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Google US Puzzle Championship

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the how-about-tic-tac-toe dept.

friedegg writes "Google has announced their sponsorship of the US Puzzle Championship, which they describe as a "a national online competition to identify America's most logical minds." Two winners will join the US Puzzle Team, and head to the Netherlands for the World Puzzle Championship in October. The US Puzzle Championship will be held Sunday, May 31 at 1pm EDT, but registration closes tomorrow, May 29 at 9pm EDT! Make sure you read the rules of the challenge if you plan to participate. The rules note that "Members of the Canadian puzzle team may also be selected using this test. Unofficial participation is open to all puzzlers world-wide.""

141 comments

  1. Am I the only one... by Red+Pointy+Tail · · Score: 2, Informative

    ... seeing RED over these title colors??

    1. Re:Am I the only one... by meringuoid · · Score: 0

      Just this top one, the rest are the regular green.

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
    2. Re:Am I the only one... by Microlith · · Score: 1

      Nope, confirmed with about 2 other people...

      Free subscriptions for all?

    3. Re:Am I the only one... by Uart · · Score: 1

      nope, I can verify that red is also seen on my screen

      --

      Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
    4. Re:Am I the only one... by edgrale · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Or what about that "See any problems with this story? Email our on-duty editor." ?

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    5. Re:Am I the only one... by ciupman · · Score: 1

      Yeah .. me too ? what's up with this?

      --
      I fuse with Mercer every single day...
    6. Re:Am I the only one... by kliklik · · Score: 1

      It's red on my screen too. There is also "See any problems with this story? Email our on-duty editor." link on the bottom. Nice.

      --
      guru in training
    7. Re:Am I the only one... by Bryan_W · · Score: 1

      I saw it too...weird

    8. Re:Am I the only one... by mookie+t+mookle · · Score: 1

      I saw it too, first thought was "/. has broken Opera"


      Maybe it is a special announcement or some new feature where if it is red we can quickly mention errors with it?

      --
      "...and on the seventh day we wrapped." JMS 4:22 May 5, 1997
    9. Re:Am I the only one... by zurmikopa · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I noticed that as well. (Hard to not)
      People are saying subscription error?

      Weird.

    10. Re:Am I the only one... by dumboy · · Score: 1

      It was there, and now it's gone! As he walks in the room and his breath turns to frost, the boy utters this chilling phrase... "I see red posts"

    11. Re:Am I the only one... by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      It's there for me now, and it's not from a previous cache since this is my first visit today.

      I'm btw speaking of:
      "Google US Puzzle Championship"

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    12. Re:Am I the only one... by meringuoid · · Score: 1
      12:10 GMT

      Your clock's an hour out. It's 12:10 BST.

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
    13. Re:Am I the only one... by gmeb · · Score: 1

      It wasn't just the red colour. (That has gone away by now.)

      But I've disabled icons in my profile, so that the page doesn't get cluttered with graphical cuteness. But I see a puzzle-icon next to this article nevertheless. And that still hasn't gone away after the red colour went.

      --
      The angry man always thinks he can do more than he can. -- Albertano of Brescia
    14. Re:Am I the only one... by Surak · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      That's what subscribers see when a story is posted in "The Mysterious Future". Posting is generally not allowed.

      This must either be a bug, or else y'all got free subscriptions, in which case I'm complaining. ;)

      --
      My journal has hot /. gossip.
  2. Slashcode update? by theridersofrohan · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Why is this story red and what's the meaning of this text at the bottom?


    See any problems with this story? Email our on-duty editor.


    Could it be that slashdot is getting some dupe/fake etc protection?

    1. Re:Slashcode update? by Uart · · Score: 1

      Something is fscked up with the subscription system perhaps?

      --

      Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
    2. Re:Slashcode update? by Jugalator · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I think that would be a pretty good idea, since apparently the subscribers aren't (always?) catching those even if they get the chance to preview it. Would be nice to have it like this:

      1. Subscribers first get the chance to preview a story.

      2. If everything is fine, the story is posted, *but* during the first few hours, anyone get the chance to report dupes/fakes or other glaring errors.

      3. When the correction period is out, the post turns Slashdot Green(TM) and it's set in stone.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    3. Re:Slashcode update? by scottm · · Score: 1


      Perhaps they just need more subscribers? (:

    4. Re:Slashcode update? by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      2. If everything is fine, the story is posted, *but* during the first few hours, anyone get the chance to report dupes/fakes or other glaring errors.

      That only works if someone's paying attention to those reports. Is Daddypants a real person? Surely he can't be on call 24/7/365.

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    5. Re:Slashcode update? by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      .. so what they need is to use a dedicated e-mail address for news post reports that the editors can check? Surely, someone would notice. Doesn't sounds like a big obstacle.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    6. Re:Slashcode update? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      why must it be corrected at all?
      This is slashdot, it's part of the appeal. It would be like taking the dank away from Moe's.

