Final PCS Rankings: Congratulations, Jose!

Well it's really just a formality at this point, but the final rankings have been calculated, and it's official: with his clutch performance in the Grand Finale Riddle Puzzle, Jose is hereby crowned the 1st ever SoSG Puzzle Championship Series Champion. Congratulations Jose! He edges out season-long puzzle rival QuadSevens, who fends off Fanerman for the runner-up slot.

Here are the full rankings (and my personal apologies to Mr. Customer and Julie Hibbard for inadvertently leaving them off the 'others receiving votes' section of the previous rankings):

Current Rank	Previous	Player (Wins)	PCS Tour Points
1	1	jose (3)	557
2	2	quadsevens (2)	449
3	4	fanerman	427
4	3	steve	370
5	6	mike scioscia's t.i. (1)	275
6	5	daniel	260
7	8	neeebs	250
T8	8	berkowit28 (1)	235
T8	10	erin	235
10	7	gil gamesh	185

Others receiving votes: sax/karros 143, karina 125, mr. customer 115, cigarcow 105, loney fan 80, jbowes 50, stolenmonkey86 50, orel 30, dusto magnifico 25, ricardo 20, alex cora 10, delino deshields 10, julie hibbard 10

Of the two prize options available to him, Jose has chosen the puzzle creation option. So look forward to his concoction in the not-too-distant-but-not-necessarily-too-immediate future. We'll let you know. And that also means the well-worn path between SoSG's regional post office and the one serving Quad's house will be trodden once again, as we will be shipping him the Furcal bobblehead as runner-up.

But that's not all. Just for kicks, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to merge puzzles and graphs. So here's a visual representation of the ups and downs of PCS Season I since the inception of the rankings 10 puzzles ago (due to space constraints, only puzzlers who at some point were in the Top 5 are included):

(click image to enlarge)

A few observations:

• Up through Puzzle #8 was The QuadSevens Era. If the season ended at any point before Puzzle #9, Quad would have been the unquestioned champ. He was able to maintain his top ranking throughout this period in spite of facing a worthy challenger in SoSG Orel. But as it would turn out, there was a greater threat on the horizon...
• And that threat was named Jose. Puzzles #9 through #13 defined The Jose Era. Jose may have benefited from Quad's early rivalry with Orel, as it allowed him to rise strongly and steadily during the QuadSevens Era yet still remain under the radar.
• Puzzles #14 and beyond.....? Don't look now, but both Fanerman and Steve have been doing an impressive imitation of Jose's previous rise to stardom. Will history books one day speak of the Fanerman or Steve Era? Only time will tell, my friends, only time will tell.

Well there you have it. Hey, I'm just trying to keep busy until 3:30pm.

New PCS Rankings

Besides exposing SoSG Sax's disturbingly comprehensive knowledge of boy bands, this week's crossword puzzle achieved something else: it set us up for an exciting finish to the puzzle season. The top four spots in the race for this Championship Trophy are now separated by a mere 87 points (contrast that with last week when the top 4 were separated by 159 points).

Despite the tightening spread, the top four puzzlers remain unchanged. Slots 5-10 are inhabited by the same six, but in a different order. Here are the full rankings:

Current Rank	Previous	Player (Wins)	PCS Tour Points
1	1	jose (2)	477
2	2	quadsevens (2)	444
3	3	steve (1)	405
4	4	fanerman	390
5	6	daniel	260
6	9	mike scoscia's t.i. (1)	255
7	5	erin	235
8	8	neeebs	230
9	10	berkowit28 (1)	215
10	7	sax/karros	197

Others receiving votes: gil gamesh 185, loney fan 130, karina 120, cigarcow 115, jbowes 50, stolenmonkey86 50, orel 45, dusto magnifico 25, alex cora 10, delino deshields 10

Grand Finale Puzzle will be posted 7am on Sept 29, the day after the regular season ends. It's gonna be a good one.

New PCS Rankings

It was another week of getting ahead just to stay even, as another 12 folks successfully solved the Venn Diagram Puzzle* (are we getting too easy?). And with only 2 more puzzles left before the season-end prizes are awarded, it's getting awfully close at the top. QuadSevens is within 40 points of Jose, and next week Jose stands to lose some points off the back end for the first time this season.

Elsewhere in the top 5, Steve and Fanerman flip-flop the #3 and #4 spots, while Erin makes her first Top 5 appearance after an impressive leap from #12 to #5. Vacating the Top 5 was Loney Fan, whose prodigious drop from #5 to out of the Top 10 was due to this puzzle moving off the books.

*There is a slightly different scoring mechanism for puzzles in which 8+ more people solve vs fewer than 8.

