ChipIn for Children's Charities: Solutions, winners, and even more thoughts

See the title of this post. Also see the original contest.

First, solutions.

Part 1: 14 black triangles are in the marked columns.

Part 2: The marked row is 793824561.

Part 3: The unshaded letters are ACDELN.

Bonus: The unshaded letters are ABCDGHIKNOP.


I used dice rolls on BoardGameGeek to determine the winners; more detailed results on how many entries each person got are available here, but here is a summary of the winners:

Bonus prize (Norinori 1): Joanna Cheng (prize received!)
Puzzle 1 (Shakashaka 1): Kevin Petrychyn*
Puzzle 1 (Daily Puzzle): Joseph DeVincentis* (prize received!)
Puzzle 2 (Fresh Sudoku 2): Joshua Zucker
Puzzle 2 (Daily Puzzle): Edderiofer (prize received!)
Puzzle 3 (LITS 1): Michael Shafer**
Puzzle 3 (Daily Puzzle): Bryce Herdt
Good prize: James McGowan
Grand prize: Michael Shafer

*Bryce Herdt and Matt Lahut were also accidentally awarded prizes in drawings that were set up incorrectly; I will give them these prizes nonetheless, because I already sent them excited notifications of their wins before I realized the error.
**Jeffrey Harris won this prize initially, but chose to give it to another random person because he already owns a copy of LITS 1. I have a substitute prize planned for him. . . .

Final thoughts:

Damn, only $132.98 for Jack Vasel Memorial Fund? That's enough money for me to make puzzle 601 giant, but that's it. I was looking forward to much more momentum than this. (Sanctuary Home for Children received $206, and Child's Play Charity received $237.95.) I refuse to leave things off on such a low note – next year, I'm going to host ChipIn for Children's Charities II, and retain my same $2,500 goals! But what do I need to do to get there?

The sad reality is that I'm too small for the bigger charities to spend time promoting; Tom Vasel is a busy man, and Child's Play Charity has video game marathons that raise money far in excess of my meager goal. As for Sanctuary Home, I'm not really sure.

I think one thing I should do next year is mooch of Mario Marathon. They have a system where you can set up a donation widget on your site, and it tracks which donations came via your site. If I take advantage of this system, people can donate to Child's Play via the marathon using my link, and I'll have a record of their donation to determine how many prize entries they get. (As a bonus, they can win Mario Marathon prizes, too!) This money won't be added to the ChipIn widget, but I can compute the sum of two amounts manually for the purposes of donation incentives such as the giant puzzles.

I also need to do more to facilitate offline donations; PayPal seems, to my vast surprise, not to be as ubiquitous among my offline friends as it is online (where it's just a fact of life and how every furry artist and every puzzle community person and every board game person accepts payments, pretty much). I received $25 worth of donations from offline donors, which I put towards JVMF, the charity which needed it the most. Aside from that, I only recognize one ChipIn donor as an offline friend, despite my efforts to promote the event via the bonus puzzle flier; nobody that I know offline tweeted about it or solved the puzzles, either. Abilene is the worst city for getting people involved in my online stuff; I'm going to need to get more invested in collecting offline donations and either donating them via the ChipIn or (to avoid tax complications and to allow for checks) sending these donations off directly and adding their amounts manually to the ChipIn totals to determine what giant puzzles to make.

Come on, puzzle community! You're my target audience! What do I need to do next year to reach the $2500 totals and make ChipIn for Children's Charities the most amazing thing the puzzle community has done in the history of history? (Or is that even possible? The puzzle community is kinda sorta a niche, and not a rich one, judging from what I've heard about puzzle competition prizes. . .)

ChipIn for Children's Charities: Bonus puzzle!

I posted this link on my twitch.tv channel while I was doing my Super Mario World race; now I'm posting it on my blog for everyone else to see!

This PDF file contains information about ChipIn for Children's Charities (information which you might already know), plus a bonus Dominnocuous puzzle for your solving pleasure; solve the Dominnocuous, and you'll be eligible to win a small bonus prize! As the PDF also explains, you can also be entered to win this prize by tweeting about the contest and @mentioning me, or by donating as little as 99 cents! Get to work, readers! :)

ChipIn for Children's Charities: SMW race is today!

As mentioned a few weeks ago, dethwing has offered to donate $1 for every minute under 2:30:00 in which I can beat Super Mario World during a 96-exit race which is happening today (up to $30). Since then, another reader has offered to match this donation to each charity, effectively quadrupling dethwing's generosity! That means I have $120 worth of charity donations riding on my ability to control Mario. Of course, it's not too late for someone else to increase the stakes if they would like. . .

As incentive for all of my logic-puzzle-loving readers to watch me play Super Mario World on my twitch.tv channel, during the race, I will give instructions on how you can win a copy of Norinori 1 by Nikoli! Note that the race has been re-scheduled for approximately 8:00 PM Eastern. That's about 6 and a half hours from the time of this post!

ChipIn for Children's Charities: I'm speedrunning Super Mario World!

I've recently made an exciting deal with dethwing, a member of The Grey Labyrinth and of BoardGameGeek who also dabbles in speedrunning: I will participate in a 96-exit race of Super Mario World on SpeedRunsLive! This huge race is apparently part of a marathon, and will take place at approximately 10:05 PM (Eastern time) on November 3 according to this schedule. I hardly expect to win, or even to be in the top 50%, but dethwing has given me huge incentive to practice: he pledges to donate $1 to ChipIn for Children's Charities for every minute faster than 2 hours 30 minutes my final time is (up to $30 if I can break 2 hours)! The current world record is a staggeringly fast 1:25:43; I am assured that once I've mastered the art of not dying, the 2:30:00 mark will be a piece of cake. As such, I will try to practice the game a lot over the course of the next few weeks. Who knows, I might even try to give something away while I'm racing. . .

If you want to watch your favorite logic puzzle author absolutely fail at video games, I'll be streaming some practice sessions, and ultimately my live performance during the race, on http://www.twitch.tv/mathgrant. If you have a twitch.tv account, I won't be offended if you decide to follow me. I'll likely also post about the race on Twitter, too. Oh, and if you're feeling generous, maybe you can pledge even more incentive for me to practice. That would be nice. My ultimate goal is to raise money with this fund-raiser; playing Super Mario World is merely a means to that end. :)

ChipIn for Children's Charities: Initial thoughts + NEW PRIZE GIVEAWAY!

These are my initial ramblings on ChipIn for Children's Charities. Please see the previous posts if you haven't already.

I can't help but be a slight bit crestfallen about the current results of the fund-raiser: a mere $67 for Jack Vasel Memorial Fund, $142 for Sanctuary Home for Children, and a healthy $186 for Child's Play (but still 7% of my goal of $2,500). I've done everything I can to partner with these charities, and not merely support them, so they all know this project exists. Child's Play has a helpful PDF guide to raising funds for them, including how to use ChipIn to do so. This guide also delineates some terms you must comply with, such as 100% of the funds going to Child's Play. More precisely, as I have come to learn via e-mail correspondence with them, there must be the option of 100% of the funds going to Child's Play; this is why Child's Play has endorsed the Humble Bundle, which supports indie game developers and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but which gives the buyer complete freedom in deciding how much to pay and how to split the money among the recipients. As such, I got their approval to do ChipIn for Children's Charities. I had to contact the other two charities to acquire their PayPal addresses for the purposes of setting up the ChipIns, so they certainly approve, as well. I would hope they would do more to promote this effort on Twitter, for example, but so far, not much has happened.