      I feel onces somthing is out, its out. sure, add something at the end that corrects the mistake, but don't change the original.

      How many great works todoay may have been considered mistakes at trhe time?
      It's history, don't change it, or hide it. Laugh at it, appreciate mistakes is what makes learning possible, shake your head and wonder 'what the hell was I thinking" but don't hide from it or change it.
      Changing it is far more Orwelian then camaras on every corner.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  3. Heard of the Eternity Puzzle? by Michael's+a+Jerk! · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I want to meet the man who solves it.

    The Eternity Puzzle is a new type of jigsaw. Unlike normal jigsaw puzzles, there is no picture - every piece is the same shade of green on both sides. All we know about the finished result is that it forms a regular dodecagon (12 sided polygon). The pieces don't have bumps or indentations, either, and all the edges are straight lines. This means that, when anyone looks at the puzzle, they can see that there many different ways to put two pieces together. An additional problem is that almost any two pieces can be placed together while leaving space for other pieces to go around them.

    You can tell that this particular jigsaw has been designed to be extremely hard to solve. So hard, in fact, that the inventor has offered one million pounds to the first person who solves it, as long as they do it within the next five years. That is an awful lot of money just for completing a jigsaw, and you might think that it wouldn't take all that long.

    However, when you first start trying to solve it, you'll soon see that there are far too many ways to start which go wrong. Firstly, though, a couple of things to point out about how you can improve your chances of going right.

    With the puzzle you get a backing sheet of paper with some grid lines on it, as well as the exact location of one of the 209 numbered pieces. All pieces differ in shape, so being able to put a unique piece in position will help at least a little. There are also three much smaller puzzles available to buy, similar in idea but with far fewer pieces (less than 30 pieces each). If you solve those then you are told the locations of additional pieces in the Eternity puzzle, so you can fix 4 or 5 of the piece positions immediately.

    The grid lines on the backing paper are also very useful. The backing paper is drawn up into equilateral triangles, just like isometric paper with three sets of parallel lines drawn on it. Each of the pieces can be placed on this grid so that the edges either go along the grid lines, or cut the equilateral triangles exactly in half. So every piece can be oriented in 12 different ways, only one of which will be right.

    The number of ways to orient these pieces, even if you get all the clues available, is 12204. That's just trying to get all the pieces placed at the correct angles, not even trying to put them together on the board! When we start trying to put pieces together, the number of different ways to try becomes truly staggering!

    It is extremely hard to come up with an exact number of ways of putting the pieces together "wrongly". To count them we would need to go through exhaustively checking each case, adding pieces until we couldn't add any more correctly, then taking out one of the pieces and trying again. The estimate I came up with for the total number of ways to attempt to solve it was 10500. So if you tried, just once, to solve the Eternity puzzle, then your odds of getting the million pounds would be about 1 in 10500. Compare this to the odds of the National Lottery - 1 in 14 million. The odds of getting this puzzle right, first time, are about the same as the odds of the same set of 6 numbers coming up as the National Lottery numbers every Saturday for a year and a half.

    Those are just the odds if you try it once. So you might think you could just get a computer to try all the options, and it won't take very long to find the right one. It's a nice idea, and in many problems it's the right way to go. However, the number of different ways to attempt Eternity is so large that even having hundreds of thousands of computers helping out won't really do you much good. If you had one million computers, each testing out 50 million possible ways to solve the puzzle every second, then every day you would be testing less than 1019 possibilities. At that rate, it would take the computers longer than the age of the universe to sort through all the possible solutions.

    As far as I can tell, the million pounds looks safe.

    --

    I'm not Seth.

    1. Re:Heard of the Eternity Puzzle? by meringuoid · · Score: 5, Informative
      As far as I can tell, the million pounds looks safe.

      The million pounds were won three years ago.

      http://www.mathpuzzle.com/eternity.html
      http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/miscellany /eternity.html#2

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
    2. Re:Heard of the Eternity Puzzle? by Uart · · Score: 1

      old news, someone solved that.
      the inventor had to sell his house to pay the million pounds.

      unless I am thinking of a different puzzle...in which case, I would be wrong.

      --

      Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
    3. Re:Heard of the Eternity Puzzle? by machine+of+god · · Score: 3, Funny
      Unlike normal jigsaw puzzles, there is no picture

      When I was a kid I used to solve puzzles upside down. I thought that the picture was supposed to be the prize when you're done. (nevermind the picutre on the box. I was a bit oblivious at times) It's not that hard.

    4. Re:Heard of the Eternity Puzzle? by Saddam+Hussein · · Score: 0

      Hmm..

    5. Re:Heard of the Eternity Puzzle? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've seen similar puzzles to this years ago. It was some paint can puzzle, obviously a bit of a gag gift. The final puzzle was a puddle of paint in one flat color depending on which you bought. Nothing I'd want to waste my time on. Might as well play a number guessing "game" with 70 trillion possible numbers to guess from.