Current Rank	Previous	Player (Wins)	PCS Tour Points
1	1	jose (2)	484
2	2	quadsevens (2)	444
3	4	steve (1)	355
4	3	fanerman	324
5	12	erin	195
6	9	daniel	190
7	t-10	sax/karros	187
8	14	neeebs	180
9	t-10	mike scoscia's t.i. (1)	175
10	7	berkowit28 (1)	165

Others receiving votes: loney fan 145, gil gamesh 140, karina 120, cigarcow 100, orel 95, jbowes 50, stolenmonkey86 50, dusto magnifico 40, alex cora 10, delino deshields 10

Next puzzle: Sept 22, 7am PT!

New PCS Rankings: Hole-y Moley!

Wow. An amazing twelve of you nailed this week's word search puzzle (the previous high was five, for both the Anagram and Nostradamus puzzles). But I guess you gotta get ahead just to stay even, as four of those twelve didn't even move up in ranking, and one actually moved down (that would be, ahem, Sax/Karros. Yup. Our would-be "powerhouse" debuted at #6 and has dropped every week since).

In anycase, the top two puzzlers remain unchanged, although Jose extends his lead over Quadsevens. And Fanerman, Steve, and Loney Fan all leapfrog Orel to round out the top 5. Here are the complete rankings:

Current Rank	Previous	Player (Wins)	PCS Tour Points
1	1	jose (2)	434
2	2	quadsevens (1)	356
3	4	fanerman	277
4	5	steve (1)	265
5	6	loney fan (1)	250
6	3	orel	175
7	7	berkowit28 (1)	162
8	10	gil gamesh	150
9	15	daniel	140
t-10	16	mike scoscia's t.i. (1)	137
t-10	9	sax/karros	137

Others receiving votes: erin 125, stolenmonkey86, neeebs 100, karina 82, cigarcow 62, dusto magnifico 52, alex cora 10, delino deshields 10

Next puzzle, September 11!

New PCS Rankings: It's Finally Happened

After a record eight consecutive puzzles at the top, QuadSevens (right) cedes his #1 ranking to Jose

Current Rank	Previous	Player (Wins)	PCS Tour Points
1	2	jose (2)	384
2	1	quadsevens (2)	376
3	3	orel	242
4	6	fanerman	227
5	T-4	steve (1)	215
6	T-4	loney fan (1)	200
7	T-16	berkowit28 (1)	112
8	11	stolenmonkey86	110
9	7	sax/karros	97
10	8	gil garnesh	90

Others receiving votes: erin 75, karina 72, cigarcow 62, dusto magnifico 52, daniel 50, mike scoscia's t.i. 37, neeebs 30

New Spring Snack! (=New PCS Rankings)

Apparently Jose's skill at rearranging letters extends to rearranging numbers. After swapping his #3 ranking with idle Orel's #2, Jose's relentless quest to establish a new world puzzle order continues unabated. Over the past 5 puzzles, he has progressed from being unranked to #6, #4, #3, and now #2. While Quad still has a comfortable lead, he's gonna have to get up pretty early in the morning - literally - to keep it.

Congrats as well to Erin, who made the biggest jump rankings-wise from #13 to #9.

Current Rank	Previous	Player (Wins)	PCS Tour Points
1	1	quadsevens (3)	481
2	3	jose (2)	317
3	2	orel	307
T-4	4	loney fan (1)	200
T-4	5	steve (1)	200
6	6	fanerman	177
7	7	sax/karros	87
8	8	benjamin pratt	75
9	T-13	erin	72
10	9	dusto magnifico	64

Others receiving votes: stolenmonkey86 60, cigarcow 59, karina 57, mike scoscia's t.i. 22, neebs 15, alex cora 12, berkowit28 12

P.S. I thought this was as appropriate a time as any to plug this old post and this one too.

New PCS Rankings

The new PCS Tour Rankings revealed some movement at the top. Not the very top, where Quad seems to have fended off a brief Mickelson-esque threat from Orel, rebuilding his lead from 18 points 3 puzzles ago to 140 points today. But thanks perhaps to Loney Fan's poorly-timed vacation, Jose has taken over the 3rd spot and continues his steady march up the rankings. Hope your vacation was worth 3rd place, Loney Fan.

Here are the full rankings:

Current Rank	Previous	Player (Wins)	PCS Tour Points
1	1	quadsevens (4)	514
2	2	orel	374
3	4	jose (1)	217
4	3	loney fan (1)	200
5	5	steve (1)	150
6	T-6	fanerman	127
7	T-6	sax/karros	87
8	8	benjamin pratt	75
9	10	dusto magnifico	64
10	9	stolenmonkey86	60
11	12	karina	57
12	13	cigarcow	49
T-13	11	erin	22
T-13	15	mike scioscia's t.i.	22
T-15	T-16	alex cora	12
T-15	T-16	berkowit28	12

No longer ranked: dangerion; Click here to see how rankings are calculated.

But don't lose hope, Quad-chasers: with the next puzzle Aug 4, the rankings' rolling 7-puzzle span mechanism starts to take effect, and Quad (among others) will begin to lose points off the back end. Time to make your move!

