OddThinking

After the Snail Puzzle, I took a huge departure from my previous attempts at newspaper puzzle solving. Basically, I broke all of my self-imposed rules. I had a discussion about Constraint Programming with some other developers. My contribution to the discussion was basically “I don’t know anything about Constraint Programming,” so I decided to give […]

[*FX*: Sound of man blowing dust off and old engine, opening the fuel valve, adjusting the throttle and then yanking the pull cord a couple of times until the motor starts up.] Would you look at that? The blog still works. I’ve come back for a couple of quick posts. I used to document all […]

Long-term readers (given the radio silence, do I have any other type?) will remember that I wrote a Puzzle Solving Framework to help solve “newspaper” pencil-and-paper puzzles. I’ve been thinking of preparing a presentation about it for a local Python group, so I decided to implement another one. Introducing Light Up Light Up is an […]

So, you think you are pretty good at Hangman? You think you have what it takes?

Well, I am here to tell you the truth.

I have often considered writing a Battleship-playing AI, but I never have.

Now, I discover, there is a Battleship-playing AI competition, which I don’t have the time (or .NET experience) to enter.

In which Julian grumbles pointlessly about a couple of word puzzles and a kid’s poem, and then is reminded of a better example of a word puzzle, discovers something interesting about a puzzle’s origin, and goes off a little happier.

I’ve been quiet lately, because I have been working hard on transitioning to a new web host provider. I am sure there will be a few posts about that once the dust has settled. Hopefully any down time during the transition will be kept to a minimum. If I did have spare time, I wouldn’t […]

1. What colour was the Lone Ranger’s white horse?
2. Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?
3. Who wrote Gray’s Anatomy?

In response to a few questions, I will attempt to explain the heart of my meta-gaming issue in more detail with an example from Hitori.

I started to read the question: “Anthony and Janet are chemistry students and are having an argument about-”

“Stop there!” interrupted my father!