Although this isn't a competition to see which charity can outdo the others, in light of the incentives I've provided to spread the love around (the grand prize drawing can be entered by donating to all three charities, and the giant puzzles which I am offering to make as donation incentives will only happen if all three charities break the same threshold), when one charity lags behind the others so much, one must at least consider the fact that said charity could improve its marketing. As some Twitter followers and I have recently discussed, the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund has a website which could probably stand to be improved, particularly to give visitors regular updates about the beneficiaries. As observed in the aforementioned link, it is easier to find information on the beneficiaries by searching BoardGameGeek's forums. I implore Tom Vasel to not only promote the heck out of this fund-raiser in the board game community where he is already greatly respected (perhaps make a video about it?), but to also do more to make donating more attractive to my readers! I'd hate to see the other two hit $2,500 while you stagnate, denying me the chance to make a single giant puzzle. . . . :)

In retrospect, I should probably have submitted my event to the official Child's Play event calendar to get more publicity, but I didn't think about it at the time, because I'm a newbie to the art of raising funds. It would feel uncouth to submit it now, especially since it would appear on a bunch of calendar dates and kinda sorta monopolize the calendar. Speaking of calendar dates. . .

I am aware that the World Puzzle Competition is going on currently, which may be occupying the time of many in the puzzle community. In case this timing issue is playing a role in the low amount of donations, I have postponed the deadline for four weeks, to November 16! Now you have even more time to donate to these charities and make them happy, or to simply solve the puzzles!

On the subject of solving the puzzles, I am disturbed by how few puzzle solution submissions I have: 13. Most of my previous contests receive this many entries within the first day or so! Are people being guilted out of solving the puzzles without donating? Is it just a timing issue with the WPC going on? In an attempt to drive puzzle solutions, I hereby announce another prize drawing! To enter the prize drawing, simply solve all three puzzles before the deadline; donations will not play a role here. (You will also be entered in all of the other prize drawings for doing so.) The prize up for grabs: a shirt! Details about the shirt are not finalized yet, but I'm hoping to have a furry artist acquaintance design something worth winning. . . . :) [EDIT 10-10-2012: The shirt design is being worked on by an artist who goes by the name Norzman. I am seeing some good progress so far, and believe he can pull through before this contest is over. The shirts will be printed by Zazzle.]

Puzzle 570: Spirits of Serpentine 7

Would you like to win something in ChipIn for Children's Charities without donating any money or solving any puzzles? You can spread the word using the hashtag #ChipInForChildrensCharities on Twitter! Two random Twitter users who use this hashtag within the next 96 hours will each win a Places, Please book (I still have more where the ones in the kick-off event came from, and would rather give them away for the sake of publicizing these charities than solve them). (EDIT: You should probably mention @mathgrant as well, to increase the chances that I'll see the tweet; it doesn't appear that searching Twitter for the hashtag pulls up everything, as not all tweets are indexed.)

Rules of Spirits of Serpentine

Contest 6: ChipIn for Children's Charities

For the first time in this blog's history, you can solve puzzles and donate to charity at the same time! Whether you are a long-time reader or new to this blog, I hope you will enjoy solving these puzzles and supporting these causes. :)

How to enter:
This contest is a fund-raiser for three charities, listed below. Each charity has a ChipIn allowing you to donate to that charity; you may donate any amount you wish to each one. Every $5 donated to a charity earns you entries in that charity's prize raffle. (If you would like to donate money without entering the raffles, please leave a note accompanying your donation or e-mail me at glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com.) Each charity also has a logic puzzle attached to it; send an e-mail to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com (preferably from the same e-mail address you used to donate) containing the answer to a charity's puzzle to earn one free raffle entry in that charity's drawing, plus a bonus entry for every $20 donated. (For example: a $20 donation is worth 4 raffle entries; a $20 donation plus a correct puzzle solution is worth 6 raffle entries.) There is also a grand prize drawing, which you may enter by donating $5 to every charity or by solving all of the puzzles (one raffle entry for doing one of these tasks, or three raffle entries for doing both).

How to win:
After the ChipIns expire on November 16, the winners will be determined by chance! So donate, solve the puzzles, and if you're lucky, random.org will favor you. Of course, the real winners in this contest aren't the recipients of the prizes, but the beneficiaries of the charities. :)

Prizes:
For the sake of brevity, more details about the prizes will be given below.

Terms:
By entering this contest, you agree to provide me with a mailing address in the event that you win. In return, my partners and I agree not to do anything malicious with this information. Short and sweet.

Now that you're done reading all that, here are the three contest puzzles. Good luck! :)

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Charity 1: Sanctuary Home for Children
Not all of the citizens of India are logic masters like Deb Mohanty; unfortunately, India also has orphans and widows. Sanctuary Home for Children aims to serve destitute orphans and widows in Tenali, India. My best friend and regular gaming partner Ray Pettit is one of the board members on the Abilene side of the operation, making this cause near and dear to my heart.

To donate to this charity and get an entry for this charity's prize drawing for every $5 donated, CLICK HERE (or use the widget on the left side of the blog). To earn a free entry, plus a bonus entry for every $20 donated, solve this Proof of Quilt puzzle:

What is the total number of black triangles (each occupying half a cell) in the three indicated columns? E-mail me this combined total (a single number).

Prize: One lucky winner will receive a copy of Shakashaka 1 by Nikoli. Another lucky winner will receive ThinkFun's Daily Puzzle, a cute puzzle which doubles as a desk calendar, created by Wei-Hwa Huang and Oskar van Deventer.

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Charity 2: Child's Play Charity
Child's Play aims to put video games in a number of children's hospitals around the world. Many video game fans, and even some companies in the video game industry, have contributed money to improve these children's lives, while some crazy people have raised awareness and donations by playing video games for extended periods of time (for some reason, watching people play Mario games and give things away affects my generosity and that of other Mario fans).

To donate to this charity and get an entry for this charity's prize drawing for every $5 donated, CLICK HERE (or use the widget on the left side of the blog). To earn a free entry, plus a bonus entry for every $20 donated, solve this Crowd Nine puzzle (that's Sudoku for those of you new to my blog):

What are the digits in the indicated row? E-mail me this series of nine digits.

Prize: One lucky winner will receive a copy of Fresh Sudoku 2 by Nikoli. Another lucky winner will receive ThinkFun's Daily Puzzle, a cute puzzle which doubles as a desk calendar, created by Wei-Hwa Huang and Oskar van Deventer.

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Charity 3: The Jack Vasel Memorial Fund
Tom Vasel, a highly-respected board game reviewer, named the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund after his son who passed away at a tragically young age. The generosity of others in the board game community during this hardship inspired Tom to pay it forward to other board gamers in need.

To donate to this charity and get an entry for this charity's prize drawing for every $5 donated, CLICK HERE (or use the widget on the left side of the blog). To earn a free entry, plus a bonus entry for every $20 donated, solve this Tetra Firma puzzle:

Which of the lettered cells are NOT shaded in (that is, the cells are white)? E-mail me this set of letters.

Prize: One lucky winner will receive a copy of LITS 1 by Nikoli. Another lucky winner will receive ThinkFun's Daily Puzzle, a cute puzzle which doubles as a desk calendar, created by Wei-Hwa Huang and Oskar van Deventer.

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GOOD PRIZE:

To enter this drawing, solve all three puzzles. (Donations play no role in winning the good prize.) One lucky winner will receive a very commemorative shirt featuring artwork by an artist who goes by Norzman!