New PCS Rankings

Good morning puzzlers! As always thanks for participating, and thanks to SoSG Sax for stepping in with his intergalactic brain teaser. I just hope Joe Torre doesn't read it and get any ideas for lineup strategies...

So on to the results: Newcomer steve (unrelated to SoSG Sax) gets 1st place for nailing it first, followed by yours truly, fanerman, loney fan, and jose. Several got participation points as well.

Below are the new PCS Rankings (to see how they're calculated, click here). Quad still has a commanding lead, although a rare off-day by both him and Orel has allowed some of the field to inch a bit closer, most notably loney fan. Jose is also quickly shooting up the rankings, and steve debuts impressively in 5th place. And remember, PCS Tour Points are based on only the 7 most recent puzzles, so pretty soon points earned from the earlier puzzles will start to fall off the back end.

And finally, you may notice a new entrant named 'Sax/Karros' tied for 6th. Yes, that is the combined brainpower of SoSG Sax and SoSG Karros. Since we obviously can't answer our own puzzles, we each play the role of puzzle solver for the other's puzzles, and accrue points in the same Sax/Karros bucket. We're coming after you, Quad!

Current Rank	Previous	Player (Wins)	PCS Tour Points
1	1	quadsevens (4)	447
2	2	orel	359
3	3	loney fan (1)	185
4	6	jose	117
5	-	steve (1)	100
T-6	T-9	fanerman	77
T-6	16	sax/karros	77
8	5	benjamin pratt	75
9	7	stolenmonkey86	60
10	8	dusto magnifico	49
11	4	erin (1)	47
12	T-9	karina	42
13	12	cigarcow	34
14	11	dangarion	25
15	13	mike scioscia's t.i.	22
T-16	T-14	alex cora	12
T-16	T-14	berkowit28	12

Next puzzle, July 24!

Latest Puzzle Rankings!

Congrats to puzzlemaster Quadsevens, newcomer Jose, and SoSG Orel for each coming up with the correct solution to yesterday's puzzle (in that order). In the overall rankings, Quadsevens puts a little space between him and Orel in the battle for 1st, and Jose leaps out of nowhere to 6th place. And thanks to those who participated but didn't get the correct answer this time, you have been alloted participation points accordingly.

Here are the full Puzzle Championship Series Rankings (to see how they are tallied, click here):

Rank	Last Week	Player (Wins)	PCS Tour Points
1	1	quadsevens (4)	432
2	2	orel	344
3	3	loney fan (1)	135
4	4	erin (1)	127
5	T-5	benjamin pratt	75
6	-	jose	67
7	T-5	stolenmonkey86	60
8	T-9	dusto magnifico	39
T-9	T-12	fanerman	27
T-9	T-12	karina	27
11	8	dangarion	25
12	T-9	cigarcow	24
13	T-12	mike scioscia's t.i.	22
T-14	T-12	alex cora	12
T-14	T-12	berkowit28	12
16	7	sax	10

Next puzzle: July 17!

Puzzle Championship Series Rankings Released!

Well folks, the long-awaited first edition of SoSG's Puzzle Championship Series (PCS) Rankings - the world's most prestigious and widely-recognized measure of puzzle-solving prowess - has been calculated and released. So without further ado, here they are:

Rank	Player (Wins)	PCS Tour Points
1	quadsevens (3)	332
2	orel	314
3	Loney Fan (1)	120
4	erin (1)	117
T-5	benjamin pratt	60
T-5	stolenmonkey86	60
7	steve sax	30
8	dangarion	25
T-9	cigarcow	24
T-9	dusto magnifico	24
11	chad fonville	20
T-12	alex cora	12
T-12	berkowit28	12
T-12	fanerman	12
T-12	karina	12
T-12	mike scioscia's t.i.	12

As you can see, quadsevens is hanging onto the #1 ranking, but the last puzzle has allowed SoSG orel to close the gap.

Although I can't yet reveal exactly how the rankings are calculated, they are loosely based on the PGA and ATP Tour ranking formulas, with some necessary adjustments. Here are a few guidelines:

• They're as objective as possible, although I sometimes have to make subjective judgment calls.
• They're based on the results of a rolling 7-puzzle span, which at this time goes back to this puzzle. Thus, the results from this puzzle will no longer count after the next puzzle (the SoSG Quiz isn't considered a puzzle).
• For each puzzle, the first correct solution submitted garners the most points. The 2nd correct solution gets the 2nd-most points, and all subsequent correct solutions garner the 3rd-most points.
• Each puzzle is categorized as either easy, normal, or difficult, and a minor adjustment is made to the point totals awarded accordingly.
• There is a small point award for effort/participation, even if you don't get the right solution.
• Rankings will be updated and posted after each new puzzle.

And please keep in mind that while it took NASA almost a decade to come up with the BCS Rankings formula, these PCS Rankings were developed by one guy in about 10 minutes. So they might not be perfect and are subject to possible revision, but I think they're pretty good.

Good luck next puzzle!