Tag Archives: Follow-Up Friday

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Pluto, Pi, and Puzzles edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’d like to return to the subject of puzzly and otherwise nerdy holidays!

I already mentioned the fast-approaching American Crossword Puzzle Tournament yesterday, but did you know that today is Pluto Planet Day?

Yes, today is a day when all those scarred or upset by Pluto’s demotion from planet to dwarf planet (or plutoid, or Trans-Neptunian Object, or whatever they’re calling it now).

In fact, the residents of the state of New Mexico were so upset by Pluto’s dismissal from the list of planets that they made a law stating Pluto is forever a planet in New Mexico skies. Which is pretty great (and in flagrant defiance of the current scientific literature).

Tomorrow is a holiday as well! It’s Pi Day (March 14th, a.k.a. 3.14)! And, actually, it’s the most mathematically significant Pi Day since 1592!

When you take Saturday’s date — 3/14/15 — you have the first five digits of Pi. When you add a certain time — 3/14/15 at 9:26 — you have the first eight!

(MIT used to email its acceptance letters out at 1:59 on March 14.)

Plus, March 23 is crossword icon Margaret Farrar’s birthday!

Hired as a secretary for The New York World, she soon found herself assisting crossword creator Arthur Wynne with proofreading puzzles, only for her puzzles to surpass his in popularity! She was the first crossword editor for The New York Times, a position she held until 1969 when Will Weng took over the position.

So, fellow puzzlers, will you be celebrating Pi Day or Pluto Planet Day or Farrar’s birthday? Better yet, will you be participating in this year’s ACPT? Let me know!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Jumbo Jigsaw edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’d like to return to the subject of world records!

Follow-Up Friday has become something of a repository of puzzly world records.

In previous installments, Follow-Up Friday posts have covered Largest Architectural Video Game Display (when a 29-story game of Tetris was played in Philadelphia), Most Game Show Episodes Hosted by the Same Presenter (for Alex Trebek’s run on Jeopardy!), and the solving of the World’s Largest Rubik’s Cube-style Puzzle.

Heck, just last week, I posted about the World’s Largest Vertical Maze.

And this week, I’ve got another cool one for you: the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle.

It is called “Wildlife,” and it’s produced by Educa. It retails for $400. It’s composed of 33,600 pieces. It measures 5 feet by nearly 19 feet. It is so large that it comes in ten separate bags, inside a wooden box on wheels for ease of movement. It is a monster.

The young woman pictured solved it in 450 hours (over the course of two and a half months). There is a world speed record for solving it, but it took 100 people over 19 hours to do it.

Pretty amazing, especially since she owns a cat, a creature rarely conducive to the solving of jigsaw puzzles.

So, fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers, what’s the biggest jigsaw puzzle you’ve ever tackled? Let me know! I’d love to hear about it!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: A-maze-ing edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’d like to return to the subject of building-sized puzzles!

In the past I’ve mentioned some truly monster-sized puzzles, from the apartment building crossword in Ukraine to multi-story games of Tetris played on the sides of office buildings.

Well, another world record has been set for super-sized puzzles, this time in Dubai!

The largest vertical maze in the world (certified by the folks at Guinness!) can be found on the side of a 55-story building aptly known as Maze Tower.

Although LED lights make the maze quite an eye-catching spectacle at night, the maze is also visible in the daytime, since it was physically built along the side of the building.

All it needs is a digital minotaur prowling the corridors to chase off prospective solvers.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Valentine Puzzles edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And with one day before the deluge of flowers, candy, teddy bears, and romance, I’d like to return to the subject of Valentine’s Day puzzles!

You might not have heard, but we’ve got two new puzzle sets for the Penny Dell Crosswords app! The newest is Penny Dell Crosswords Collection Four, but we also recently released our Valentine’s Day Deluxe Set!

 

Both are available for purchase within the app and waiting to keep you and your loved ones busy with Valentine’s Day puzzly goodness!

Our friends at Penny/Dell Puzzles are also getting into the spirit of the day! They’re offering a free downloadable Valentine’s puzzle packet, a Valentine’s Framework puzzle, AND some puzzly valentines for kids! (As well as 15% off all month long!)

Not only that, but friend of the blog George Barany pointed me to this puzzle created by fellow constructor Charles Deber for Valentine’s Day!

Check out that lovely and clever heart in the center! You can click here to download and solve the puzzle. (Don’t worry, the grid is bigger and easier to read in the link.)

Have a marvelous Valentine’s Day, friends and fellow PuzzleNationers!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Bad Board Games edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’d like to return to the subject of board games.

Now, for the most part, I try to keep the spirit of blog posts here positive. We share puzzle news, explore history, and talk about puzzles and games we enjoy. It’s more fun to write about things that excite me and that I enjoy about puzzles and games than to wallow or sling mud.

That being said, sometimes you can’t help but poke a little fun at some of the misfires in the board game industry. Jimmy Fallon, host of The Tonight Show, is apparently a big board game aficionado — though, according to the games he lists, he hasn’t checked out a new game from the last 25 years or so — and he’s seen his share of stinkers.

Recently, he featured four games on The Tonight Show that he thinks deserve a thumbs-down. Check it out, courtesy of a link provided to me by friend of the blog and Penny/Dell Puzzles social media guru Darcy Bearman:

Honestly, considering some of the games and stunts he plays with celebrities, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Jimmy play a round of Ring Around the Nosey with a Victoria’s Secret model or the latest winner of Dancing with the Stars.

What board games do you think deserve to be featured in a future edition of this segment, fellow puzzlers? I know Monopoly takes its fair share of abuse from board game fans these days, but there must be more worthy contenders out there. I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Word Ladders edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’m posting the answers to last Thursday’s Word Ladder puzzles!

First off, there are the two Word Ladders from Lewis Carroll’s puzzle collection Doublets:

Cain to Abel: CAIN-CHIN-SHIN-SPIN-SPUN-SPUD-SPED-APED-ABED-ABEL

Tears to Smile: TEARS-SEARS-STARS-STARE-STALE-STILE-SMILE

lewis_carroll_quote

And here are the solutions to crossword constructor Joe Krozel’s bonus Word Ladders from his New York Times crossword:

1. Table tennis: For ages, the only joy in my life.

PING-PONG-LONG-LONE-LOVE

2. Unspeaking inspirer will simply have to communicate in taunts.

MUTE-MUSE-MUST-JUST-JEST

3. Upon removing the strap, Mr. Rogers dashed away from his snow vehicle and glided.

FREE-FRED-FLED-SLED-SLID

4. Sell contraband to a flock of Jerry Garcia fans with intensity.

DEAL-DEAD-HEAD-HERD-HARD

5. Audacious poet (with signs of aging) outlaws military conflict.

BOLD-BALD-BARD-BARS-WARS (or BALD-BAWD-BARD-BARS-WARS, although the first answer changes every letter from the starting word)

How did you do, fellow puzzlers? Did you crack them all?

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!