GRAND PRIZE:

To enter this drawing, donate $5 to each of the three charities above, or solve all three puzzles. Doing one of these tasks will earn you one entry, while doing both will earn you three entries. One lucky winner will receive this grand prize package:

* Any single book from Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle Books series!
* The shirt from the good prize mentioned above!
* A keyring and a necklace, both featuring carvings of elephants! These came from trips to Tenali, India (where the Sanctuary Home orphanage is based).
* Used copies of Brain Age and Brain Age 2 for the Nintendo DS! Brand new copies are beyond my prize budget, but used copies that aren't currently being used are well within my budget. These games have Sudoku puzzles which were previously published in Nikoli books, as well as minigames that purport to help keep your brain young.
* A wooden copy of my board game Battle of LITS, made wooden by Lyris Laser Studios! This game is based on the Japanese logic puzzle LITS (known here as Tetra Firma – see above), and has been described as "cool" and "existent" (well, at least one of the two adjectives, anyway).
* A copy of Heptalion by Spanish board game designer Néstor Romeral Andrés! In response to a puzzle posed by the designer, I created a board with the same properties as the default board, but a different shape; this board will be included with the game.

GIANT PUZZLES!

As added incentive for donating, I will post large puzzles if all of the charities hit certain levels! (This is not a combined total; every single one of the three charities must hit the threshold before the deadline for it to count.)

At the $100 mark, puzzle 601 will be upgraded to the giant (31x45) size! (Puzzle 600 will be giant no matter what.)
At the $210 mark, puzzle 602 will be giant, too!
At the $330 mark, puzzle 603 will be giant!
At the $460 mark, puzzle 604 will be giant!
At the $600 mark, puzzle 605 will be giant!
At the $750 mark, puzzle 606 will be giant!
At the $1000 mark, puzzle 600 will be upgraded to a super-giant (64x50)!
At the $1250 mark, puzzle 601 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $1500 mark, puzzle 602 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $1750 mark, puzzle 603 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $2000 mark, puzzle 604 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $2250 mark, puzzle 605 will be upgraded to a super-giant! 
And last but not least, at the $2500 mark, puzzle 606 will be upgraded to a super-giant!

Get to solving! Get to donating!

ChipIn for Children's Charities kick-off event!

You may see something new on the left side of this blog. If you aren't reading this post months after the fact, there should be three ChipIns allowing you to donate for the three charities involved in ChipIn for Children's Charities. The contest proper will begin on Monday, September 24, but donating early will not deprive you of raffle entries later. In fact, to encourage early donations, I shall make this offer:

If any charity hits $42 before Monday, I will immediately raffle off a completely unsolved (and in good, albeit not brand-spanking new, condition) Places, Please book to anyone who donated at least $1 to that charity. Note that if you donate $42 to a charity with no donations yet, you've basically just bought yourself a book for way more than it's worth. But it's for charity, right?

EDIT: I shall add even more incentive: if all three charities hit $42 before Monday, I'll add $5 of my own money to each one. (Note that I'm not eligible for the raffles, obviously.)

Another new thing on the left side of my blog: Twitter! I'm using Twitter in the hopes of promoting this fund-raiser, and may do other things, too. (Also, I did it to boost my InterestingBlogs.org ranking; I was at #9 before, but now I'm #8. Oh yeah, you can definitely tell that I'm in the whole puzzle-writing thing for the art and not for vainglory.)

EDIT: All three charities have hit the $42 mark! All right! Thanks, donors! I have donated $5 of my own money to each one, as promised. :)

Contest 6 PREVIEW: ChipIn for Children's Charities

What follows is a preview of what may ultimately prove to be the most important "contest" in this blog's history.

Previously, readers of my blog have only been asked to solve some puzzles, or possibly out-guess their fellow readers, in order to have a chance at winning a prize. In ChipIn for Children's Charities, however, I shall task my readers with doing something that is perhaps more challenging than anything I have ever posted on this blog. Readers, in case the name of the contest didn't already blatantly give this away, I am asking you to donate money to these three charities that I have chosen to partner with:

• Sanctuary Home for Children: We all know that India has some pretty smart individuals, like Deb Mohanty and the other users of Logic Masters India, but did you know that India also has orphans and widows? Sanctuary Home for Children aims to serve orphans and widows in Tenali, India. My best friend and regular gaming partner Ray Pettit is one of the board members on the Abilene side of the operation, so this charity hits really close to home for me, despite having never been to India myself. I gave them $26 as part of an earlier contest, but feel that ChipIn for Children's Charities has the potential to impact them even more greatly than a few rolls of a twenty-sided die.
• Child's Play Charity: Child's Play aims to put video games in a number of children's hospitals around the world to give children a pleasant distraction from the otherwise dreary reality that they are sick and in a hospital. This past June, I promoted Mario Marathon, a completely fan-run annual marathon where a team plays Mario games over an extended period of time while raising money for Child's Play, using prizes and other incentives (the amount donated determines how many levels are played) to make the marathon more exciting; I hope that ChipIn for Children's Charities gives me the opportunity to help them even more.
• The Jack Vasel Memorial Fund: Noted board game reviewer Tom Vasel was inspired by the collective generosity of others in the board game community who rallied around him when he was grieving the loss of his young son Jack, and started the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund to help give other board gamers financial assistance after their own personal hardships. Tom seems like a nice enough guy, and as someone who's had a board game published himself, he played a role in encouraging me to pursue my idea Battle of LITS, so I am pleased to be able to support his charitable mission with ChipIn for Children's Charities. (It's not really a children's charity, but it's named after a child, so I'm not changing this contest's name. Nyeh.)

Let's begin by discussing how the donations will be handled: ChipIn is a free service that allows someone to collect money from a bunch of people. A common use for ChipIn is for charity fund-raisers, as it allows you to see who has donated (in case you want to raffle off a prize to the donors, for example) without actually touching the money. Each charity will have its own ChipIn. Thus, you can donate whatever amount you wish, and choose how to divide it between the charities; all of the money can go to a single charity, or you may split it between two or three charities by contributing to each charity's corresponding ChipIn. Your money will go directly to the charities; I will not have any opportunity to misappropriate the funds in any sort of fashion.

As added incentive for donating, I will give you large puzzles if all of the charities hit certain levels! (This is not a combined total; every single one of the three charities must hit the threshold before the deadline for it to count.)

At the $100 mark, puzzle 601 will be upgraded to the giant (31x45) size! (Puzzle 600 will be giant no matter what.)
At the $210 mark, puzzle 602 will be giant, too!
At the $330 mark, puzzle 603 will be giant!
At the $460 mark, puzzle 604 will be giant!
At the $600 mark, puzzle 605 will be giant!
At the $750 mark, puzzle 606 will be giant! (That's seven giant puzzles to entertain yourselves with after my current drought is over!)
At the $1000 mark, puzzle 600 will be upgraded to a super-giant (64x50)!
At the $1250 mark, puzzle 601 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $1500 mark, puzzle 602 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $1750 mark, puzzle 603 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $2000 mark, puzzle 604 will be upgraded to a super-giant!
At the $2250 mark, puzzle 605 will be upgraded to a super-giant! 
And last but not least, at the $2500 mark, puzzle 606 will be upgraded to a super-giant! (Not to mention that the charities will be pretty happy, too!)