    6. Re:Heard of the Eternity Puzzle? by Old+Wolf · · Score: 1

      1 in 10500 is MORE LIKELY than 1 in 14 million !

      By your reasoning then, the chance of winning the lottery is about the same as your calculated chance of solving this puzzle randomly every saturday for a year and a half.

      Note that this is actually wrong too, you don't add probabilities, you multiply them (eg. the chance of doing a 1/10000 twice is about 1/10000000, which is closer to your lottery one).

      I can see why the puzzle seems so daunting to you ;)

  4. But I.. by Mindjiver · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ..took the blue pill, how come I'm seeing this red headline? :D

    --
    I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
  5. We Fear Change... by 5lash · · Score: 1

    AHHH, is no one else scared by the redness of this stories title?

    --
    Everything sucks except musicandstuff
    1. Re:We Fear Change... by 5lash · · Score: 1

      Oh, looks like they've changed it back to the default green. How dissapointing.

      --
      Everything sucks except musicandstuff
  6. Here is a link by Uart · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is a flash sideshow od some sample questions. In case anyone was wondering just what kind of puzzles they are talking about.

    --

    Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
    1. Re:Here is a link by qortra · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Thanks for that link.

      From what I saw there, it seems to me that describing the competition as a search for the "most logical minds" is probably inaccurate. Although many solutions can probably divined by logic, it seems to me that most of the solutions require a more creative mind to solve within the time limit. Any thoughts?

    2. Re:Here is a link by itchyfidget · · Score: 1

      I too read that and pondered.

      The creativity required for problem-solving, I believe, must far exceed one's ability at logic if one is to be any good at most puzzles. Lateral thinking and the ability to make great leaps of inference (rather than plug away logically attempting a linear solution) is often what makes a great thinker - Einstein, for example. People who are able to make leaps - bypassing linear solutions - are surely the ones who will solve the most difficult puzzles?

      From a more computational point of view, think of the linear approach to problem-solving as a serial-exhaustive search; think of the boggling number of possibilities to be searched. Now think of letting your brain (computer) freewheel for a minute and suddenly, without realising why, BAM! You have a "eureka moment" and the solution appears to you.

      Studies looking at problem-solving often consider the solutions to anagrams or chess-problems, where a series of choices (letter/chess move selection) can very quickly lead up to a staggeringly large total number of possibilities if one were to solve the problem linearly by repeated trial and error.

      Of course this is not to say that humans cannot use a linear framework to solve many puzzles, just that often we seem to arrive more quickly at a solution by relying on insight.

      --
      Mod early, mod often.
  7. Turns out I was wrong by Michael's+a+Jerk! · · Score: 5, Informative

    After googling, I guess I ranted too soon. It turns it the Puzzle got solved by 2 mathematicians. It's incredible how they did it.

    --

    I'm not Seth.

    1. Re:Turns out I was wrong by Q+Who · · Score: 1

      Isn't it ironic? You both didn't check your facts, and went on ranting without sufficient mathematical understanding on such issues.

      In any case, nothing incredible about how they did it, over-constraining is a well-known phenomenon in NP-hard problems, look up 3-SAT threshold for example.

  8. Distributed Computing by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

    This puzzle sounds like a job for distributed computing. Each person contributing could get a share of the prize, based on how much processor power they put in, and oh yeah, i wouldn't care if i only got a really small percentage, i just want to see this guy get fleeced out of his money

    --

    Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    1. Re:Distributed Computing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A desktop computer could solve this in less than a week.

  9. How will Google Enforce 'No Cheating'? by Red+Pointy+Tail · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From the 'rulez':

    Outside help of any kind is not permitted. This means: no assistance of any kind from any other person; also no books, calculators, computers, or tools other than items explicitly permitted. You are allowed to use writing implements, erasers, paper, and any items explicitly required to solve a specific problem. (All such items are listed on the Hints and Tips page.)


    How is this enforceable if it's free-for-all over the web?

    Also, from the sample questions from the Dutch version of it, many of the questions seems to yield to a brute-force computational approach.
    1. Re:How will Google Enforce 'No Cheating'? by untaken_name · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Outside help of any kind is not permitted. This means: no assistance of any kind from any other person; also no books, calculators, computers, or tools other than items explicitly permitted. You are allowed to use writing implements, erasers, paper, and any items explicitly required to solve a specific problem. (All such items are listed on the Hints and Tips page.)
      How is this enforceable if it's free-for-all over the web?

      Well, it might not be enforceable for this preliminary test, but if you cheat your way onto the team, you have only huge embarassment waiting for you. I don't think it would be worth it to cheat in this instance. It would come out when you got to the contest and couldn't perform.

      --
      http://xkcd.com/386/
    2. Re:How will Google Enforce 'No Cheating'? by Debian+Troll · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Also, from the sample questions from the Dutch version of it, many of the questions seems to yield to a brute-force computational approach.

