The Old New Thing

Some holiday fun: Puzzle #5

July 4, 2005 Jul 4, 2005 07/4/05

Raymond Chen

(Note: Read the puzzles in order from 1 to 6 for them to make sense.) Number five is an old-style riddle. My first is an avatar, you are guardian of its soul. My second you must vanquish if you wish to reach your goal. My third you may injure if you slide too hard to third. My whole is a place where dead people can be heard. My friend ...

Some holiday fun: Puzzle #4

July 4, 2005 Jul 4, 2005 07/4/05

Raymond Chen

(Note: Read the puzzles in order from 1 to 6 for them to make sense.) A pretty straightforward puzzle. KENYA ERA                   COHERENT USE                   &...

Some holiday fun: Puzzle #3

July 4, 2005 Jul 4, 2005 07/4/05

Raymond Chen

(Note: Read the puzzles in order from 1 to 6 for them to make sense.) This was by far the hardest puzzle to make. It's also going to be the hardest to solve because a lot of the clues were originally inside jokes, and rewriting them for a general audience makes the answers much less obvious. Hint: Quotation is by Nancy Pearl...

Some holiday fun: Puzzle #2

July 4, 2005 Jul 4, 2005 07/4/05

Raymond Chen

(Note: Read the puzzles in order from 1 to 6 for them to make sense.) Upon arrival at the first puzzle location, she was handed the second puzzle: "Opghg'i xk ialp opfxw zi z ioaufy jagiofkx." Wk ok opg fxqkhvzofkx ygib fx Lgxogh Pkaig zxy zib fq opge pzmg zxe oflbgoi zmzfnzdng qkh opg Vzhfxghi wzvg. The following clues are not ...

Some holiday fun: Puzzle #1

July 4, 2005 Jul 4, 2005 07/4/05

Raymond Chen

Today is a holiday in the United States, so I thought I'd go entirely non-technical. But that doesn't mean you get to rest your brain. One of my friends was accepted to the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We are of course very happy for her, but also sad that she will be ...