Comments | byronosaurusrex: The US Puzzle Championship: The most fun you can have being stressed out for hours on end.

byronosaurusrex

The US Puzzle Championship: The most fun you can have being stressed out for hours on end.

Jun 17, 2006 14:32

Well, here we go; very late into the lifespan thus far of this journal, and I'm finally posting. A little bit of introduction, I suppose, is necessary for the unlikely stumbler-upon of my journal: My name is Byron Calver, and I'm currently on the tail end of a bout of minor celebrity status in my hometown for winning the American Sudoku Smackdown ( Read more... )

exposition, puzzling

Comments 9

benevg June 18 2006, 07:13:26 UTC

you know, reading is hard, but solving the puzzles is still harder, and it tends to matter more on the championships themselves. ;) and you're still good.

so don't fret too much, and see you in october! (i'll definitely be there, if not on the team, then as "the guy who does all the explaining while trying not to get pissed about the russians' interesting questions") :) by the way, i don't know how i've forgotten to add you to my friends list before, but i hope you don't mind.

WPC Comments Part 1 gary3000 June 18 2006, 12:29:57 UTC

Hi Byron ( ... )

USPC Comments Part II gary3000 June 18 2006, 12:31:59 UTC

The three loop puzzles should have all been easy. I have always aced these in the past. The Round Trip and Arrow Ring were fun as usual. I read the instructions for Closing the Loop properly and as I looked at the multiple entrances to the grey rooms I realized that you needed to touch every square. I did everything right and had 95% of the puzzle entered correctly but, because of a stupid error in blocking off a route I was convinced that the first line out of the start couldn't go around the rim of the maze. This led to a complication with the C and D rooms and I gave up in frustration since there was still a lot of other puzzles to solve (and thinking I could come back to it). With that change made the puzzle would have been solved in about ten seconds so that was my massive screw up for the day ( ... )

bopeepsheep June 18 2006, 22:43:25 UTC

(Dropping by via Google Blog Search, hello) I feel better about my own WSPC experience reading your comments on the puzzles - this was my first attempt and I didn't expect to do well (I think I've got a total of 84, in the end - I made a silly entry mistake on the Septoku, which I'm still kicking myself for, and missed one difference on the mice) but I did get Closing the Loop right. :D

Oh well, won't be representing the UK this year...

Mice imc June 18 2006, 22:47:17 UTC

Eye-crossing: tear the paper in half, flip one and hold them up to the light. :-)

Re: Mice wsi June 19 2006, 21:11:56 UTC

Muahaha, I was thinking of getting a mirror but your way is even more clever.

Re: Mice imc June 20 2006, 09:42:02 UTC

I believe a mirror isn't one of the allowed tools for the contest ( ... )