      Yep, this is a pretty obvious way to approach it. Indeed, a team from the Information Technology and Systems faculty at the Delft Technical University in Holland have published a report on how they did exactly that.

      My Dutch isn't all that great (I spent 12 months as a postdoctoral researcher in their operating systems software distribution group working on a Beowulf-aware version of apt-get, but most of the staff spoke perfect English), but it looks like they deployed a 256-node cluster running a highly tweaked version of Debian GNU/Hurd, and were able to solve the problem in 14 days, 4 hours and 17 minutes of computation time.

      While I'm sure that's not impressive for the folks at Google, what with their massive GNU/Linux clusters for web searching and keeping their apt.sources files up to date, it does go to show how even a smallish CS faculty can crack these tough sorts of problems using the power of clustering, Debian, and apt-get.

  10. Rubiks' cube speed contest? by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I hope they still include a Rubik's cube speed contest. I'll never forget seeing someone solve one on TV in about 3 seconds... amazing!

    --
    stuff |
    1. Re:Rubiks' cube speed contest? by arvindn · · Score: 5, Informative
      3 seconds? No, that's physically impossible. Was that a typo for 23? The (unofficial) world record for the fastest average is about 17 seconds, and if the solver got lucky I guess they can shave off a couple of seconds off that, but not any less.

    2. Re:Rubiks' cube speed contest? by Acidangl · · Score: 1

      16.5

      22.95

      Dutch Cube Day in Leiden

      --
      I'm a cucumber
    3. Re:Rubiks' cube speed contest? by dmorin · · Score: 2, Insightful
      You know, I actually entered one of those once. I was so disappointed to watch everybody whip out their cheat books before the contest for some last minute studying. Stupid me had entered it without ever reading one of those books. Needless to say I didn't win.

      I'll always remember the "stage mother" of the kid next to me at the table. When the judge explained that you would hand your cube to the player to your right to scramble, the mother was all "He's gonna get that back, right? He's got it just the way he needs it."

      --
      www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
    4. Re:Rubiks' cube speed contest? by Achoi77 · · Score: 2, Informative

      I think he was referring to the Rubik's Magic Puzzle (not the cube), which can be solved in three seconds. I remember seeing the competitions on TV, during the 80's.

    5. Re:Rubiks' cube speed contest? by cpeterso · · Score: 1


      I remember that, as a kid, I once solved the cube in 39 seconds. Maybe I had a lucky start, but (at the time) I knew all the moves. Yes, I did learn them from a cheat book, but 39 seconds is still pretty fast. :-)

      --
      cpeterso
    6. Re:Rubiks' cube speed contest? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      wouldn't that depend on how scrambled it was?
      I mean, if all you had to do was 1 twist... ;)

      What pissed me off, I 'solved' it, meaning got all the colors back in order. Then 2 days later there was a guy doing it on TV some unbelievable time. Totally over-shadowed the fact that I compeated it with out in 'cheats'.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  11. D'oh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    America?s most logical minds"

    Oddly appropriate for the topic to have a question mark in there.

    1. Re:D'oh! by zulux · · Score: 1

      Oddly appropriate for the topic to have a question mark in there.

      American Public Shools' do an excelent job, of teaching punctuation!

      Its just were lossers at speling.

      --

      Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

    2. Re:D'oh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, can we pick a charset and stick with it? If you're using some Microsoft thing that puts in "smart quotes", stop it. ISO-8859-1 doesn't like them.

    3. Re:D'oh! by friedegg · · Score: 1

      It was a cut and paste from Google's webpage (since it was a quote) via Mozilla. Microsoft was not involved in my creation of the summary.

      --
      Google doesn't index user sigs, so stop trying to "Google Bomb" with them.
  12. Yikes by The-Bus · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know what would be really embarassing? If people started Googling for the right answers.

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

    1. Re:Yikes by sigemund · · Score: 1

      Maybe we'll see it as an "Ask Slashdot" :)

  13. Canadian puzzle team? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    "Members of the Canadian puzzle team may also be selected using this test."

    Oh joy...I can get recruited to move to Canada...to do puzzles...

  14. From wpc.puzzles.com... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    Perhaps this Google search will find you!
    In Soviet Russia... oh, nevermind. Now they're building the jokes into the articles, this is really getting out of hand!
  15. Sample puzzles in HTML format by alistair · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those without Flash, or who want to see an alternative selection to print out, the WPO site itself has a page of them here.

    These also seem vulnrable to brute force computation, although they are a lot harder than the Flash puzzles linked above. (the solutions are also provided :-) )

  16. My favorite puzzle by arvindn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... is the knight's tour of the chessboard. The problem is to move a knight on an empty chessboard in such a way that it visits each square exactly once and returns to the starting square. Here's a little HowTo for solving it.

  17. Doesn't PDF have weak encryption? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Couldn't someone use Elcomsoft's product to
    decrypt the file a day early?