Oh, and what would a contest be without prizes? There will be four prize drawings: one for each individual charity, and one grand prize drawing. For every $5 you donate to a charity, you will receive one entry in that charity's prize drawing. Each charity will also be associated with a puzzle; if you solve the puzzle correctly, you will receive a free entry, plus an additional entry for every $20 donated. (For example, a $15 donation gets 3 entries, a $15 donation with a correct solution gets 4 entries, and a $20 donation with a correct solution gets 6 entries.) For the grand prize drawing, you may get up to three entries: one for solving all three puzzles, one for donating at least $5 to each charity, and one for solving all three puzzles and donating at least $5 to each charity. Once the deadline has expired, I will use random.org to determine the winners.

But what will the prizes be? Ah, that's where you come in, dearest readers. I am soliciting donations of prizes to make this contest as exciting as possible while minimizing the cost on my part. Just tell me what kind of prize you want to give away (maybe a puzzle book, a gift certificate, a shirt. . . anything you think will be appropriate!), and I'll have the winner e-mail you an address so you can send it. I haven't entirely decided what prizes I want to give away myself, or what date the contest will begin, but once I've figured more out, I'll be sure to keep you updated!

Summary: How can I help?
Donate money! If you can't wait until I have the actual ChipIns set up before donating, donated directly via the charities' websites! However, if you wait, the money will go towards incentives such as how many big puzzles I make (see above).

Donate prizes! Help me give away many great things! I will have the winner e-mail you at the end of the contest, so you don't even have to send me anything!

Spread the word! Twitter users should incorporate the hashtag #ChipInForChildrensCharities for maximum impact!

Letting Individuals Think Separately: Update 2

Let's go over the 9 questions and see which ones I've fulfilled and which ones I still need to do. As a reminder, the results are here.

1. Readers voted for the winner of the contest to receive a book from Nikoli (and not from Turkey). It was shipped on June 25, and Robert Vollmert has since received it in his native land of Germany. Awesome.
2. Readers voted for a booby prize to be given to a random participant (as opposed to the second place finisher). As revealed in update 1, this booby prize has been received.
3. Readers voted for puzzle 575 to be a 10x10 Dominnocuous, and for no puzzles larger than 289 cells to be posted until puzzle 600. I haven't gotten to 575 yet, but I promise I will!
4. Readers voted for queen-themed Process of Illumination puzzles. I delivered a queen-themed puzzle which also solved under normal rules. This puzzle was deemed a tiny bit ugly, so I worked on making another queen-themed puzzle, this time making it solvable with modified rules regarding how the clue numbers work. This puzzle is much prettier, so I'm satisfied that my work here is done.
5 and 6. Readers voted for me to wear a shirt and a hat advertising my blog (sparing me from My Little Pony and Angry Birds). I have both articles of clothing, but no pics yet to prove that I've worn them in public. (Then again, do I really need them? The main purpose of the pics is to prove that I've embarrassed myself, but there's nothing embarrassing about my blog!)
7. Readers voted for me to donate $2d20 and not $20 to Sanctuary Home for Children. Here is a video of the results. Bah, I didn't do a good job at capturing the value of the second roll, so you have to trust me that it was 16. (And now you have to watch, because you know there was an 80% chance that your gamble paid off and resulted in more than $20 being donated. How exciting.)
8 and 9. These questions were just for points, and have no real meaning.

So, mostly, I need to make more puzzles until I hit 600 and I can make puzzles of any size I want to. And maybe show you what I look like in my shirt. :)

Letting Individuals Think Separately: Update 1

Spheniscine tells me that he has received his prize from Letting Individuals Think Separately. What was it?

Cards! Hooray! :)

I already took care of question 4, where readers voted for me to make a queen-themed Process of Illumination, and I delivered threefold. This leaves questions 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 for me to deliver on. (Yeah, I never got around to ordering the actual winner's prize. I also never got around to making a Monday Mutant for yesterday. My apologies; I've been involved in another project recently. . . .)

Contest 5: Letting Individuals Think Separately (RESULTS!)

The deadline has passed for Contest 5: Letting Individuals Think Separately. In this contest, entrants had to solve a Tetra Firma puzzle and answer a bunch of questions relating to how I will run this blog, including the prizes in the contest and whether puzzle 575 will be giant or not. The results are in! Who is the winner?

Warning: the following results contain spoilers (obviously)! If you wish to solve the contest puzzle yourself, please do so before reading on!











I received 43 entries, 42 of which contained the correct answer, 7, 11, 7. One entrant sent in 7, 10, 7, and gets the award for Most Incorrect Answer. (No prize accompanies this award, though.)

Unfortunately, this contest also brought on the biggest headache of any puzzle-solving contest this blog has had to date. ksun48 sent in this innocuous-looking valid entry:

(7, 11, 7) BBBBBBBBB

(ksun48)

That's all well and good. I later got an entry from a Nicole Marcus:

This is my first puzzle on this site!
I think it's (7, 11, 7).

Could you please tell me if that's right; I haven't been here before or done any contests.

And, I'm just gonna say all A except for #8.

When I was typing my typical form letter to notify Nicole of having accepted her entry, I noticed that ksun48's e-mail address was in the reply-to: field of the e-mail; furthermore, the message sent to the address in the from: field bounced back:

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
    nmarcus154@gmail.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or unnecessary spaces. Learn more at http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?answer=6596

Undeterred, I sent another e-mail to the reply-to: address:

Nicole Marcus,

I tried to send my standard form e-mail confirming having received your entry to the e-mail address in the from: field (nmarcus154@gmail.com), but I got an error. . . .

The reply-to: address, ksun48@gmail.com, corresponds to someone who has already entered the contest, so sending my form e-mail to that address would give the person information *e's not entitled to have. Therefore, you'll just have to trust that your entry is accurately entered into my database.

After a lot of contemplation, Nicole's entry seemed increasingly fishy, so I followed up with this:

ksun48,

Would you care to explain to me who Nicole Marcus is and why her from: e-mail address doesn't work, and why she is using your address as the reply-to: address? If she is a legitimate entrant, I would much prefer for her to re-send her entry from an e-mail address that I can send a confirmation e-mail to without it bouncing.

Soon afterward, without any sort of explanation as to why Nicole Marcus's entry should be accepted, I got another entry from a Kevin Sun at nmarcus155@gmail.com:

I submit (1,1 8)
and
CBBACABAA

Okay, what the effing hell? The answer isn't right at all, and there are C's? The similarity of the e-mail addresses of the latter two entries and the names of the first and last ones forced me to conclude that gratuitous cheating was afoot. The entry sent as ksun48 was permitted; the other two were not. Unfortunately, I really don't wish to go through that kind of headache ever again, lest my handling of further situations like this is viewed by someone else as unfair (as I'm sure Nicole Marcus, if she is somehow real, feels about my decision to disqualify her). I have therefore decided that I will almost certainly never host another contest on this blog, unless perhaps my decision to abandon these contests for good is itself a source of a crapton of reader objection. I truly apologize for this turn of events.

1. History has shown me that logic puzzle fans enjoy winning logic puzzle books in contests. What language should these books be in?
A) Japanese! The winner will receive their choice of any single book from Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle Book Series.
B) Turkish! The winner will receive their choice of any single issue of Akil Oyunlari. (I highly recommend issues 73 through 76, as well as the upcoming issue 77, because I contributed to them.)

Had this question resulted in a tie, I would have opted for option B, due to the Turkish magazines being cheaper on my end. (Yeah, I'm a cheapskate.) As it happened, though, 22 of the 42 valid entrants opted for option A, so the winner of the contest will get a Japanese book; the 20 people who selected option B will get 22 points apiece.

