS..." SOCKS are mentioned in Morning Ritual, and the Boston baseball team are the RED SOCKS (or RED SOX, anyway). The whole photomystery is about *one* right-handed guy (the lawyer) and a *bunch* of left-handed people. The right-handed guy is the killer. The Democrats are "left-winged" and there were lots at the Fleet Center for the Democratic National Convention. Republicans are "right-winged", and the only *one* that mattered this year is George W. Bush. The answer to the murder mystery explains swapping a false key for the real one (as is done in Editors' Choice [one of the words in the clue is a "false key"--must be swapped with the "real key" to get the real clue], and many other places), as well as a newspaper. Fud4Thot mentions newspaper headlines. I got MANY clues from those Fud4Thot drawings.
I took the "Fleet Center", and dropped the "L" to get "Feet Center". The kid is looking for shoes and socks, with both go on his "feet". Using "Feet Center" to answer the kid's question about his shoes makes a "wise crack". There is a whole puzzle in the new December issue called "No L, No L", where you must drop the "L" to change one word to another (e.g., "flour" to "four", or maybe my "fleet" to "feet").
So, there you have it, The_Steppum. I had lots of other connections, from many sitcoms and other TV shows (including a connection between "Harry Potter" and "Annie", based on the game review), "The Seven-Year Itch", the characters in "The Village", various bulls/cows laughing in the magazine, etc. I'll stop for now. If you want to know, email me. If The_Steppum had checked my email address, he would have guessed my name was "Monica". He would have been correct, and would have known I am a "lady" as opposed to a "gentleman".
I live in Framingham, which they say is the largest town in North America, approximately 67,000 residents. That can be said because we have a "town" government, not a "city" government.
Posted by: MLR | Nov 3, 2004 5:27:19 PM
Sean,
Yes, Zauschneria is defined in the 1st definition as a genus, and therefore receives the dreaded designation of Cap. However, if you squint, you'll see that there is a second definition of zauschneria, without the Cap desigination -- any plant of the genus Zauschneria. This is not at all unusual in Webster's 3rd.
It remains to be seen, of course, what the editors at GAMES think.
Posted by: Matt.Dickey | Nov 3, 2004 6:05:53 PM
Matt-
I don't have ready access to a W3, but what I remember is that the second definition was one of those "-s" entries. I found several words that were genus names and had -s entries following that were defined as "any plant of the genus x". I think the idea is that you could say "I saw several zauschnerias today" without capitalizing it. But I didn't allow zauschnerias because it wasn't spelled out; just the -s was listed.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 3, 2004 6:16:08 PM
I thought that the hidden contests always said something like "This is the hidden contest. Send us a (fill in the blank)"
They are getting way too complicated.
Posted by: Laurie | Nov 3, 2004 6:26:45 PM
Wow, MLR, and I thought I've had some convoluted solutions to previous Hidden Contests! Yours takes the cake! The greatest extent to which I had gone during my early hunt for this latest contest was noticing the recurring theme of "Food for Thought" by creating food-related terms from puzzle titles. I don't have the issue with me at the moment, but the most glaring example I remember was CAR PEOPLE, which I quickly recognized as APPLE CORE. I threw in the towel on that idea when other titles weren't working so nicely.
I have to say that I've grown accustomed to looking for certain key words (SEND, MAIL, FOUND, HIDDEN, CONTEST), but you can't always count on those either. Actually, I remember one time I was convinced the message was MAIL IN A 180 U, which I took to mean sending in a U rotated 180 so that it looks like a horseshoe, which in turn meant "Good Luck"...NOT!
I hope you're able to simplify your search next time.
Posted by: Sean F | Nov 3, 2004 6:32:51 PM
After I read the message where Steppum told where the hidden contest was, I found it. I had looked at that puzzle earlier, but didn't know it was the hidden contest, so I didn't spend time trying to decode it. It is very obvious when you find it; it tells you that you found it and then exactly what to do to enter. Now, Steppum, what hints in the magazine told you to look there? I saw Food For Thought/Fud4Thot, but that didn't lead me anywhere.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 3, 2004 6:57:35 PM
...Wow. Glad that my e-mail helped you in your hgihly convulted search. I'm getting my first subscription to GAMES for my birtthday, which you can get by taking the month that Mark mused that they went over to Ron's to pick up lumber for their toy cradle project and taking the page number on which you see a Grigg rod being cast and see the address of an Aurora, OR company.
Bonus points to those who know how they are connected.
Adios,
Posted by: WWG | Nov 3, 2004 7:20:28 PM
Sean:
i didn't really see any hints throughout the issue that made me wanna look there...i basically used someone's clues that they posted here...that were posted in the nov 2004 section....
Posted by: The_Steppum | Nov 3, 2004 10:39:03 PM
Matt, I also used zauschneria in my entry so I too hope it is accepted. I don't have a hard copy dictionary handy right now, but I did look up each word on my list and threw out all the CAPS entries. Zauschneria survived the cut, so I can only assume that there I found a valid non-cap definition somewhere.
Then again, by the time I got to the "Z"s all the words in the dictionary were kinda swimming around on the page.
Here are the words I used.
argentaffinoma
barbermonger
branchiest
campanulate
cantharus
comitadji
cyphonautes
fractographic
islandless
massasauga
methylparaben
microsporange
persecutrix
pleinairist
polyvinylidene
pursuivant
somnambulant
tunbellied
windburned
zauschneria
Posted by: Jeannette | Nov 4, 2004 7:40:03 AM
How is the Square Deal puzzle solved for the Hidden Contest? To me, it looks like a bunch of scattered numbers.
