A year of living puzzlingly: list of puzzles.

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 06:06:35 GMT

There's a lot to potentially discuss here, but, I'm not sure where to start. So, I'm mostly just mirroring my fb post, for now.

It was my pleasure and privilege to help SETEC construct the 2019 MIT Mystery Hunt.

Even though the offer came a week after I'd committed to helping construct BAPHL18. I'd helped with assorted puzzle hunts before, but never as a constructor, so this became My Year of Living Puzzlingly.

I constructed four BAPHL puzzles. They calibrate entirely differently than MITMH puzzles, but going through that editorial process with established friends prepared me for the editorial process of a team that effectively has a Huge Reputation to maintain. It brings to mind that image of Weird Al with his kid, under a wall of gold records: "Just started giving my daughter piano lessons. No pressure."

I constructed, or co-constructed, 10 puzzles that made it into the 2019 Hunt.

The Treehouse of Crossed Destinies.
Mostly mine, with Sami's mad logic puzzle skillz. When I had the freedom to do so, I tried to make my puzzles somewhat "fishy". (A colloquial term for easier puzzles, but by Mystery Hunt standards, so, just less agonizingly difficult.) I came up against editors here, and it was slowly turning into a logic puzzle that I wouldn't have been able to solve. I tried to write the text in such a way that the logic was more of a confirmation than a necessity. After all that, the real stumbling block was that folks didn't try to find the instructions in the initial layout. Skipping that makes the solve much harder.
http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/2019/puzzle/the_treehouse_of_crossed_destinies.html
Solved by 29 teams.

Cross Campus
Rebecca's grid, my video. My first multi-clip, edited video, like ever. Grid junkies solved it without even knowing the locations were, um, useful, so if you love grids but don't know MIT, give it a whirl.
http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/2019/puzzle/cross_campus.html
Solved by 19 teams.

If at First You Don’t Succeed
Group construction from the East Coast retreat. I contributed to the "aha" data so can't elaborate much.
http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/2019/puzzle/if_at_first_you_dont_succeed.html
Solved by 41 teams.

Groundhog Day Town
The first event puzzle of the hunt. Far from my original pitch to do something akin to "Waiting Rooms"... which is probably a good thing. The final collaboration was well received. Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely insisted on this Holiday. I wanted it as a round, but didn't have the meta chops to win that fight.
http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/2019/town/groundhog_day.html
Solved by 59 teams.

The Bill
My inability to make spreadsheet formulas work correctly made the construction way harder than necessary. Easy, as long as you're better with spreadsheet formulas than I am. I was barred from mentioning Caribou. It is my great shame that the later puzzle that does mention Caribou is Not Mine.
http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/2019/puzzle/the_bill.html
Solved by 34 teams.

Rose Garden
I volunteered Andrew to write this after he joked that we needed one for President's Day. I helped with clues & art. Bitter altos and basses unite!
http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/2019/puzzle/rose_garden.html
Solved by 36 teams.

No Sads
If you like looking at kittens, you can do this puzzle. Those who solved it seemed to really enjoy it.
(Folks on IIF, LaaEftR, and Grand Unified Theory of Love recognized it as my puzzle the moment they opened it.
And. Did Not Solve It.
I Will Never Let Them Live That Down.)
http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/2019/puzzle/no_sads.html
Solved by 21 teams.

Marching Band
I volunteered Andrew after he joked that we needed it for Thanksgiving or New Years. We eventually had to beg Trip Payne to bail us out. By then, Thanksgiving answers were scarce, and New Years had meta conflicts. It ended up in Pi Day.
http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/2019/puzzle/marching_band.html
Solved by 13 teams.

Itishuntyes
"There's one time of year you look forward to the most".
A back-up ("flex") in the event that another puzzle broke at the last minute. Cute & simple, and intended to replace an early round puzzle. When the first & second puzzle broke in Bloomsday, they resisted adding it because it was too easy. When the third(?) puzzle broke, I got my chance.
The team submissions were delightful.
http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/2019/puzzle/itishuntyes.html
Solved by 28 teams.

Protection Plan
Group construction from the East Coast Retreat, but I helped with some of the art, and most of the source wordlists.
http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/2019/puzzle/protection_plan.html
Solved by 15 teams.

Thanks SETEC for the fantastic opportunity! I can construct puzzles at all, and am hopefully a better solver.
I already have so many new puzzle ideas, and puzzle hunt structure ideas ... oh dear, is this how it starts?

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in case you're wondering...

Wed, 26 Apr 2017 04:21:49 GMT

I don't remember my passwords very well.
I'm lucky my phone does, for some of them, anyway.

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alt.fan.cthulhia

A year of living puzzlingly: list of puzzles.

in case you're wondering...