2. I feel like giving away a booby prize in this contest. Who shall the recipient be?
A) The second-place finisher (with random.org settling ties as before).
B) Any random participant with a valid entry, besides the winner, of course.

I personally would have opted for giving a random participant the booby prize, because I feel like giving everyone a chance to win. 23 entrants concurred with me, versus 19 who chose option A, who will get 23 points apiece.

3. For some time, it has been traditional for every 25th puzzle posted on this blog to be of the giant size 31x45. I want to do something different for puzzle 575, but what?
A) Shortly after this contest is over, I will attempt to raise at least $90 on Kickstarter or a similar service. If successful, then puzzle 575 will be upgraded from the usual "giant" size of 31x45 to the "super giant" size 64x50!
B) Flying in the face of tradition, and saving me a buttload of work, puzzle 575 will be a 10x10 Dominnocuous, and no amount of monetary pledges will be able to change that. No puzzles with more than 289 cells in their grids will be posted until puzzle 600.
Creating giant puzzles is, to me, one of the greatest highlights of running this blog. I'd never want to give that up, and would select A in a heartbeat if a tie-breaking vote were needed. However, only 17 people chose option A, and will get 25 points apiece. As for everyone else, who voted for me to make small puzzles from now on until puzzle 600: you make me a sad, sad foxger.

4. Zotmeister's Totally Rooked inspires me. Which of the following Process of Illumination mutations should I do as a Monday Mutant?
A) One which replaces the light bulbs with nightriders (a fairy chess piece whose function is explained in the aforementioned link).
B) One which replaces the light bulbs with chess queens (you do know how chess queens move, don't you? They combine the mobility of a rook and a bishop!).

As easy as queens are to work with, I felt like I should push my limits and challenge myself to make a nightrider-themed puzzle. Only 18 readers chose option A, versus the 24 readers who chose the queen-themed puzzle, which I am now obligated to make. Come on! LunaPix by Kris Pixton has all the computer-generated queen-themed puzzles you could ever need! What could a mere human do to outdo a computer, especially with no more than 289 cells to work with thanks to the outcome of question 3? The option A choosers get 24 points each.

5. It is commonplace for me to wear a shirt whenever I go out in public. Which of these shirts would look better on me? (I will take pictures of myself wearing it in several public places as proof.)
A) A self-promoting shirt! Last year for Christmas, I acquired a custom T-shirt via Zazzle, with Monday Mutant 104 on the front and my blog's logo on the back. This shirt allows me to advertise my faith and my love of puzzles at the same time, and also just makes me feel very, very happy. It is the best shirt in the universe.
B) A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic shirt! I loathe the show with a fiery passion, in part due to a pushy fandom telling me that my previously neutral stance on the show was based on watching the "wrong" episodes (yeah, because I had no idea that this series without a LOST-style narrative would require me to watch specific episodes first) and other crap like that. If this option wins, I will select the shirt myself from either a local store or an online vendor, and when I'm done wearing it, I'll foist the cursed thing onto a local Goodwill. Until the shirt has been donated, I will not be allowed to wear any self-promoting blog-related shirts in public.

Linus Hamilton's entry brought a smile to my face as he apologized in a postscript for bronies "who try to keep pushing the show onto people who hate it", adding, "Believe me, the majority of us fans know that opinions are subjective, and respect the word of anyone who's tried out the show and honestly doesn't enjoy it!" I decided to add a postscript to my own form response, summarizing my sordid history with the fandom as follows:

Having had a brony tell me "you can't hate people for liking it" when all I'd said was "I'm tired of seeing MLP every-****ing-where" doesn't exactly engender a sense of entitlement to my opinions.

I met a fan of the show who seemed pretty dang cool and went out of his way to make it perfectly clear he respected my opinion, even though he did agree with the other bronies I'd encountered that the two episodes I'd picked completely at random to see ("Stare Masters" and something about show stealing – forgive me for not bothering to look this crap up) were far from the best in the series due to their strong focus on the Annoying Children Trio and not on the primary characters. His coolness made me want to give My Little Pony another chance, specifically his favorite episode, "Bridle Gossip", but ultimately I couldn't get far into it because the animation style Tastes Like Diabetes, and despite whatever elements Lauren Faust may have added to the show to make it so insanely popular among older males, ultimately the show plays its cuteness way too straight for my tastes so as to double as a marketing device for toys aimed at prepubescent girls. I'd much rather watch Powerpuff Girls, where the cuteness isn't played straight at all. :)

Of course, no amount of respect from the My Little Pony fandom will ever make me want to wear their shirt instead of my self-promoting shirt if a tie were to arise. 25 readers chose option A, as well, leaving the 17 bronies who chose option B to get 25 points each. (Maybe they're people who just relied on bronies being a stark minority amongst my readership; I'll never be able to know.)

6. While it is not commonplace for me to wear a hat whenever I go out in public, I will do so for the purposes of this contest. What hat should I wear? (Once again, pictures will be posted to prove it happened.)
A) A self-promoting hat! I will buy a trucker hat on Zazzle featuring my blog's logo and URL. It will be the best hat in the universe.
B) An Angry Birds hat! I detest Angry Birds, as it feels more like "find the winning pixel" than anything fun, like a logic puzzle. If this option wins, my mother, an Angry Birds fan, will select a hat for me to embarrass myself with (or, if she refuses, I'll select one). I will donate the hat to Goodwill afterwards.

25 people chose option A, meaning I get to wear a self-promoting hat, thank goodness! An Angry Birds hat would clash with my ensemble, whether I'm wearing a self-promoting shirt or a pony shirt. The other 17 people, as usual, get 25 points.

7. I feel charitable. Sanctuary Home for Children is an organization which helps orphans and widows in Tenali, India. One of the board members in Abilene, Ray Pettit, is one of my closest friends and a gaming partner in real life. How much money should I donate to this cause?
A) 20 US dollars. A nice, round number.
B) 2d20 US dollars. I'll roll a 20-sided die twice, add the results, and make that my donation amount.
I would have gone with option A in the event of a tie; it's less work, and it guarantees that they get $20, as opposed to the risk of getting less than that (heaven forbid a result of $1+$1=$2). Sure, the expected value is greater ($21 versus $20), but since when did I do anything mathematically rational? 22 people selected option B, though, meaning that the next time I see Ray, I'll need to bring a die, a $20, a $10, a $5, and five $1's. Thanks, guys. I hope nobody robs me blind on my way over to see him. I don't mind losing $40, but losing a twenty-sided die would be unbearable. Oh, and the other 20 people? 22 points each.

8. Who should get points for this question?
A) The participants with valid entries who selected option B.
B) The participants with valid entries who selected option A.
I selected option B. No reason. 22 people selected option A, though, so the 20 people who selected B get 22 points each.

9. This question is not worth the normal point value. How much is it worth?
A) The normal point value multiplied by e (approximately 2.718).
B) The normal point value multiplied by the golden ratio (approximately 1.618).

I went with option B, because I wanted to reduce the chances of this one question determining the winner. 23 contestants also selected B, so 19 contestants will get 37.215 points.