  18. That's just great by Anonymous+Custard · · Score: 4, Funny

    Those archived qualifying tests were just what I needed to make myself feel really stupid first thing in the morning.

    --
    $8.95/mo web hosting
    1. Re:That's just great by BreadMan · · Score: 1

      If they were serious, those puzzle folks would have made the reader crack the pdf instead of just hadnding out the password.

      How in the world do you start solving the Corral puzzle? I've stared at this longer than I want to admit trying to figure out the algorthim.

  19. My Answers to these...:-) by viking099 · · Score: 1

    Dude, your link starts the puzzles at 3. Here is a link that starts them at 1.
    I saw the solutions for the first 2 and I thought I was looking at an entirely new set of puzzles!
    Cheers, though, of the 11 I took, I got 5 right (3, 5, 9, 10, and 13), which isn't bad, I guess...:-) .
    What were they talking about when they said "Find the alien", though? I don't understand that at all.

    1. Re:My Answers to these...:-) by LordKronos · · Score: 1

      What were they talking about when they said "Find the alien"

      Which 1 doesn't match the other 3.

      I thought the Flash puzzles kinda sucked. The "alien" workding was awkward. For the one where you had to figure the 2 numbers in the middle of the sequence, there were no instructions on how to solve it. What was I supposed to do? Click one, type a number, click the other, type the other number? Or was it multiple choice and the graphics I was supposed to click on didn't load? I didn't know. And the "Displace one match" puzzle? It took me the entire 30 seconds just to figure out that those little LCD-looking bars were supposed to be match sticks. I had like 1/2 second to solve it once I figure out what the heck they wanted. :( I didn't even bother trying to finish them all.

    2. Re:My Answers to these...:-) by pboulang · · Score: 1

      "Find the Alien"
      To quote sesame street: One of these things is not like the other, can you guess which one?

      --

      This comment is guaranteed*

      *not guaranteed

  20. I just hope... by th3space · · Score: 1

    that they let me off of work early enough to actually do this...otherwise, I registered for no reason at all. c'est la vie.

    --
    "How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
  21. when i was a kid by SolemnDragon · · Score: 4, Funny

    when i was maybe five, i solved one in two minutes... with a screwdriver. My mum handed one to each of us and told us to make the colours all the same on every side. So we did. My sister took off all the stickers and put them on again as well as she could. I took a look at the stickers and decided they wouldn't peel well, so i just took it apart and out it back together again. She knew how sis had done hers, she couldn't figure out how i'd done mine till i handed her the screwdriver. She started locking the toolbox after that. *sigh* and it was a looong time before i got my own toolset. Funny, that- if you can't use a tool they worry that you're gonna hurt yourself with it... if you CAN, they worry about what you're going to use it on next...

    --
    "I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
    1. Re:when i was a kid by zulux · · Score: 2, Funny

      There was this guy that I knew that could solve them in about four minutes - so I very carefuly heated the stickers on the corners with a hair driver and pealed them off with a razor and swaped them around. The cube became unsolvable - the relationships were just off for the cornet cubes.

      It was facinating to watch him continually fail over the course of a weekend - I helpfully sugested that watching too much Red Dwarf could do that to one's mind.

      --

      Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

    2. Re:when i was a kid by Atlantix · · Score: 1

      Hehe, I've had people swap stickers on me to try and fool me. When I tell them which stickers they moved within 2 minutes, the look on their faces is priceless. I usually solve a cube in 3-4 minutes. I memorized a method from a book years and years ago. It's terribly inefficient but I've gotten it pretty fast over the years. I've just never cared enough to learn a better method.

      --Atlantix

    3. Re:when i was a kid by neitzsche · · Score: 1

      This reminds me of a saying (I think it was a smalltalk quote-of-the day):

      "Never trust a programmer with a screwdriver."

      --
      "God is dead." - Frederik Nietzsche
    4. Re:when i was a kid by SolemnDragon · · Score: 1
      Not since i showed up at a party with a 3-foot screwdriver as a weapon. I have friends who will never allow me to handle a screwdriver ever again. Ever.

      *sigh* Something about a four-foot-ten me running around after someone waving it in the air yelling "SCROOOOOOODROOOOOVERRRRRR," my pigtails flying behind me. Um, right, did i mention this was only a couple of years ago, when i was 24?? On the bright side, nobody got pictures, so nobody has proof...

      --
      "I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
  22. They are probably talking about the finals by Captain_Chaos · · Score: 1

    They are probably talking about the finals, which are not done over the web. It wouldn't do you much good to cheat in the preliminaries if you have to do it all on your own in the finals, you'd sink like a stone...

  23. Here's a Puzzle by WC+as+Kato · · Score: 1

    What's the most efficient way to Googlewhack? Let's get the greatest puzzle solving minds on that one!

