Just send me an e-mail with "subscribe" in the subject line. Please also include a levy of one puzzle (more are always welcome, of course), along with its answer, preferably a screen or so down. Although I will try them, I ask the answer because I wouldn't put it past some of you to send me an answer-less puzzle. It would be lovely if the puzzle more or less fit the parameters discussed in "what kind of puzzles", but if you have a really good one that doesn't, send it along anyway.
I should warn you that I reserve the right to embroider, adapt, and/or obfuscate your puzzle to death. If you don't want me to alter it, let me know at the top of the e-mail.
Also let me know if you made the puzzle up - I want to give the right kind of credit!
Lastly, please send it in the body of the e-mail, not as an attachment - I have been trained to treat attachments with deep suspicion.
If you know a bunch of great puzzles I'm happy to hear them all, but if you only have the inclination to send the required singleton please make it the most interesting or obscure - I'm probably going to get the most common puzzles umpty-nine times anyway.
A variety, but usually ones that require a bit of abstract thought. Some logic, some random knowledge, some mathematical. I have a fondness for puzzles with an "ah ha!" aspect; my favorites are those that you are convinced are insoluble five minutes before you solve them.
I *will not* have: number series, fill-in-the-blank math problems, logic puzzles of the sort "A sat next to B, and C was wearing a sunbonnet . . . . Who was E sitting next to?", etc. Basically, I want it to be a fun and interesting puzzle, not a note-taking exercise. Someone should be able to do it without involving pencil and paper, although some (such as coin-weighing puzzles) might profit from a few jottings to keep things straight.
The first two puzzles in the archive (i and ii) are a decent sample, although they stem from some of the most common puzzles floating around out there. You may well have seen them both before; judge by their kind, not their content. They represent the easy end of the spectrum. You can brouse through the archive further for a better idea; i and ii were just the puzzles I included in the initial invitation.
In the other direction, it should not be a puzzle requiring a lot of questions. Or any questions, really. Puzzle iii in the archive is a borderline puzzle in that direction - you can do it without questions, but it requires a certain number of assumptions. I know this is selfish, but I'm here to distribute neat puzzles, not answer oodles of questions.
Finally, I give you fair warning: if you want a two-line puzzle, look elsewhere. I like stories, and so part of my alteration is likely to be to put your puzzle into my random little storyline - the more so because many puzzles seem so strange and arbitrary without some context. If narratives drive you nuts, look elsewhere! By all means, though, send me three-line puzzles; it leaves me more fun in terms of embroidery.
Not much, don't worry. I'll send you one puzzle a week - narrative in form, but I will try to restrain my verbosity to under 500 words; usually the body of the puzzle will be around 400. The same e-mail will also contain the answer to the previous week's puzzle.
When you send me a puzzle (including the one with your subscription), I will send you a confirmation and might ask for clarification. Aside from that you won't hear from me. If I have any announcements (e.g. I have to flee the country, so the puzzle-of-the-week is hereby ended) I will just send it along with the weekly puzzle. Or instead of the weekly puzzle, as the case may be.
You can unsubscribe at any time by sending me an e-mail. No hard feelings.
I promise not to sell your e-mail to the spammers. Nor will I use it for any other nefarious purposes. I will hide the recipient list when I send the weekly e-mail, so no one else will get their hands on the list.
I will give credit for the puzzles to whoever sent it first, along with a special note if they made it up. I will only use your first name (assuming I know it) unless you specify otherwise. If I don't have your name, I guess I will use your username, unless you ask to remain anonymous.
Last updated September 5, 2004 by Annaka