Here are all of the entries I received:

Allen Kong          7, 11, 7    1B, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5B, 6A, 7B, 8A, 9B

Anderson Wang       7, 11, 7    1B, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7A, 8B, 9A
Anuraag Sahay       7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3A, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7A, 8A, 9B
boing               7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7B, 8B, 9B
Bram De Laat        7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3B, 4A, 5A, 6B, 7A, 8B, 9B
cantdance           7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3A, 4B, 5B, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9B
chaotic_iak         7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3A, 4B, 5A, 6B, 7B, 8A, 9B
Cy Reb Jr.          7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3A, 4A, 5B, 6A, 7B, 8B, 9A
David Scherzinger   7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B
/dev/joe            7, 11, 7    1B, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5A, 6B, 7A, 8B, 9A
detuned             7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9A
figonometry         7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3B, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8B, 9A
Garzahd             7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7B, 8A, 9A

gpagano             7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3A, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7B, 8A, 9A
GregF               7, 10, 7    1B, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9B
Jamie               7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3A, 4A, 5B, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9B
Jeffrey Smith       7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3A, 4B, 5B, 6A, 7B, 8B, 9A
Jonah               7, 11, 7    1B, 2A, 3A, 4B, 5B, 6A, 7B, 8A, 9A
Kate Farb-Johnson   7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9B
ksun48              7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B
Linus Hamilton      7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3B, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7B, 8A, 9A
Matt Zinno          7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9B
Mosayc              7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8B, 9B
muhorka             7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6B, 7B, 8A, 9B

Nilz                7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6A, 7B, 8A, 9B

Paul                7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3B, 4A, 5B, 6A, 7A, 8B, 9A

prasanna seshadri   7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6B, 7B, 8A, 9A

Projectyl           7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3B, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8B, 9B 

ralphmerridew       7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3A, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9A

Rob                 7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5B, 6B, 7A, 8B, 9A

S C                 7, 11, 7    1B, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9A

Sam E.              7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3A, 4B, 5A, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B 

Shady Monster       7, 11, 7    1B, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5B, 6A, 7B, 8A, 9B

Spheniscine         7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7B, 8B, 9B

SWAROOP GUGGILAM    7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7B, 8A, 9B

tamz29              7, 11, 7    1B, 2A, 3A, 4B, 5A, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9A

Tanmay Khale        7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7B, 8A, 9B

Termital            7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3B, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7B, 8B, 9A

TheGrimRecapper     7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3B, 4A, 5A, 6B, 7A, 8A, 9B

The Weng            7, 11, 7    1A, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5A, 6B, 7A, 8B, 9B

Tristan             7, 11, 7    1B, 2A, 3A, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9B

Zach Polansky       7, 11, 7    1B, 2B, 3A, 4A, 5B, 6B, 7A, 8B, 9A

Zotmeister          7, 11, 7    1A, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7A, 8A, 9A

And now the scores:

Rob                 0+23+25+24+25+25+22+22+37.215=203.215
Zach Polansky       22+0+25+24+25+25+22+22+37.215=202.215
Anderson Wang       22+23+0+0+25+25+22+22+37.215=176.215
/dev/joe            22+23+0+24+0+25+22+22+37.215=175.215
Cy Reb Jr.          22+0+25+24+25+0+0+22+37.215=155.215
tamz29              22+23+25+0+0+25+0+22+37.215=154.215
ralphmerridew       0+0+25+0+25+25+0+22+37.215=134.215
prasanna seshadri   22+0+25+24+0+25+0+0+37.215=133.215
Jonah               22+23+25+0+25+0+0+0+37.215=132.215
detuned             0+23+25+24+0+0+22+0+37.215=131.215
Paul                0+0+0+24+25+0+22+22+37.215=130.215
S C                 22+23+0+0+25+0+22+0+37.215=129.215
figonometry         22+0+0+24+0+0+22+22+37.215=127.215
Anuraag Sahay       0+23+25+0+25+25+22+0+0=120
The Weng            0+23+0+24+0+25+22+22+0=116
Jeffrey Smith       0+0+25+0+25+0+0+22+37.215=109.215
Zotmeister          0+0+0+0+25+25+22+0+37.215=109.215
Garzahd             22+0+25+24+0+0+0+0+37.215=108.215
Termital            22+0+0+24+0+0+0+22+37.215=105.215
Jamie               0+0+25+24+25+0+22+0+0=96
Allen Kong          22+23+0+24+25+0+0+0+0=94
cantdance           22+0+25+0+25+0+22+0+0=94
ksun48              22+0+0+0+25+25+0+22+0=94
Shady Monster       22+23+0+24+25+0+0+0+0=94
Bram De Laat        0+0+0+24+0+25+22+22+0=93
TheGrimRecapper     22+0+0+24+0+25+22+0+0=93
Tristan             22+23+25+0+0+0+22+0+0=92
gpagano             22+0+25+0+0+0+0+0+37.215=84.215
chaotic_iak         0+23+25+0+0+25+0+0+0=73
Sam E.              0+0+25+0+0+25+0+22+0=72
David Scherzinger   0+23+0+0+0+25+0+22+0=70
Projectyl           0+0+0+24+0+0+22+22+0=68
Linus Hamilton      0+0+0+24+0+0+0+0+37.215=61.215
muhorka             0+23+0+0+0+25+0+0+0=48
Nilz                0+23+0+0+25+0+0+0+0=48
Spheniscine         0+23+0+0+0+0+0+22+0=45
boing               22+0+0+0+0+0+0+22+0=44
Mosayc              0+0+0+0+0+0+22+22+0=44
Kate Farb-Johnson   22+0+0+0+0+0+22+0+0=44
SWAROOP GUGGILAM    0+23+0+0+0+0+0+0+0=23
Tanmay Khale        0+23+0+0+0+0+0+0+0=23
Matt Zinno          0+0+0+0+0+0+22+0+0=22

Congratulations to Robert Vollmert, who has won the grand prize of a Japanese puzzle book!

The booby prize goes to a random entry among the other valid entries. I used random.org to generation a random number in the [1, 41] range, and got 35, meaning the booby prize goes to spheniscine!

Many thanks to all of the participants!

Contest 5: Letting Individuals Think Separately

Nikoli has a series of contests known as The Minority Decides. I have decided to take the concept a step further. . . .

How to enter:
This contest consists of a logic puzzle and a series of multiple-choice questions (and by "multiple" choice, I mean "two" choices). To participate in the contest, simply send an e-mail to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com containing the answer to the puzzle, your answers to the questions, and a name or pseudonym by which you want to be referred when I post the results afterwards. Only one entry is allowed per person, but you may change your entry at any time before the deadline, 11:59 PM (Central time) on May 25, 2012. The winners will be announced on my birthday, May 26, 2012.

How to win:
After the deadline has passed, only valid entries (including a correct answer to the puzzle and answers to all of the questions) will be considered. For each question, the number of valid entries which selected each possible answer will be compared; those who selected the less popular answer will receive 1 point for every entrant who selected the more popular answer. (For example, if 18 entrants select option A and 12 entrants select option B, then the ones who selected option B will get 18 points apiece.) In the event of a tie, the vote I cast before starting the contest will be used as a tie-breaker; the entrants who selected the answer I didn't select will receive points, but my vote will not count as a point. (For example, if 15 entrants select option A and 15 entrants select option B, and I have selected option B, then the ones who selected option A will get 15 points apiece.)

The entrant with the highest total score will be declared the winner of Letting Individuals Think Separately. In the event of a tie for highest score, the winner will be chosen from among the tied scores via random.org.

Terms:
By entering the contest, you agree to the following terms:
a) You agree to provide me with a mailing address in the event that you win. (In return, I agree not to use your mailing address for any malicious purposes, such as sending junk mail or other undesired things.)
b) You agree to wait patiently for your prize to arrive, without moaning or kvetching, especially if you don't live in the continental United States, Japan, or Turkey.
c) You are permitted to ask any questions about this contest, including clarifications regarding the questions, as comments on this post; any questions asked privately will be answered publicly.