    --
    --- I'm Green Hornet's sidekick not Inspector Clouseau's!
  24. Puzzling... isn't Sunday the 1st June? by d3ut3r0n · · Score: 2, Insightful

    EOM

  25. In Soviet Russia...err...USA... by Fallen+Kell · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Google finds you!

    --
    We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
  26. No puzzle competition is complete with... by Radix37 · · Score: 1
    Bricks! I've spent thousands of hours since I found this addicting game over two years ago. It's based on the microsoft klotski game from 1991, which was based on an old Polish game. The goal sounds simple: move the master brick to the destination, but it's very hard to solve some puzzles at all, let alone in the best number of moves.

    See my link to check it out.

    --
    Speed Demos Archive - Lots of speed runs!
  27. Thanks... by SolemnDragon · · Score: 1

    Thanks, now i'm stuck with the image of a hologram and a catperson fighting over a rubik's cube made of silver plastic and light-brite pegs.... *grin* on the other hand, that image nicely crowds out the pile of work at hand, so maybe that's not a sarcastic thanks, after all!

    --
    "I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
  28. The real test is .... by Zorlon · · Score: 1

    See who cracks the adobe encryption scheme.

    --
    - Things are the way they are because they're coded that way -
    1. Re:The real test is .... by Sploozoo · · Score: 1

      LOL, I thought about that as soon as they explained the way the test is delivered. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of programs to crack adobe files, think these guys will be compotent enough to make sure its a hard password to break?

  29. You're wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The best speedcubists, after years and years of hard work can only reach 17 secs on average (Marc Waterman, Ron Van Bruchem, Dan Knights, Jessica Fridrich, Katsuyuki Konishi...).

    10 secs is possible only with an EXTREMELY lucky starting configuration (solving requiring about 30 moves).

    Take a look at the Unofficial world records board

    My best average is slightly above 20 secs, but I have the world record in the "under water" category ;-)

    Gilles.

  30. Read my mind questions. by pavon · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the sample puzzles on the google page.
    Puzzle #3 - Sum Place (Craig Kasper)
    If the following are true relationships:
    PANAMA + JAPAN = 5
    FIJI + CUBA = 7
    SWEDEN + NORWAY = 9
    AUSTRIA + AUSTRALIA = 7
    What is the corresponding value for:
    CANADA + UNITED STATES = ?
    I hate questions like this. They aren't puzzle questions, they are "guess what I'm thinking" questions. I came up with three relations that satisfiy those "equations", and none of them were the "correct" answer posted on the site. I enjoyed the other two puzzles, especially Corral. I registered last night and am going to have to make special a effort to get my parent's computer completely working when I go home friday night, so I can participate saterday morning. It should be pretty fun even though I doubt I have any chance of placing.
    1. Re:Read my mind questions. by bziman · · Score: 1

      9 = number of unique letters in the words.

    2. Re:Read my mind questions. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, I know this is what google says the answer is, but I don't see this...

      I can see two ways of counting "unique letters" and neither seems to work..

      1) unique within each word
      2) unique between both words

      PANAMA + JAPAN = 5

      1) gives 3 + 3 = 6
      2) gives 1 + 1 = 2

      Even if you modify method 2 a bit to count the third A because there's no third A in JAPAN... that gives 2 + 1 = 3

      FIJI + CUBA = 7

      1) 2 + 4 = 6
      2) 4 + 4 = 8

      SWEDEN + NORWAY = 9

      1) 4 + 6 = 10
      2) 5 + 5 = 10

      AUSTRIA + AUSTRALIA = 7

      1) 5 + 6 = 11
      2) 0 + 2 = 2

      I know I'm doing something wrong here, what is it? :)

    3. Re:Read my mind questions. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      You're being too literal. It's not an equation.

      PANAMA + JAPAN = PANAMAJAPAN

      Unique letters are P, A, N, M, J.

    4. Re:Read my mind questions. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah got it, it's the unique elements out of the union set. Thanks. :)

    5. Re:Read my mind questions. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      distinct != unique

    6. Re:Read my mind questions. by bagsc · · Score: 1

      Easy.
      PANMJ=5
      FIJCUBA=7
      SWEDNORWAY=10
      AUSTRLI=7

      CANDUTES=8

      --
      http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
    7. Re:Read my mind questions. by Carlos+Laviola · · Score: 1

      Er... ... Don't you have two Ws there?

    8. Re:Read my mind questions. by geekoid · · Score: 1

      10?

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    9. Re:Read my mind questions. by geekoid · · Score: 1

      never aanswer puzzle questions this lat. Counted the damn S twice.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    10. Re:Read my mind questions. by bagsc · · Score: 1

      Clearly, I'm not entering these games...
      Just keep quiet so I can keep my precious little karma!

      --
      http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
  31. How considerate... by kryzx · · Score: 1

    Let's see, the story was "Posted by CmdrTaco on Thu May 29, '03 06:55 AM" and the site says, "Contestants must register on or before 9:00 PM EDT on Thursday, May 29". That gives us 2 hours and 5 minutes to respond. Assuming of course that you read it the instant it was posted, at 6:55. But of course I read it at 10:00.

