The 2008 U.S. election has finally come and gone. Below, I've posted an electoral state map, with the states whose electoral votes are pledged to John McCain in red, and the states whose electoral votes are pledged to Barack Obama in blue. Yes, this map includes only the continental United States. If you're curious, Alaska went to John McCain (red), and Hawaii went to Barack Obama (blue). I don't have any information on the remaining 8 states (just kidding).

If you click on the map, a window will open and you'll get a 48-piece jigsaw puzzle. Appropriately, each state will be a different piece. Now that the election is over, can you put the continental United States of America back together?

Open the puzzle by clicking here!


Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

To work on the jigsaw puzzle, click on the above link to open the modal window that contains the puzzle. The clock will start when you use your mouse to pick up the first piece. Move the pieces around by clicking and dargging them with your mouse. You can use this to arrange pieces on the board, and to connect pieces by placing your selected piece close enough to a connecting piece that one piece's nub locks into the other's void. You can close the window by clicking the circular area in the upper right corner of the window.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

• 0 comments »

If you've been wondering why I haven't been posting recently on Scott's Puzzles, it's because I've been working on getting this puzzle just right! I hope you like it.

This upcoming Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008 is election day in the United States. To help garner interest in voting in this year's election, I'm posting this puzzling reminder in red, white and blue!

All you have to do in this particular puzzle is arrange the pieces to read “VOTE THIS TUESDAY”. As you can see by clicking the Original button, the word “TUESDAY” is split up into 2 lines, with the third line reading “TUES” and the 4th line reading “DAY”.

When solved, the top half of the puzzle will will have white letters on a red background, and the bottom half will have blue letters on a white background. The election date will pop up as the missing piece.

Since each piece features a letter, I have turned off the Numbers button (which ordinarily numbers each piece).

When I tested this puzzle on some friends, some found it to be no more difficult than the standard fifteen puzzle. Others claimed it was “tricky”, or even “unsolvable”. To those who think it can't be solved, I say, “Not only can it be solved, but it's a great way to rate your mind, pal!”

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Click on any block next to the empty space, and that block will slide into the empty space. The Shuffle button mixes the pieces, and the Original button shows the finished picture. The clock begins when you move your first piece, and when you solve the puzzle, the empty square will appear.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

• 0 comments »

Gay Patriot has an excellent state-by-state round up of electoral fraud, and many of the stories involve ACORN. This post is being regularly updated, and a great way to keep up with all the news as it comes in.

As I mentioned in yesterday's entry on ACORN, part of the controversy of ACORN revolves around their close ties to Barack Obama. That inspired the following puzzle:



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

• 0 comments »

There's been plenty of controversy surrounding ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), especially in the past month. Most, but not all, of the attention has focused on the irregularities of their 2008 election voter registration efforts, which have taken place over 18 states.

Many are concerned about possible voter fraud by ACORN, especially considering the large numbers of fraudulent voter forms they've provided (including Mickey Mouse in one case, and one person registering more than 70 times in another). There are also questions over their use of felons (some of whom were jailed for identity theft), and connection to Barack Obama himself.

Just last night, the 6th Circuit Court ruled that Ohio, due to ACORN ballots, must verify voter registrations (overturning a previous decision that said they didn't). As I write this, it's just coming out that more than 200,000 unmatched Ohio voter registrations were concealed from local election boards.

The stories about ACORN really started coming out when ACORN's Las Vegas offices were raided by Nevada state authorities. Because there are so many irregularities coming from so many states and center around so many voter registrations by ACORN, the talk of FBI investigations and possible charges under RICO is growing stronger every day. (Update: This is no longer just talk. The FBI has officially confirmed it is investigating ACORN.)

While we watch the full story develop, you should know that there are 18 states where ACORN has focused their voter registration efforts in 2007 and 2008 (according to ACORN's own site), many of which you've probably heard about on the news. How many of them can you name in 7 minutes?

(I've already mention two of them, so consider those freebies.)

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1 year ago today, on October 9, 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) reached a record closing high of 14,164.53, which still stands. Today, the stock market, due to the financial crisis, closed at 8,579.19, a fall of 39.01%! Even worse, this may not be the bottom of the current stock market plunge.