Those are all of the rules. Good luck! :)

---

Part i. The Puzzle

Solve the Tetra Firma puzzle below (rules of Tetra Firma):

How many black cells are in each of the three indicated rows? These three numbers, from top to bottom (A, B, C), form the final answer.

---

Part ii. The Questions

1. History has shown me that logic puzzle fans enjoy winning logic puzzle books in contests. What language should these books be in?
A) Japanese! The winner will receive their choice of any single book from Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle Book Series.
B) Turkish! The winner will receive their choice of any single issue of Akil Oyunlari. (I highly recommend issues 73 through 76, as well as the upcoming issue 77, because I contributed to them.)

2. I feel like giving away a booby prize in this contest. Who shall the recipient be?
A) The second-place finisher (with random.org settling ties as before).
B) Any random participant with a valid entry, besides the winner, of course.

3. For some time, it has been traditional for every 25th puzzle posted on this blog to be of the giant size 31x45. I want to do something different for puzzle 575, but what?
A) Shortly after this contest is over, I will attempt to raise at least $90 on Kickstarter or a similar service. If successful, then puzzle 575 will be upgraded from the usual "giant" size of 31x45 to the "super giant" size 64x50!
B) Flying in the face of tradition, and saving me a buttload of work, puzzle 575 will be a 10x10 Dominnocuous, and no amount of monetary pledges will be able to change that. No puzzles with more than 289 cells in their grids will be posted until puzzle 600.

4. Zotmeister's Totally Rooked inspires me. Which of the following Process of Illumination mutations should I do as a Monday Mutant?
A) One which replaces the light bulbs with nightriders (a fairy chess piece whose function is explained in the aforementioned link).
B) One which replaces the light bulbs with chess queens (you do know how chess queens move, don't you? They combine the mobility of a rook and a bishop!).

5. It is commonplace for me to wear a shirt whenever I go out in public. Which of these shirts would look better on me? (I will take pictures of myself wearing it in several public places as proof.)
A) A self-promoting shirt! Last year for Christmas, I acquired a custom T-shirt via Zazzle, with Monday Mutant 104 on the front and my blog's logo on the back. This shirt allows me to advertise my faith and my love of puzzles at the same time, and also just makes me feel very, very happy. It is the best shirt in the universe.
B) A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic shirt! I loathe the show with a fiery passion, in part due to a pushy fandom telling me that my previously neutral stance on the show was based on watching the "wrong" episodes (yeah, because I had no idea that this series without a LOST-style narrative would require me to watch specific episodes first) and other crap like that. If this option wins, I will select the shirt myself from either a local store or an online vendor, and when I'm done wearing it, I'll foist the cursed thing onto a local Goodwill. Until the shirt has been donated, I will not be allowed to wear any self-promoting blog-related shirts in public.

6. While it is not commonplace for me to wear a hat whenever I go out in public, I will do so for the purposes of this contest. What hat should I wear? (Once again, pictures will be posted to prove it happened.)
A) A self-promoting hat! I will buy a trucker hat on Zazzle featuring my blog's logo and URL. It will be the best hat in the universe.
B) An Angry Birds hat! I detest Angry Birds, as it feels more like "find the winning pixel" than anything fun, like a logic puzzle. If this option wins, my mother, an Angry Birds fan, will select a hat for me to embarrass myself with (or, if she refuses, I'll select one). I will donate the hat to Goodwill afterwards.

7. I feel charitable. Sanctuary Home for Children is an organization which helps orphans and widows in Tenali, India. One of the board members in Abilene, Ray Pettit, is one of my closest friends and a gaming partner in real life. How much money should I donate to this cause?
A) 20 US dollars. A nice, round number.
B) 2d20 US dollars. I'll roll a 20-sided die twice, add the results, and make that my donation amount.

8. Who should get points for this question?
A) The participants with valid entries who selected option B.
B) The participants with valid entries who selected option A.

9. This question is not worth the normal point value. How much is it worth?
A) The normal point value multiplied by e (approximately 2.718).
B) The normal point value multiplied by the golden ratio (approximately 1.618).

Send your answers to the above puzzle and these nine questions, as well as your name or pseudonym, to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com to enter the Letting Individuals Think Separately contest.

Logicsmith Exhibition 5: Polyominous (RESULTS!)

The deadline for voting in Logicsmith Exhibition 5 is past, and I have received 24 votes. Using my amazing ability to count, I have determined the winner of the contest! In this post, I will not only reveal that winner, but I will do something I have only really done once before in a Logicsmith Exhibition: I will be unafraid to give my honest opinion!

Disclaimer: In the past, I have divulged that I like Justin Bieber's "Baby" unironically. I have also watched an episode of the overtly Christian-themed "BibleMan", and somehow find myself liking its cheesiness both ironically and unironically. Clearly, my opinions on logic puzzles should be taken with more than a grain of salt – particularly seeing as the contest is more about reader opinion than my own.

WARNING: There are 40 images in this post!

Puzzle 01: mellowmelonmathgrant's comments: Appealing aesthetic. Solve was cute, but not overly so. The implied 4-omino in the upper left was nice, and the rest of the puzzle solved smoothly.

Puzzle 02: Bram de Laatmathgrant's comments: Difficult, but not on the terribly tedious side of difficult, despite the fact that I kept messing up during verification. Author said the arrangement of the givens was inspired by my puzzle 10. Good use of implied polyominoes.

Puzzle 03: sc979mathgrant's comments: This was the last entry received. Props for a 13(!)-omino, but the difficulty was far too extreme for my pedestrian tastes.

Puzzle 04: Valeziusmathgrant's comments: Holy crap, this one was rough. In fact, solving it reminded me of the Fillomino puzzles on PuzzlePicnic in terms of difficulty. I was therefore not surprised to learn that Valezius is an "experienced puzzler" on the site, a title that comes with having solved a sufficient number of puzzles. (In approximately 8 months of membership, Valezius has solved 1418 puzzles; in approximately 35 months of membership, I've solved a mere 429.)

Puzzle 05: motrismathgrant's comments: The first entry received (motris would also be the first to vote). Had some difficult and clever parts, showing much of motris's trademark style. Counting is helpful in the end, but not dreadfully necessary. A mite too symmetrical with the 5's and 6's, and no implied polyominoes of which to speak, but nonetheless elegant enough that I'd expect this puzzle to appear if motris wrote a Polyominous book.

Puzzle 06: mathgrantmathgrant's comments: It would not be fit for me to print my comments on this puzzle here.

Puzzle 07: Shvegaitmathgrant's comments: The author gets mad, mad technical props for working an implied 10-omino(!) into a design while fulfilling all of the contest restrictions, and kudos for the four-way rotational symmetry, but as usual for Fillomino puzzles constructed by PuzzlePicnic users, the difficulty was too far on the tedious end for my tastes.

Puzzle 08: detunedmathgrant's comments: Yikes, what a saga. He posted his first construction on his blog in an effort to inspire other constructors to enter, but that puzzle had multiple solutions. The puzzle he actually sent me also had this error, as did his tweaked version, forcing him to begin anew. I found myself asking, "Will he manage to finish a construction eventually?" And he did! Puzzle's a little harder than I'm used to, but not overly so; compared to PuzzlePicnic, I found it smooth, elegant, and fun.

