Thursday, April 09, 2009

Puzzle Up! New Season of Off-Day Puzzles Coming Soon...

Remember this?

(click image to enlarge)

That's right - the new off-day puzzle season is right around the corner! But first let's take a trip down memory lane and revisit Season I:

  • Puzzle #1. This is the one that started it all. Few may remember it, as at the time it was meant as nothing more than a throw-away one-off source of ephemeral amusement (by chance it landed on an Dodger off-day). Little did we know it would beget an entire season's worth of off-day fun. And even littler did we know that a then-fledgling QuadSevens would evolve into the titan that he is today. Solution.
  • Puzzle #2. The idea for this one was conceived at a restaurant. And the solution was put together while watching the Lakers lose game 2 of the 2008 NBA Championship. That's what I remember. And Quad proved his Puzzle #1 victory was no fluke by being the first to nail this one as well.
  • Puzzle #3. I don't remember where the idea for this one came from. Maybe I watched too many movies that weekend. In anycase, while cigarcow was nursing a sore head, Quad made it three in a row.
  • Puzzle #4. Ah, the James Loney puzzle. Despite valiant efforts from MSTI, Dusto, cigarcow, Karina, and even the dominant Quad, it was won by a then-unknown-but-now-universally- known Loney Fan. In fact correct me if I'm wrong LF - did you not name yourself Loney Fan at least in part because of this puzzle? Footnote: it was after this puzzle that the official PCS Rankings made their debut. To nobody's surprise, Quad was #1, edging out SoSG's own Orel.
  • Puzzle #5. I bet this puzzle generated more hits to Fred Graf's baseball-reference page in one day than he's ever had before or since. Once again Quad won. But perhaps more importantly, Jose made his first appearance on SoSG. Although he only came in 3rd, Jose would go on to one day establish a new world puzzle order...
  • Puzzle #6. History will remember this one as Sax's debut in SoSG Puzzle-making. Despite his greenness, Sax already showed mastery of several critical components of SoSG Puzzle creation: a ridiculously contrived premise, a forced Dodger tie-in, and a Nancy Reagan reference. And steve won his first puzzle. He too would go on to become a factor in the PCS Rankings.
  • Puzzle #7. This scissor-time puzzle I believe somehow evolved out of a Game Thread conversation about MacGyver. Or maybe that's just my imagination once again veering towards Richard Dean Anderson for no reason. In anycase, with Jose's victory, this puzzle may have represented the symbolic shift of puzzle power from Quad to Jose.
  • Puzzle #8. I've never asked Sax if it was merely coincidence or something more, but his 2nd puzzle prominently featured both the word rectum and testis (as well as the word anatomy). But I prefer not to dwell on that. To this day, I have no idea how Jose solved it so quickly.
  • Puzzle #9. Nostradamus' now-infamous debut on SoSG. And an animated solution that was banned in 19 countries for giving children nightmares. But it didn't rattle Berkowit28, who took home the gold.
  • Puzzle #10. I remember getting really dizzy frantically trying to solve this jumble of letters before anyone else. When I nailed it in what was surely record time, imagine my chagrin to see that 5 people had already solved it before me. Congrats MSTI on being the 1st.
  • Puzzle #11. I believe Neeebs once declared this one his favorite. And as we know, if it's good enough for Neeebs, it must be good enough for basically anyone. Quad was the first to solve.
  • Puzzle #12. NKOTB. Brilliant. The puzzle was pretty good too. Quad's win gave him two in a row, and he started to threaten Jose for the top ranking once again.
  • Puzzle #13: The Grand Finale. This one was a bit*h to make and apparently a bit*h to solve. But it was worth an extra 30 puzzle points - and Jose pulled through in the clutch, pulling away from Quad to win the Final PCS Rankings, followed by Fanerman in 3rd and steve in 4th.

Doesn't that bring back good memories? Well, puzzle-up for a brand new season. We hope all Season I Puzzlers return, and of course any and all newcomers are welcome as well. Tell your friends. As with last year, it works like this: there will be a new puzzle posted at 7am PT every Dodger off-day. Points will be awarded for both solving the puzzle (the faster you solve it, the more points you get), and also for participation. Points are tabulated and tracked, and rankings are updated after each puzzle. First Season II Off-Day Puzzle: Tuesday, April 14, 7am. Be there!

9 comments:

Orel said...

That's quite the retrospective! The mental energy that went into creating and solving all those puzzles could light Dodger Stadium for a year.

Orel said...

And is that slash in the title a clue for future puzzles? Stay tuned....

Eric Karros said...

Oops, slash was just a typo, now corrected -

Wicks said...

As someone new to this internet Dodger bliss, the puzzles look pretty darn fun! It will give me something to think about on days with no Dodger baseball.

My only question is, should answers be given via the sosg email or in the comments?

Neeebs (The Original) said...

I suck at Puzzles.
I'm good at refreshing this site.

I would lobby for Venn Diagram Style Puzzles.

Orel said...

EK, correct me if I'm wrong--only general, non-spoiler comments are allowed. Submit all potential solutions via e-mail.

Eric Karros said...

That's correct Orel.

Wicks, when we actually post the puzzles, we'll include brief instructions. But basically we don't want anyone to give away the solution to others in the comments. Instead, email us your solution and then simply comment on the post that you've done so, so we know to check our email.

Glad that you'll be joining the puzzle race!

QuadSevens said...

Seeing all those puzzles again gets me excited for the new PCS Season!

karina said...

7 am ET or PT?. I'm excited too!