Most of the drop, of course, has taken place in recent days. Over the last 4 days, the market has dropped 17%. If we assume that this rate were to continue steadily, which it won't due to market mechanisms, it would only take another 19-20 days for the DJIA to reach zero. This example isn't mean to scare you or be a prediction, but rather as a dramatization of the scale of the recent drop.

Your challenge is to put the 1-year stock market chart below back together before the real stock market gets put back together. Or, you could simply try and do it as fast as you can, which will still be quicker than the real market gets put back together.

Open the puzzle by clicking here!

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

To work on the jigsaw puzzle, click on the above link to open the modal window that contains the puzzle. The clock will start when you use your mouse to pick up the first piece. Move the pieces around by clicking and dargging them with your mouse. You can use this to arrange pieces on the board, and to connect pieces by placing your selected piece close enough to a connecting piece that one piece's nub locks into the other's void. You can close the window by clicking the circular area in the upper right corner of the window.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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Quick Note: I apologize for not posting much in the past week, but I was trying to avoid political posts for a while. Between the bailout bill and the vice-presidential debate, there wasn't much that was non-political that was notable enough to inspire a puzzle for this site.

As you have no doubt heard by now, O.J. Simpson has been convicted of all 12 charges against in the Las Vegas robbery trial. The charges include conspiracy to commit a crime, a kidnapping, and a robbery, as well as burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, and two counts each (one for Bruce Fromong and one for Alfred Beardsley) of first degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, and coercion with use of a deadly weapon.

Immediately after the verdict, O.J. Simpson was remanded into custody without bail. There were many reactions to the verdict, including the collapse of O.J. Simpson's sister, , who had to be attended to by EMTs. You can see the reactions for yourself in this slideshow. O.J.'s attorney, Yale Galanter, will most likely begin the appellate process, starting with the filing of a new trial later this week.

Interestingly, the robbery itself took place on the 13th of September in 2007 (the same day the Goldmans released O.J.'s If I Did It book), and 13 months later, the jury deliberated for just over 13 hours, before delivering their guilty verdicts 13 years to the day after the famous murder verdict was handed down. The date of both verdicts occured on Oct. 3rd, or 10/3, and 10 + 3 = 13!

If you're not familiar with all the players in the robbery case, my previous O.J. Simpson puzzle will help you learn the names and details of the people involved. The challenge with the puzzle below, however, is to put O.J. Simpson back together again. It may seem tough, but you'll probably be able to do a better job than Simpson himself.

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Click on any block next to the empty space, and that block will slide into the empty space. The Shuffle button mixes the pieces, the Original button shows the finished picture, and the Numbers button puts numbers on the pieces, to give you a better idea of where they belong. The clock begins when you move your first piece, and when you solve the puzzle, the empty square will appear.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(Public domain O.J. Simpson image courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense.)

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Well-known actor, director, entrepreneur, and racing entusiast Paul Newman died yesterday (September 26, 2008).

While most people knew Paul Newman for his classic movies such as Cool Hand Luke and The Sting, his racing car enthusiasm, or his successful line of salad dressing, few people know of his military service in World War II in the Pacific Theater.

Although his battle with cancer was only made public in June 2008, friends of Paul Newman report hearing the news of his cancer diagnosis in early 2007. He died at 83, and will missed by many.

In his memory, I'm posting the following jigsaw puzzle in his memory. Simply click on the image, and a window containing the Jigsaw puzzle will open. Enjoy it, and think of your favorite Paul Newman memories as you do.

Open the puzzle by clicking here!

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

To work on the jigsaw puzzle, click on the above link to open the modal window that contains the puzzle. The clock will start when you use your mouse to pick up the first piece. Move the pieces around by clicking and dargging them with your mouse. You can use this to arrange pieces on the board, and to connect pieces by placing your selected piece close enough to a connecting piece that one piece's nub locks into the other's void. You can close the window by clicking the circular area in the upper right corner of the window.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(Public domain Paul Newman image courtesy of Aleposta.)

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Every year at this time, Global Finance, an American magazine, release their list of the safest banks in the world. The list takes into consideration long-term credit ratings from Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch, as well as total assets of each bank.

At this writing, they haven't released the full 2008 list, but they have released the top 10. With the financial crisis going as it is today, especially with all the bank failures, this list arrives just in time, and will probably generate more interest than it has in previous years.

Can you name the Global Finance's 2008 10 safest banks in the world in 10 minutes?