Posted by: Laurie | Nov 4, 2004 9:24:15 AM
Laurie-
I didn't want to post here in case someone else is still working on it, but check out this page: http://members.cox.net/seanriddle/octhidden.html.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 4, 2004 10:42:11 AM
Thanks for the information. The hidden contests aren't just hidden, they're cryptic. I think that the top prize for the hidden contests should be more than a T-shirt. Many years ago, I was able to find them. They have made them more difficult over the years.
Posted by: Laurie | Nov 4, 2004 10:55:48 AM
Laurie-
I thought the solution to this hidden contest was really cool, but I like codes and ciphers. I'm angry that I looked at the puzzle but didn't figure out that it was the hidden contest. I think there must be some clues that point to it, but I haven't found them. I agree that this one seems tougher than a t-shirt.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 4, 2004 12:31:43 PM
Jeannette,
Was 'turbanned' on your list of ~180 words? That's the other 9-letter word that's a keystone. Sure, it breaks windburned, but a 9 is better than a 10. My first couple of solutions were missing both comitadji and turbanned -- and needless to say they had a lot more letters.
Sean R., on the -s in the definition: that just means that the boldfaced entry, zauschneria, can be pluralized by adding an 's'; only zauschneria would have been acceptable for this contest, because the pluralized form zauschnerias did not explicitly appear in boldface. That differs from something like hypernephromas, where the plural and the singular are both acceptable because they both appear in boldface.
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Nov 4, 2004 1:24:34 PM
I have understood the -s designation to mean that a word can have an s at the end, not that it must have an s at the end. I looked at my text file to find zauschneria with a capital Z. I had deleted all words starting with capital letters.
Posted by: Laurie | Nov 4, 2004 2:39:44 PM
Matt-
I understand what you are saying. I just went to the library and looked at the entries again. I had assumed they were saying that the first entry was always capitalized and the second entry always had the s. There were several other words that I eliminated for the same reason, but I guess none of them figured into the best solution.
I really dislike the Webster's Third convention of showing capitalized words as lower case with a notation. I think it would be much less confusing to show the correct form. Maybe when they finally incorporate the addenda into the main body for Webster's 4th they'll change that as well.
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 4, 2004 5:40:35 PM
Matt,
Unfortunately "turbanned" wasn't in my word list at all. I'm still trying to find a better word list somewhere. So far the only ones I've found are either so abridged that they are no good or so big that they include more junk than real words.
Posted by: Jeannette | Nov 5, 2004 10:39:56 AM
Well, I got a letter today saying I won a t-shirt in the AFG-AHO contest. Not what I wanted, but I feel lucky to get anything since I accidentally eliminated zauschneria. Matt- you got at least a t-shirt, maybe the $500....
Posted by: Sean Riddle | Nov 29, 2004 6:09:14 PM
Sean,
No $500 so far, but I sent in two entries, the first one with one extra letter. I've only gotten one letter (today) saying I'd won a T-shirt... maybe it was for my second-best entry...
Now, 5 Games runner-up t-shirts and counting!
Posted by: Matt Dickey | Nov 29, 2004 7:14:46 PM
From a prior issue (Feb 2004), the GAMES contest grand-prize winner is not also allowed to be a runner-up.
Posted by: Laurie | Nov 29, 2004 7:34:54 PM
WOW!!!
i just got a letter saying that i am a winner of the October 2004 Hidden Contest. i didn't win the $500.00 but I did win another snazzy GAMES T-shirt.
The first one was for the letter I sent that was seen in the February 2005 (page 2) issue of GAMES Magazine.
looks like 2005 will be my year for my name being mentioned in GAMES :)
Posted by: The_Steppum | Nov 29, 2004 10:58:57 PM
10 bucks says the AFGAHO winner is Kyle Corbin of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Posted by: Jim Miller | Nov 30, 2004 12:48:46 AM
Well, I also received a letter today from GAMES. No money but I also won a T-Shirt. This is my only my 2nd win from GAMES, so I'm excited about it!
Posted by: Jeannette | Nov 30, 2004 7:07:19 AM
Steppum/Jeannette, Make that 3 of us who have received letters as Oct. 2004 Hidden Contest winners. I'm excited because this is my first "legitimate" win through a contest. My other T-shirts have come from "Laundry" items.
By the way, there usually isn't any money associated with Hidden Contests. Traditionally, they give away 10 or 15 T-shirts.
Congratulations to you both!
Posted by: Sean F | Nov 30, 2004 7:20:23 AM
(Sorry, but I just realized that I read your messages out of context and that the $500 you mentioned was for the AFG-AHO contest.)
Posted by: Sean F | Nov 30, 2004 11:38:54 AM
I just realized I didn't make it clear which contest I was referring to. I won a T-shirt for the AFG-AHO contest. I didn't even enter the hidden contest.
I'm happy with the shirt. After all that hard work, I'm glad I got something out of the deal.
Posted by: Jeannette | Nov 30, 2004 1:31:25 PM
just got an e-mail from games...
turns out the results of the hidden contest wll be in the march 2005 issue...so make that the FIRST TWO ISSUES of 2005 that I, will be in... HOW AMAZING IS THAT???
Anyone got any polybags I may borrow so I can save these issues to show my children and grandchildren (