Another San Francisco Octothorpean Puzzle Ahead of Opening Day

I'm revealing another San Francisco puzzle from the Octothorpean Order online puzzlehunt: Bunny. No, the Octothorpean Order isn't ready for opening day yet, but I'm pointing out that puzzle anyhow. Why? Well, it's slated to be torn down in about a year. (Or maybe a year and a half? I'm not sure I'm understanding the stuff I'm reading. Anyhow.) Though I think the Order will be open by then, out-of-towners who don't get into SF often might want a chance to see this one without having to scramble.

As with the previous revealed-early SF Octothorpean puzzle, I dunno if I'd purposefully go far out of my way for this one, but if you're in the neighborhood, check it out.

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Post about Post-Post Situation

Part of a 2-Tone Game puzzle used to be something like, "Look south-by-southwest for an easily recognizable post; on the sidewalk beneath it is a quote; the letters on the corners of the quote form a word; what's the word?" A few weeks back, part of the 2-Tone Game got knocked over; the easily-spotted post became a cement support with bolts sticking out. So the puzzle-piece changed to something like "Go south-by-southeast until you reach the sidewalk; look for a quote on the sidewalk; the letters on the corners of the quote form a word; what's the word?"

Today, I disembarked from the Sausalito ferry, checked on the spot... and there was just a blank square of sidewalk there. The cement support was gone, the quote was gone. So I tweaked the puzzle-piece again to tell folks to look for something else. But the new thing doesn't have that satisfying wordplay. It's too bad; that post looked pretty permanent; but it turned out not so much.

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One San Francisco Octothorpean Puzzle Ahead of Opening Day

I'm not a super-duper expert about location-based puzzles. I don't know exactly when the world is going to change and thusly mess up a puzzle. But I know that it happens. This weekend, I found a nice location-based puzzle that fits the hashmarkish theme of The Octothorpean Order… but I wonder if the site will last. I'm not even that sure it will last a few months until the game properly opens. So I'm improperly jumping the gun with this one. Here's a link to Music Mural, a puzzle in San Francisco's Mission District.

If I were you, I wouldn't shlep all the way out to The Mission just to solve this. It would be a lot of shlepping for not-so-much solving. But the next time you're heading out there anyhow, swing on by…uhm, wherever this puzzle is. If it's still there.

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Before watching the CNY parade, I kibbitzed a bit at the CNYTH. And before that, I swung by the Ferry Building to check on a 2-Tone Game puzzle, make sure its environmental data was still there. But it wasn't still there—some construction had knocked out a [redacted] leaving behind a cement support with some bolts sticking out of it at awkward angles. Aaaargh, that was not part of the plan.

Thus, today I spent a while re-working that part of the puzzle. Yipe. Maybe when I encourage folks to add location-based puzzles to Octothorpean, I should tack on one of those medical disclaimers, something like "May lead to agony if some excitable jackhammer-wielder destroys something relevant."

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Book Report: Low Life Many quick snippets about New York's criminals and underclass. It was kinda fun, but a few days after reading it, I remember almost nothing. I could say that was a metaphor for New York itself, alway...