I'll even start you off with a few hints:
• There's only one US bank on the list
• Places like WaMu (Washington Mutual), AIG, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Lehman Brothers aren't on the list.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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Didn't I just say that a major news story would break soon?

The big story today, of course, is Sen. McCain's cancellation of his campaign plans to focus on the financial crisis. Most notably, McCain has asked Sen. Obama if a delay in the debate is possible, but the Obama campaign has responded clearly that they wish to go on.

McCain has suspended many of his own campaign activities, including ads and appearances. Most notably, McCain will not be appearing on the David Letterman show tonight. Instead, he'll be traveling to Washington, D.C., to work on the bailout bill with his fellow senators, which could potentially reach as much as US$700 billion.

While the U.S. Senate puzzles through their numbers and how to structure the bill, here's your chance to work through your own structure of numbers. All you have to do is replace each letter with a particular number, so the resulting equation true. It may seem tough, but it's much easier than the number puzzle the senate has to work through. At least in this one, you get hints, and you can be sure there is a right answer!



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

• 0 comments »

It's been a somewhat slow weekend for real news (of course, now that I've said that, a major news story will break shortly), so I thought I'd post an interesting challenge (somewhat related to current events), suggested by a friend of mine who is a lawyer.

How many U.S. presidential and vice-presidential candidates since (and including) 1980, who were officially nominated by either the Democratic or Republican parties, can you name that have worked as lawyers/attorneys? You only have 8 minutes, which is 1 minute for each election since 1980.

The quiz will accept first and last names together, as well as last names only as entries (I can't do first names only, as there are too many with the same first names). Some of the names aren't easy to spell, so I've tried to set up the quiz to be as forgiving of spelling as I could. I've also created the quiz to allow common variations of first names.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

• 0 comments »

Republican Vice-Presidential candiate Sarah Palin's private Yahoo e-mail account was hacked into early yesterday morning. The federal government is already looking for suspects and gathering evidence.

The perpetrators were from the forum known simply as “/b/” on 4chan.org, the same board and forum that popularized LOLCats and Rickrolling as internet memes. At this writing, no political motivation for the hacking can be substantiated. On the other hand, not a single democratic candidate nor any other democratic office-holder has publicly condemned this crime, at this writing.

The best description of how the hacking happened, and exactly what transpired yesterday can be found in this column. There was even one “white knight” on the board who went in to help clear things up, and even notify people on Sarah Palin's e-mail list that there was a problem!

Once the information was out there, the problem was compounded by the posting of the details on gossip site Gawker Media. Interestingly, many mainstream media outlets have focused on the fact that Palin was alleged to have used this private e-mail account for government business, instead of focusing on the criminal nature of the act itself. This is despite the fact that the original hacker clearly stated that nothing politically embarrassing was found.

Not only has the Huffington Post claimed that this act gives Sarah Palin cover to delete e-mails to protect herself, but the Associated Press has actually refused Secret Service requests for copies of the leaked e-mails!

While this crime is being investigated, see if you can help Sarah Palin get her e-mail under lock and key. Below is a maze in the shape of a portrait of Sarah Palin's, based on this picture (If you stand back from your monitor, the resemblance may be easier to see). The object is to move the envelope with the mail in it, at the top of the maze, so that it's safely and securely behind the lock, at the bottom of the maze.

Update: If you'd like to try a life-size Sarah Palin corn maze (maize maze?), Ohio farmer Duke Wheeler has just what you're looking for!



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of the game is to find a path through the maze and reach the goal as quickly as you can, and with as little backtracking and as few hints as possible.

To begin, click anywhere in the maze area. Anytime you click outside of the maze, you must click in it again to resume playing or use any of the functions described here, although the timer will continue running.

You can then move through the maze by using the I key to move up, K to move down, J to move left, and L to move right. As you move, you'll leave a blue trail through the maze.

The timer starts when you make your first move through the maze. You may pause the timer by pressing the P key, and the timer will automatically resume when you make your next move.

You may backtrack, but the computer will keep track of how many steps you backtracked, and those steps will be marked with a trail that's a lighter blue that your regular trail.

You can get a hint concerning which way to go by pressing the H key (marked in red), and get the full solution by pressing the S key (also marked in red). You can get a completely new maze, in the same shape, by reloading it with the R key.

