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Everybody likes to complain about crosswordese, but this puzzle does something about it. (I heard about it via xwords by a ladee) ...
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The Hearst Newspapers News-sites, no doubt jealous of the NYT's puzzle section, have launched their own syndicated puzzle page, Puzzmo. Each day there's a cool mini-crossword from the AVCX folks and...
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Here are three popular blog posts from 2023 (along with an honorable mention and a popular Mastodon toot): Were you hoping for more than three blog posts? lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2023/ list...
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On 15th Ave a few doors up from Ortega in San Francisco, there are three big houses with miniature-mimic houses out front. ...
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In olden times, a news pundit could "research" an easy article introduction by interviewing their taxi driver. Nowadays, they can interview ChatGPT et al. This is why we need to continue develo...
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If I ran the HOA: Go ahead and paint your house whatever the heck color, but if you have snowflake decorations, they must have six-way symmetry and no two of them should be identical. ...
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tl;dr I was unreasonably optimistic a few months ago and am venting about it now. I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to estimate risk of inessential-...
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Why do we call it "AI hallucinations" when we should call it "Artificial Inelegance?" Full disclosure: I'm not sure who I stole this joke from, but they vandalized a shoe store window ad on Haight S...
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My old desktop computer's hard drive was making sad noises, so I finally got a new desktop computer. I'm trying some things that didn't work before. ...
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There was a break in the rain, so I nipped over to Golden Gate Park for a quick walk. Along the way, I looked at some public art: signs made from the pages of the alphabet book: Golden Gate Park, an...
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Figuring out where to attach a carbon monoxide alarm to my wall: Initial, naive thought: I should make it very visible so when it goes off I can quickly see whether there's a real problem or just a ...
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Big existential crisis this morning as I found out I'm not a real person. I thought I was pretty good at puzzles, but this github captcha is a real toughie. [Update: The solution was in front o...
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The paint job on this fence on Anza St. near 9th is neat; it's kinda trompe-l'œil, kinda not. ...
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I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to estimate risk of inessential-but-nice indoor activities, e.g., whether I want to go grocery shopping in person s...
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Sometime in the recent batch of storms, my phone's message app started marking emergency alerts as spam, presumably because there were so many alerts in just a few days. That maybe implies something ...
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#SFHellscape ...
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Martin Renfried is going to send out a cocktail-themed cryptic crossword every couple of months; if you subscribe to his Patreon, he'll send those crosswords to you. He wrote a couple of cryptics for...
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When I tell you I've been researching California election proposition #1 for over fifteen minutes, you probably think I'm pretty well prepared until I show you how I spent my time: To: webmaster@so...
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I didn't go to school at MIT, but I've played in the MIT Mystery Hunt. So I've sent in some thank-you money, and thus landed on their alumni fundraising mailing list. They just sent me a postcard abo...
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I just gave to a political campaign. I dunno how much I agree with the candidate; I didn't really check. I was just so surprised to see a political campaign text show up on my phone not in the Spam f...
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Welcome to the month of March! It is #EnigMarch anew. Thus, each day the EnigMarch people post a prompt and nerds try to design puzzles around that prompt. (Today's word is door.) _ ◯ _ _ Caramel...
- False Friends
It is still #EnigMarch. Thus, each day the EnigMarch people post a prompt word; and puzzle nerds such as myself attempt to design a puzzle to that prompt. (Today's word is false.) A false friend i...
- March March March March March
Happy March! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is musical.) Since it's March, ...
- Case-by-Case Basis
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is shift.) Did you ever wonder how keyboards...
- Oh hi, Mark
Happy March! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is sign.) That's kind of neat,...
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My Signal username is @lahosken.26. I updated the Larry Hosken Contact Information web page to reflect this. ...
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The #SanFrancisco #IVoted sticker is pretty spiffy this time. ...
- Like a Record, Baby
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is round.) It's neat that if you move the la...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is watch.) What does a watched pot never do...
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I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to figure out whether heading into the grocery store to pick out my own produce is a worthwhile morale boost or an ...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is rock.) So I made one of those fancypants ...
- You Spin Me Right
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is thread. Kinda spooky coincidence when you ...
- The Attention We Bring To It
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is zero.) Someone who'd thought about such m...
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Happy March! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is bridge.) To abridge is to sh...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is shield.) The language of heraldry and t...
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Happy Marsh March! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is wave.) The Marshall Is...
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Happy #PiDay ! Here's a picture of a couple of Portuguese pasteis de nata I picked up from the local branch of the, ahem, Pineapple King franchise. Scholars of solid geometry and the European c...
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Happy Pi Day! This round's on me. It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is spirit. ...
- 3D Movies
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is 3D.) See if you can figure out what mov...
- Many Hands Make Aight Work
Happy March! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is hand.) Although I am an en...
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Happy March 17th! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is ancient.) How often d...
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I'm @lahosken on the Spill social app. Several days back, I got word that Spill, previously iOS-only, released an Android beta test. So I installed and tried to sign up, but sign-ups didn't work&hel...
- Club Bangers
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is club.) Here are some song lyrics. Alas,...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is odd.) "I want to write a parody. What ar...
- But here there are no cows.
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is neighbor.) In the Robert Frost poem "Me...