    --
    "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
    1. Re:How considerate... by uhmmmm · · Score: 1

      No. It was posted at 6:55 AM, and the deadline is 9:00 PM. There's 14 hours and 5 minutes to respond. Still leaves something to be desired, but it's not as bad as two hours.

    2. Re:How considerate... by maxume · · Score: 1

      Yeah, the grandparent probably shouldn't bother registering...

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    3. Re:How considerate... by kryzx · · Score: 1

      Doh!

      --
      "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
  32. Subscriber feature by anvilmark · · Score: 1

    Subscribers get to see items for a little while before "commoners".

    Read about subscriber bonuses here

  33. Americas most logical minds... by James+Littiebrant · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't mean to insult those who did those puzzles on google but it is like that show on Fox several years ago, does anyone remember that? The show was "America's smartest kid" or something like that. Anyway, I was about ten when I watched that and guess what! I would have won! I am not saying that I am some prodigy but these things do not show the most logical minds in America! There is no way to show who is the MOST logical minds in America just some of the best/bravest who tryout for these kinds of things...

  34. Re:Google wants to find logical minds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, they say maybe.

  35. in soviet russia.. by El+Panda+Grande · · Score: 0, Redundant

    google searches YOU!! hey! don't mod me down! it says that on the site!

  36. Submitter loses 5 points for wrong answer.. by raehl · · Score: 2, Funny

    To question number 0:

    "If the deadline for entering a contest is 9 PM on a Thursday which falls on the 29th of the month, and the contest takes place on the 31st of the month, what day of the week does the contest take place on?"

    "Sunday."

    Ooops.

    --
    paintball
    1. Re:Submitter loses 5 points for wrong answer.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently you missed the addition of May 30.5 this month.

  37. pop off the pieces by mcguyver · · Score: 1

    Popping off the pieces of a rubix cube is the fastest way to 'solve' the puzzle. Several weeks ago my company took everyone to an NHL game. On the bus there was a contest to see who could solve a rubix cube in the shorted amount of time. I got one cube and immediately started pulling pieces off. Meanwhile the other one was being passed around from person to person trying to solve it manually and getting nowhere. Sure enough I handed one in first and a bunch of us started laughing. There was no prize so no harm, no foul however I felt guilty when the ceo congraduated me.

  38. Most Logical Mind? by istartedi · · Score: 2, Interesting

    the US Puzzle Championship, which they describe as a "a national online competition to identify America's most logical minds."

    Ummm... are the "most logical minds" going to be drawn to a contest where, given that your skill is an unknown, your odds of winning are 1 over all the participants?

    You can expend considerably less labor at many other endevours, and expect a much greater return. You can put $10,000 in corporate bonds these days, and still get $500 or more at the end of the year. Not too shabby. If you don't have the $10,000, just google for cheaper rent, get a 2nd job, or whatever. The really logical (though not particularly scrupulous) minds are fleecing marks in Vegas and scheming on Wall Street all the time.

    With venues like that favoring the success of a "logical mind", why fuss with some silly puzzle contest?

    Prediction: they will attract a lot of people who love puzzles, and the most logical mind within that subset will have a good chance of winning, but they will most certainly not attract the most logical minds of all, unless... there is a mind out there that's so uber that it knows it can solve any puzzle they throw at it with minimal effort. I suspect there are enough egoists who think they are that mind, but probably very few who are that good. So, unless you are the ubermind, why bother?

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    1. Re:Most Logical Mind? by Old+Wolf · · Score: 1

      People in this contest realise that their likelihood of winning depends on their puzzle skill.

      Anyone know if this 'World Puzzle Championship' has a website?

    2. Re:Most Logical Mind? by Scott+Carnahan · · Score: 1

      Ummm... are the "most logical minds" going to be drawn to a contest where, given that your skill is an unknown, your odds of winning are 1 over all the participants?

      Most people do not go to such a contest with the sole purpose of winning. It would be quite logical to attempt such a contest even if you had no chance of winning, e.g. if you wanted to see an interesting puzzle, and see how you compare to other enthusiasts.

      You can expend considerably less labor at many other endevours, and expect a much greater return.

      You seem to assume people who think logically are motivated by nothing more than monetary gain. Perhaps a better characterization of the behavior of a logical thinker would be someone who knows what would maximize his or her overall happiness, and sets about achieving that. One should consider the possibility that gathering wealth is not on the top of everyone's list of things that make them happy.

      Prediction: they will attract a lot of people who love puzzles, and the most logical mind within that subset will have a good chance of winning, but they will most certainly not attract the most logical minds of all, unless...

      That sounds like a good prediction, so far. I suppose the contest organizers are making the implicit assumption that logical thinkers enjoy the logical thinking associated with puzzle-solving.

      So, unless you are the ubermind, why bother?