When you reach the goal, you'll be notified of your time, how many steps you took, how many steps you backtracked, and how many hints you required. If you like, reload the maze, and try and beat your own best time!

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(The picture used as the basis for the maze originated here. The mail and lock icons are from Free Favicon.com.)

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Here in Las Vegas, the big news is the new OJ Simpson robbery trial, which is now underway. While this trial is about allegations of robbery and kidnapping, it's bringing up memories of the now-infamous 1995 murder trial.

Many of us still remember the original OJ trial, and can still recall the names involved, such as Lance Ito, Johnny Cochran, Kato Kaelin, and Mark Fuhrman. What about the new case? So far, many people have trouble even recalling the name of the sports dealer who is the alleged victim.

In the word search puzzle below, try and find the names of the people involved in the new case, including Simpson's last name, as well as those of alleged accomplices, Walter Alexander, Clarence Stewart, Charles Cashmore, Tom Scotto, and Michael McClinton, memorabilia dealers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley, auction owner Thomas Riccio (who informed Simpson of the stolen goods and taped the event), attorneys David Roger (Clark County D.A.), Yale Galanter (O.J.'s attorney) and Gabriel Grasso (O.J.'s local attorney) and Judge Jackie Glass (some names may not appear in a given wordsearch, but usually all of them will).

(Java required)
Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Can you find all the words on the list? The words can be hidden horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, and oriented in any of the cardinal or ordinal directions. Letters may be used in more than one word, so don't ignore highlighted words!

When you find a word, highlight it by pointing your mouse at the first or last letter, click and drag the highlighter until you reach the other end of the word, and release your mouse button. As you find the words, they'll be removed from the list.

You can rescramble the puzzle by simply clicking on the Rescramble button. If you give up on finding a particular word or words, click it on the list to highlight the word(s), then click the Find Words button, and they'll be highlighted for you in the puzzle.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

• 0 comments »

This has been an amazing, and scary, weekend for financial news!

The big news, of course, is the formerly long-respected brokerage Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy.

Their financial troubles are based in the subprime mortgage-lending crisis, which is affecting many other financial firms, as well. Merrill Lynch is facing a takeover by Bank of America.

Wall Street, and other financial markets around the globe, are expected to react sharply today.

However, not all the financial news is bad. As I write this, crude oil is trading below $100 per barrel for the first time in many months.

Now that we've seen how the professionals handle the financial maze, it's your turn. You're the blue dot at the top and your challenge is to work your way through the dollar sign-shaped maze, to reach the other blue dot at the bottom.



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of the game is to find a path through the maze and reach the goal as quickly as you can, and with as little backtracking and as few hints as possible.

To begin, click anywhere in the maze area. Anytime you click outside of the maze, you must click in it again to resume playing or use any of the functions described here, although the timer will continue running.

You can then move through the maze by using the I key to move up, K to move down, J to move left, and L to move right. As you move, you'll leave a blue trail through the maze.

The timer starts when you make your first move through the maze. You may pause the timer by pressing the P key, and the timer will automatically resume when you make your next move.

You may backtrack, but the computer will keep track of how many steps you backtracked, and those steps will be marked with a trail that's a lighter blue that your regular trail.

You can get a hint concerning which way to go by pressing the H key (marked in red), and get the full solution by pressing the S key (also marked in red). You can get a completely new maze, in the same shape, by reloading it with the R key.

When you reach the goal, you'll be notified of your time, how many steps you took, how many steps you backtracked, and how many hints you required. If you like, reload the maze, and try and beat your own best time!

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

• 2 comments »

State governors who paid attention to the events of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005, aren't repeating the mistake of waiting to call in FEMA.

As an example, Hurricane Ike is expected to make landfall tonight, yet the ambulances in the pictures below (or rather, the ambulances that will be in the picture below once you put them back together), were ready and in place in San Antonio, Texas 2 days ago! They can be quickly dispatched to Galveston, or any other part of Texas that needs their help.

Can you arrange the ambulances in time for help, too?

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Click on any block next to the empty space, and that block will slide into the empty space. The Shuffle button mixes the pieces, the Original button shows the finished picture, and the Numbers button puts numbers on the pieces, to give you a better idea of where they belong. The clock begins when you move your first piece, and when you solve the puzzle, the empty square will appear.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(Picture courtesy of FEMA.)