Puzzle 09: Stumbler's Ridermathgrant's comments: TOO. MUCH. COUNTING. TOO. MUCH. TRIAL AND ERROR. TOO. MUCH. TEDIUM. TOO. MUCH. PUZZLEPICNIC. You know a puzzle has left a bad impression when I type in all caps.

Puzzle 10: Anderson Wangmathgrant's comments: The upper-right 7 and the 8's were moderately tricky, but for the most part, a smooth solve that left me with a smile.

Puzzle 11: Paul Redmanmathgrant's comments: The puzzle came off as mostly droll to me, with the implied 6-omino being the greatest saving grace. Aside from that, the lack of use of the "no same-sized polyominoes can touch" rule was disappointing.

Puzzle 12: groza528mathgrant's comments: The lack of implied polyominoes disappointed me, but the author gets mad technical credit for making opposite givens sum to 10.

Puzzle 13: chaotik_iakmathgrant's comments: Approximately the first 40% was easy, but then the difficulty increased somewhat jarringly. Upper-left corner took some thought to get done correctly, and the upper-right even more so, especially the 2-, 6-, and 8-omino.

Puzzle 14: anurag.sahaymathgrant's comments: Yuck, counting. Without it, it's near impossible to make real progress on this puzzle. With it, it's still difficult. Can you guess what puzzle website anurag.sahay frequents?

Puzzle 15: /dev/joemathgrant's comments: Obviously designed as a response to my clarification that symmetrically opposite givens need not be the same. Difficulty level forces me to classify it as an Evil Zinger. Probably the cutest possible puzzle that could be designed with the restrictions, and far less tedious but ultimately it feels like I'm solving only half a puzzle twice as opposed to one whole puzzle. I nonetheless enjoyed this puzzle more than some of the PuzzlePicnic creations. >.>

Puzzle 16: Rezykmathgrant's comments: I was dreading this puzzle; aside from R2C1-2 and R9C9-10, the givens are completely symmetrical. To my delightful surprise, though, the puzzle didn't solve symmetrically at all. Counting, as much as I try to avoid it when more than maybe 20 or so cells are involved, makes the puzzle doable more doable than some of the others that required mass counting. Fairly elegant.

Puzzle 17: Robert Vollmertmathgrant's comments: Proving that great minds do indeed think alike, Robert Vollmert submitted this puzzle with the givens arranged in the same pattern as in motris's puzzle! The break-in (R6-7C3-5) was a little bit tricky to see, but otherwise fairly plain (in a good way, mostly).

Puzzle 18: ours-brunmathgrant's comments: The sudden shift in difficulty between the first half and the second half of the solve was a little jarring; somehow, though, I can't bring myself to loathe it. I do admit that I'm a bit impressed by the use of the empty space in the middle; maybe that's why.

Puzzle 19: Paul Kruegermathgrant's comments: The left half was mostly simple, but the right half required counting. To be fair, though, it wasn't as nightmarish as some of the PuzzlePicnic crap, nor was it as nightmarish as a certain other being surnamed Krueger.

Puzzle 20: Tristan Millermathgrant's comments: Very pretty, but the ending required too much trial and error for my tastes.

Before I reveal the winner, how about a selection of comments from the voters?

MellowMelon: I'm guessing there a lot of PuzzlePicnic people submitting for this one? Most of the solves felt rather unclean in a way that reminded me of that site. Also, I swear I will never again make a puzzle where an early step is to count up all the clues, unless the presentation makes it pretty motivated and easy to add up (e.g. the Zoo's NC Fillomino Adult, or my recent 36 puzzle). I am sick of it after doing all of these.

Guess that was awfully negative; seems all the gushing in the comments raised my expectations. Most all were much better than average for sure. Personally I hope people notice the symmetry in 16 and that it wins, although I wouldn't be bothered if I miraculously overtake it. It appears some people spent more time making these than my ~15 minutes...

Really? Very articulate, MellowMelon. I like how articulate you are. I like knowing I'm not alone in my weird opinions, especially when the other person who shares my opinion is articulate. I'm honored to have you as a colleague in the puzzle community.

If I had to guess 10 is yours. Whoops, never mind. Thanks for being confident enough in your ability to win that you sent me your mailing address with the puzzle; it'll make hiring a hitman sending you a completely harmless cake of friendship easier.

Paul Krueger: Just in case it provides you a gigantic ego boost, I'll mention that my clear favorite was 06 - after that, I had a 6-way tie for second (which I broke based on aesthetics). Knowing that my puzzles was somebody's favorite makes me want to cry. . . and then, when I'm done crying, sell my mucus-stained tissues in an online auction where people will pay a thousand dollars for it because I'm so famous and likable that anyone would do anything to have something that I've touched. Thank you, Paul Krueger! :)

sc979: a little something interesting about my solving experience. I mainly did them in random order and it just so happened that the last puzzle I finished was the only other puzzle that had a double-digit polyomino. Until that point, I was thinking to myself “Am I really the only one to do this? If my puzzle is unique in that aspect, I’ll surely attract lots of votes!” Well, you both got more votes than I did, if that means anything! :)

David Scherzinger: I loved all but 2 of them, but my starting lineup of choice ended up being:

Charmeleon
Wartortle
Pidgeotto
Raticate

This comment makes me wish I'd gotten at least 38 entries; it would have been beautiful to get a vote for "Ninetales". . . .

And the results?

Anderson Wang    : -- 02 03 -- 05 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- 20
anurag.sahay     : -- -- 03 04 -- -- -- -- 09 -- -- 12 -- 14 -- -- -- -- -- --
Bram de Laat     : -- 02 -- -- -- -- 07 -- -- -- -- 12 -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- 20
David Scherzinger: -- -- -- -- 05 -- -- 08 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- 20
detuned          : 01 -- 03 -- -- 06 -- 08 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- --
/dev/joe         : -- 02 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 12 -- -- 15 16 -- -- -- 20
groza528         : -- -- -- 04 05 -- -- 08 -- -- -- 12 -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- --
Jack Bross       : -- -- 03 -- -- -- 07 08 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- --
Matt Lahut       : -- 02 -- -- -- -- -- -- 09 -- -- -- -- 14 -- -- -- -- -- 20
Matthew Zinno    : -- -- 03 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
MellowMelon      : 01 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10 -- -- -- -- -- 16 17 -- -- 20
motris           : 01 02 -- -- 05 -- 07 -- 09 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ours-brun        : -- -- -- -- -- -- 07 -- 09 -- -- 12 -- 14 -- -- 17 -- -- --
Paul Krueger     : 01 -- -- -- 05 06 -- -- -- -- -- -- 13 -- -- -- -- 18 -- --
Paul Redman      : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10 11 -- 13 -- -- -- 17 18 -- --
Rezyk            : -- 02 -- -- -- -- 07 -- 09 -- -- -- -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- 20
Robert Vollmert  : 01 02 03 04 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- --
Sam Ettinger     : 01 -- -- -- 05 -- -- 08 -- -- 11 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
sc979            : -- 02 03 04 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- 20
Shvegait         : 01 02 03 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- 20
Stumbler's Rider : -- -- 03 -- -- -- -- -- 09 10 -- -- -- -- -- 16 17 -- -- --
Troy Schnabel    : -- -- 03 -- -- -- -- -- -- 10 -- 12 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Tristan Miller   : -- -- -- -- 05 -- -- -- 09 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 18 -- 20
Valezius         : -- 02 -- 04 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 18 -- 20
TOTAL            :  7 10 10  5  7  2  5  5  7  4  2  6  2  3  1  7 12  4  0 11

The clear winner is Robert Vollmert! Congratulations and stuff!