      Why bother doing anything at all if you can't be the best in the world at it? I guess the 99.99% of us who are mere mortals should just sit on our collective asses instead of enjoying life. That sounds like the logical solution to me.

      --
      "Your notation sucks!" -- Serge Lang (1927-2005)
    3. Re:Most Logical Mind? by istartedi · · Score: 1

      I didn't mean to come off quite so cynical as to assume that the only valid reason for doing the contest is to make money.

      However, I was being... well... logical about it. If you enjoy doing puzzles, then the contest has a value for you apart from the prize money. I guess I should have emphasized that point more.

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    4. Re:Most Logical Mind? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      why do you assume logical mind mean getting rich?
      I would say it is more logical to live simple, enjoy your life, and surround yourself with loved ones.

      They say time is money. I say time is all we got.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  39. Definition of average by SkywalkerOS8 · · Score: 1

    If it is an average the solver must have solved it in under 17 seconds, half of the time. But maybe your point was the solver's standard deviation wasn't very high so the minimum time wasn't much less than 17 seconds?

  40. No. by goldfndr · · Score: 1

    The 1st June was in 1110.

    --
    Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks: temporary loans from the Public Domain, not real property ("intellectual" or otherwise)
  41. No! by goldfndr · · Score: 1

    No, the first June was in 1110.

    --
    Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks: temporary loans from the Public Domain, not real property ("intellectual" or otherwise)
  42. The password isn't up yet! by GringoGoiano · · Score: 1

    The password isn't up yet!

    1. Re:The password isn't up yet! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      keyLYme314159

  43. Anyone with the password? by vossman77 · · Score: 1

    Looks like the server is backed up.

    1. Re:Anyone with the password? by vossman77 · · Score: 1

      got it!

      keyLYme314159

  44. Password page Slashdotted? by LAI · · Score: 1

    Uh... anyone who cracked the password protection on the question sheet yesterday willing to put up a mirror?

    --
    :eof
    1. Re:Password page Slashdotted? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well, lost 15+ minutes getting the password, or 10% of the time for the competition.

      it's all done and I feel disappointed in how I did. I can solve most of the puzzles, but not in the time constraints.

      hope they give a prize for the worst scores, like a book to help them do better next time. then I stand a chance at winning something.

  45. Don't team up with google by xintegerx · · Score: 1

    ..unless Google hosts because Puzzles.com fell to DoS! We can't get to the password for the encrypted contest pdf!

    I just downloaded the contest pdf at 2kb a second, and the password is still not up! At one point, the site said there was no web site configured at that address....

    The documentation in the rulebook said They did not expect to have any technical problems during this event. Hahaha.

    --

    Cover your eyes and click this link!
  46. buttholes! by donkiemaster · · Score: 1

    i am trying to download the contest right now and it looks like their site isn't taking the load. way to plan for the additional traffic. I am downloading at a whopping 367 bytes per second and it has already failed several times.

    1. Re:buttholes! by mooman · · Score: 1

      The whole thing stank. It took me nearly 15 minutes to get the password, then it took like a dozen tries to submit my answers at the end, smacking me with 14 minutes worth of penalties, which I'm pretty sure will give me a negative overall score...

      What a waste of a saturday morning.. I had looked forward to this but the whole thing was completely ruined by their lousy server. They'll have no hope of guaranteeing the people with the highest scores are really the brightest candidates.. they just had faster network connections...

      Low ping bastards for a puzzle contest.. who'da'thought?

      --
      In the Portland, Ore area and like card games? Check out: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portlandgames/
  47. Re: extra 16 minutes by vossman77 · · Score: 1
    at the bottom of the answers page it said:
    Note: The password file was locked for the first 16 minutes of the test, so the deadline is pushed back 16 minutes. Please note any additional problems or delays in your comments below.

    you should be fine, but I missed out on the extra time, d'oh
  48. Re: extra 16 minutes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    great, so now some people got the extra time, others followed the published rules. real fair.

    I missed out also, and I checked the timer they provided to see how much time was available, it didn't have any extra 16 minutes put on it.

    now I really feel cheated.

  49. Re: extra 16 minutes by Jolly+Tom · · Score: 1

    Despite having the extra 16 minutes, it took me 30 minutes to get through to upload my answers, so they were bogged down then, too. That's what happens when stuff gets posted on /. Should have had a mirror site or four. Those puzzles were damned hard. I don't think I got through even a fourth of them in the time limit.

  50. Answers are posted. by Jolly+Tom · · Score: 1

    http://wpc.puzzles.com/uspc03/solutions.htm

    1. Re:Answers are posted. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      puzzle 13 is wrong on the solution page, first grey square needs to be a 3, not a 1.

  51. Re: extra 16 minutes by donkiemaster · · Score: 1

    what about the 45 minutes it took me to get the darn password? even if it had come out ok with the time thing, i agree with the other guy, it was one hell of a frustrating experience