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This just in: The world didn't end this morning. Granted, some of you may not have known that it was supposed to end today.

At approximately 5:00 AM Eastern Time this morning, the first particle beam was successfully circulated through the entire Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is no small feat, considering that the LHC is 17 miles around, and runs from 160 to 560 feet underground. The first actual particle beam injections were actually carried out last month, but this is the first time a particle was circulated through the entire LHC.

Because the purpose of the LHC is to study previously unknown realms of physics, including aspects of black holes, and even the Big Bang itself, many doomsayers were predicting that a black hole would be created that would destory the entire earth. While the Earth itself wasn't destroyed, Google announced some damage was done to their logo. They said that, while there was no permanent damage to the logo, they would have to replace and polish the Chrome:

To help clear things up, How Stuff Works provides a very clear article about the ideas behind the LHC, including a TED video. Popular Mechanics points out 5 things you need to know about the LHC now.

It took plenty of time and specialized knowledge to put the LHC together. To give you an idea of how long, the first 5 years, starting in 1983, were spent just building the concrete-lined tunnel that houses the LHC!

I won't ask you to put together the entire LHC. You only have to put together a picture of the time projection chamber (TPC) of the ALICE detector's endplates. On the other hand, I can't allow you 5 years just to get started on the puzzle.



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Click on any block next to the empty space, and that block will slide into the empty space. The Shuffle button mixes the pieces, the Original button shows the finished picture, and the Numbers button puts numbers on the pieces, to give you a better idea of where they belong. The clock begins when you move your first piece, and when you solve the puzzle, the empty square will appear.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(ALICE TPC image courtesy of Skalex.)

• 2 comments »

Oops. Obama may have just made a big mistake.

Last week, Vice Presidential Republican Candidate Sarah Palin made this now-famous comment in an exchange with one of McCain's aides, after being warned about the vicious assault she'd be facing once her candidacy was announced:

Palin: “Thanks for the warning. By the way, do you know what they say the difference is between a hockey mom and a Pit Bull?”

McCain aide: “No, Governor.”

Palin: “A hockey mom wears lipstick.”

Comments like that, and the attitude to back it up, have given her approval ratings above 50% in some polls.

With this comment still fresh in people's minds, Senator Obama made the following comments today, in reference to the McCain/Palin campaign:

“You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,” Obama said. “You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called ‘change,’ it’s still going to stink.”

The reactions have already been strong and swift.

If we take Obama, and add his comment about lipstick on a pig, and add this in as a Palin reference, does that equal a win for McCain? I don't know whether that's true, but I do know that there's only one way to replace the letters below with numbers so that the equation is true. Can you solve it?



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

• 0 comments »

The big news in technology today, of course, is the announcment and release of the new iPod Touch, released by Apple and announced by the formerly late Steve Jobs.

No, that wasn't Apple's only announcement. After all, there's also the new “nano-chromatic” iPod nanos, and the announcement of the new iTunes 8 download being made available. The poor iPod classic getting upgraded to 120GB almost gets lost in the, er, shuffle (which also got upgraded today).

However, out of all the new releases, we can make an educated guess that, out of all of today's announcements, it's the iPod Touch that is most likely to shake things up.

Speaking of shuffling and shaking things up, that's just what we're going to do with today's puzzle. Your challenge today is to see how many English words you can make from the letters in IPOD TOUCH in 10 minutes. There are 130 words, not including the words “pod” and “touch”, that can be made from this phrase. How many can you name?

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle is to name as many words as possible from the given phrase above.
• The clock will start counting down as soon as the first letter is typed in the answer box.
• Each letter may only be used as often as it appears in the given phrase.
• The only words included in the answers are those found in the Official Scrabble® Players Dictionary, as used in the USA, Canada, and Israel. Words from the Official Scrabble® Words International that do not appear in the Official Scrabble® Players Dictionary are not included.
• Other words may be excluded, as described in the article above.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

• 0 comments »

Google has had an interesting week, hasn't it?

First, a comic book is leaked, discussing Google Chrome, their new open source web browser. It creates plenty of buzz, and the browser itself was relased on Tuesday.

The big launch comes, many people download it, and a few even read the EULA. Those that did read it were horrified, as the agreement seemed to give Google the rights over any content you submitted through their browser. Fortunately, Google quickly removed the vague language from the EULA.