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Want to encourage people to #vote, but mostly people with attention to detail? Leave a note of encouragement in a small crack in the sidewalk, kinda buried, kinda overgrown with grass. (San Fran...
- Mixology
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is mix.) Mixology is the study of cocktail...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is cloud.) In wordplay, a letterbank is a ...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is neither.) "Neither snow nor rain nor hea...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is power.) Here's a classic Puzzazz daily ...
- Book Report: 50 Years of Text Games
It's a history of text-centric computer games structured as 50 essays about 50 games, choosing one game published each year 1971-2020. It's pretty interesting. It took me a long time to get through ...
- res ipsa loquitur
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is raise.) "Raise" and "raze" are interest...
- Five Cryptic Clues
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is clue.) Here are five cryptic crossword-s...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is rule.) Below are five words and five tr...
- Heads or Tails
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is coin.) Below are some blanks with some ...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is surprise.) There is one suprise in each...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. Today's word is book. So I pulled a book off the shelf: S...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is sequel). So it would be good to know som...
- Book Report: The Puzzler
It's a survey of puzzles: word puzzles, logic puzzles, physical puzzles, jigsaw—you get the idea. I'm not really in the target demographic for a survey; I already knew most of this stuff from, ...
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I just noticed: if you're in the parking garage for that little shopping center across the street from the San Francisco DMV, the exit door looks out at a fnnch rubber duck mural across the street. ...
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#SFHellscape ...
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I enjoyed the gimmick of today's Puzzmo crossword (which ?might? be the same as today's AVCX crossword?). ...
- Munzee Daily Stroll
The Munzee play-while-walking-around-with-your-phone game has a cool new RandoNautica-like feature. I want to blog about it, but before I dive in I want to start with: When you use the Find Nearby W...
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Don't give pees a chance! Edgy, makes you think Pee nevermore Much more threatening than intended (I hope) ...
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I heard the city wasn't doing anything for 4/20 this year, so I was surprised to see folks setting up some tables at Robin Williams meadow (a.k.a. the meadow at the base of "Hippie Hill") this mornin...
- Leet Numbers
I just watched the Numberphile video about Apocalyptic Numbers. An apocalyptic number is a power of two whose decimal representation contains the digits "666". I nodded along: of course, Christian fo...
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#SFHellscape ...
- Game Report: Choice of Games, Heart's Choice Games
Special note to my parents: Though this blog post is about video games, you might be interested. Specifically, Choice of Games has a couple of games ("Tally Ho", "Jolly Good") that are kinda like rea...
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I transcribed a 1924 article about puzzle-y treasure hunts in London: London Society's Thrilling All-Night Treasure Hunts. It's kind of an annoying article for a puzzle fiend to read; I guess it was ...
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I transcribed a 1924 article by photographer Olivia Wyndham reflecting on running puzzly treasure hunt games in London: Society Treasure Hunts: The Trail and the Chase. h/t to Bruce Lin who tracked ...
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To celebrate California's Juror Appreciation Week, the Judicial Council of California created, uh, a word search puzzle(‽) ...
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Oh neat, the Golden Gate Park beer garden has an actual calendar this year so maybe I won't need to rely so much on having a backup plan "in case there's nothing there this week." ...
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I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to figure out whether heading into a cafe for professional-barista-prepared coffee is a lovely indulgence or an emb...
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San Francisco Bay Area folks, heads up: Yesterday I took a weird stroll in Albany, playing The Solano Human Project. I see people comparing it to The Jejeune Institute, and I can see the similarity: ...
- Game Report: Episode
Episode is another choose-your-own-adventure game app, kinda in the spirit of Choice of Games and Heart's Choice. But it doesn't restrict itself to text to tell stories; instead it uses a combinatio...
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Lately, a hate group has been posting flyers in my neighborhood. I wanted to tear down the flyers to spare my neighbors some hatred. But I hesitated: at the bottom of each flyer was an official-looki...
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I didn't understand the artist's obsession until I saw the text. San Francisco, Hugo St near 7th Ave ...
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I feel like the back of this car is trying to tell me the owner's life story, but I can't quite grasp it. I saw it near UCSF Parnassus Hospital, where you might expect a medical professional to...
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I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to figure out whether heading into a pastry shop to pick up inessential-but-tasty tarts endangers just my waistline...
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Tammy McLeod isn't just my teammate on MIT Mystery Hunt's Left Out; she isn't just a sudoku champion; she's also a world record speed jigsaw puzzler. She started a YouTube channel with another speed...
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Spoiler Warning: This post spoils a twist in "Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story." I read a review of the comic "Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story." The comic falls in the isekai genre: the pro...
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#SFHellscape ...
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Today's grocery delivery came with a couple of free samples. I'm trying not to take it personally. ...
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In the constructor notes for today's Puzzmo crossword, Zhouqin Burnikel says her original gimmick idea (not used) was people whose names had a fruit-word and a season-word. But she could only find on...
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I recently passed a milestone: I've walked over 10 million steps while playing the game Pikmin Bloom. I didn't notice at the time; the app didn't pop up an achievement badge for 10 million like it di...
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I talked with Bryan Clair, that math professor/puzzle nerd in St Louis, today and found out he has a new web site. Well, the content is about the same as his old faculty web page, but he doesn't have...