Concatenation.

I am still getting used to being back at home and hopefully to using my journal again, so I'm not quite ready to write extensive things about the recent NPL Convention. But I'm still surprised at how quickly and wildly the convention experience veers from what would be expected of a stereotypical "Puzzlers' Convention" and what wouldn't. From the stereotypical section, there's going out to a Mexican restaurant after midnight and using napkins to group-anagram the names of people on a Mexitastic mural.

Sadly, most of the unstereotypical conversation is more-or-less classified.

WedNYTX: 5:30.

Motherfucking Sudoku.

Before my trip to San Antonio, I picked up The Sudoku Code to solve on the plane. I thought it would be a nice pure-logic counterbalance to the scores of cryptic crosswords I expected to be doing at Con. I didn't solve much of it though, because I instead got the logic fix from my newly acquired Tsuukin Hitofude (a sequel to the available-in-America Polarium). I've solved a few of the puzzles in the book since I got back, and it's fun so far. It's nice to be able to skip ahead after the secret message is revealed, though I'm certain I'll be going back to check my work later.

Anyway.

One of the authors has a new book out, and it is surely the most awesome sudoku book ever. I realize that when you're talking about small, fairly limited logic puzzles, the bar of awesomeness is set fairly low. But read the publisher's description, and you may see where I'm going with this:

When we said we wanted to combine the excitement of Snakes on a Plane with the intellectual stimulation of sudoku, everyone said we were crazy. Well, who's crazy now? We totally took regular sudoku puzzles, got rid of those safe 3-by-3 squares, and replaced them with deadly snakes. There are over 1,500 snakes in this book, and [Samuel L. Jackson] isn't here to help you. Are you ready for the challenge?

If you don't know the history of Snakes on a Sudoku, you should check out the site of the author, Francis Heaney. There you will also be able to solve the first two Snakes on a Sudokus.

Oh, if only I could have solved these motherfucking sudoku on the motherfucking plane.