Just when everything was starting to settle down, a serious security flaw was found in Google Chrome!

In the real world, chrome has the reputation of making something look good, but not doing anything to improve the workings. Let's hope Google Chrome doesn't take on this association.

While Google works to put Chrome back together, why don't you try and put Google itself back together? Below is a mixture of three images. Below are the description, in the order they're employed in the puzzle (which, as you'll see in the instructions below, is important):

1. The Googleplex welcome sign


2. Google co-founder Sergey Brin (with the purple background)


3. Google co-founder Larry Page (with the dark classroom background)

(Java required)
Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle, called FlipSwitch (conceived and programmed by Eric Harshbarger), is to put together any 1 of the 3 images used. The images are designated in a certain order, as described above. Each time you click a particular square, that square's image, as well as the images in each square in the same row and column, will move forward to the next image in the sequence. Any square containing the 3rd image will be changed to the 1st image.

The Scramble button will give you a new arrangement of picture pieces with which to work. The Increment button will move each square's image to the next one in sequence. The Solve button will show one completed picture. To see the complete set of pictures, click Solve, then click Increment to go through the complete pictures one by one.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(Googleplex welcome sign image courtey of Coolcaesar. Sergey Brin image courtesy of James Duncan Davidson/O'Reilly Media, Inc.. Larry Page image courtesy of Ehud Kenan.)

• 1 comments »

Voice-over artist Don LaFontaine died on Monday (Sep. 1). His name wasn't well-known to many, but his voice was known by his catchphrase, “In a world...”.

Since his voice is better known than his face, I'll help you piece together his face by, well, having you piece together his face! Thanks to Jigzone, I'm able to bring you the following Don LaFontaine jigsaw puzzle.

Because Jigzone requires an area of at least 700 pixels for an embedded puzzle, and this blog's content area is only about 500 pixels wide, I'm embedding it via FancyBox, which is a jQuery version of the standard Lightbox window.

Open the Don LaFontaine jigsaw puzzle by clicking here!


Check out the following videos to see Don LaFontaine in action:

• Don discussing his career


• Don's GEICO ad


• 5 famous voice-over artists in Don's limo


• Don's voice-over “cameo” from the full Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trailer

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

To work on the jigsaw puzzle, click on the above link to open the modal window that contains the puzzle. The clock will start when you use your mouse to pick up the first piece. Move the pieces around by clicking and dargging them with your mouse. You can use this to arrange pieces on the board, and to connect pieces by placing your selected piece close enough to a connecting piece that one piece's nub locks into the other's void. You can close the window by clicking the circular area in the upper right corner of the window.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(Public domain image courtesy of Maciek17)

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We've heard plenty about hurricanes in this past week. The hurricane names you hear on TV aren't just made up by the media.

They're determined by the National Hurricane Center. Hurricane names are given alphabetically in order of appearance, with names beginning from A through W (except for Q and U). The lists of names are actually repeated every 6 years, and when one is really devastating, that hurricane name is retired. For example, Hurricane Katrinas was on the list in 1993 and 1999, but the 2005 one was so devastating that the name Katrina was retired.

While the news may have helped you with some of the 2008 hurricane names, how many of the 21 official hurricane names of 2008 do you know? You have 8 minutes to get as many as you can.



Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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I posted an Obama and Biden slider puzzle earlier, so it's only fair that I create one for John McCain, and his recently announced vice-presidential choice, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin.

It took John McCain quite a while to put Sarah Palin together as part of his team. How long will it take you to put them back together?

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Click on any block next to the empty space, and that block will slide into the empty space. The Shuffle button mixes the pieces, the Original button shows the finished picture, and the Numbers button puts numbers on the pieces, to give you a better idea of where they belong. The clock begins when you move your first piece, and when you solve the puzzle, the empty square will appear.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(Public domain picture courtesy of JohnMcCain.com)

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It's the weekend, so why don't we enjoy ourselves, forget about politics, and turn to the lighter side of the news?

You may or may not have heard about this, but Apple, Inc. founder and CEO Steve Jobs' death was reported earlier this week. How can I call this the lighter side of the news? It turned out that the reports of Steve Jobs being dead were false.

On it's own, this might have been just a mildly interesting story. Just a few days earlier, though, Dolly Parton's death was also falsely reported!

Yes, many famous people have had premature obituaries printed about them, but two such mistakes happening so closely together is unusual (not counting the CNN.com incident).

While you work on the puzzle below, I'm going to double check the status of Abe Vigoda and Generalissimo Francisco Franco.


Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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With today's announcement of Sarah Palin as John McCain's pick as a vice-presidential candidate, we now have a full set of presidential and vice-presidential candidates from the two major parties.

Since both presidential candidates had a long search for their respective vice-presidential candidates, I thought a search for all the candidate's names (first and last), the states they've represented, and the “ELECTION” itself was an order.

(Java required)
Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Can you find all the words on the list? The words can be hidden horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, and oriented in any of the cardinal or ordinal directions. Letters may be used in more than one word, so don't ignore highlighted words!

When you find a word, highlight it by pointing your mouse at the first or last letter, click and drag the highlighter until you reach the other end of the word, and release your mouse button. As you find the words, they'll be removed from the list.

To get a new word search grid, simply click on the Rescramble button. If you give up on finding a particular word or words, click it on the list to highlight the word(s), then click the Find Words button, and they'll be highlighted for you in the puzzle.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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As of today, it's official! Obama has been designated as the official Democratic Party presidential candidate for the US 2008 election. Since few of us were surprised at the outcome, I've created another alphametic puzzle that will give you something to which you can look forward.

Strangely enough, Barack H. Obama's name works perfectly as an equation. The question, as always, is exactly which equation this represents:


Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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Before you ask, NO, I didn't misspell the name of the group Run DMC. The DNC to which I'm referring is the Democratic National Committee, whose convention is being held in Denver, Colorado, this week to officially determine which candidate they will run (granted, few of us are in suspense as to whether Obama will win the nomination of the democrats).

In honor of that, I've created an interesting math problem for my visitors.


Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

This puzzle is called an alphametic, otherwise known as a cryptarithm (alt. spelling: cryptorithm), or simply cryptarithmetic. The object is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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Now that the 2008 Beijing Olympics have come to a close, many people are focused on the final medal count. How many of the top 10 medal-winning countries can you name in 5 minutes?

This rank is by combined number of gold, silver, and bronze olympic medals won in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the number will be shown as you enter the countries. Any countries you miss will be shown at the end of the quiz, along with their respective combined medal total.



Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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Barack Obama has finally annonced his running mate, Joe Biden. Can you put (from left to right) Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, and Joe Biden back together before the election?

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Click on any block next to the empty space, and that block will slide into the empty space. The Shuffle button mixes the pieces, the Original button shows the finished picture, and the Numbers button puts numbers on the pieces, to give you a better idea of where they belong. The clock begins when you move your first piece, and when you solve the puzzle, the empty square will appear.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(Picture courtesy of Daniel Schwen. This picture is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License.)

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This site is powered by numerous technologies and programs that make the puzzles possible. In this post, I'd like to give credit where credit is deserved by linking to the people, sites, and technologies responsible for making this site's content possible.

• Applet Depot: Eric Harshbarger's site features many Java applets that he has generously allowed to be used on any website. You can see his programs at use in my word search and FlipSwitch puzzle posts.


• FancyBox: This is the program that powers the Lightbox-like windows you see on this site.


• Java: Sun Microsystems' programming language is so versatile, it can be used online and offline.


• Javascript: The most commonly used scripting language on the web! Despite the name, it's vastly different from Java (above).


• Jigzone: This site not only lets you play jigsaw puzzles, but create and embed your own original puzzles, as well!


• jqPuzzle: A powerful jQuery plug-in that powers the slider puzzles you see on this site.


• jQuery: A popular Javascript library that vastly simplifies how Javascript, HTML, and CSS work together.


• Mazesmith: This is the powerful, yet simple, Javascript program that makes the custom-shaped mazes on this site possible.


• Timed Quiz Generator: An online program that lets you quickly and easily generate the HTML/Javascript/CSS code for your own custom How Many Xs Can You Name In Y Minutes?-style quiz.

As I continue to make use of new programs to develop puzzles on this site, this post will be updated with new information.

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This post is occasionally used for testing and developing of new puzzles to see how they will look and function before posting them in the main area.

Come here at the right time, and who knows? You might get a sneak peek at an upcoming puzzle! Don't count on them lasting too long in this post, however.

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