I’ve been in denial about this for quite some time, hoping that I could put some more time into this blog, imagining the ways that I could make it better.  As of this week, Puzzlinks has been in existence for three years.  It was time to do some evaluation about what the future of the site would hold and I have decided not to continue.  I just can’t put enough time into the blog to make it as good as it should be and there are plenty of other great puzzle blogs out there.  (Passion For Puzzles, SmartKit, The Griddle, and su.doku.es, to name just a few.)  I have no intention of taking down the site, I just won’t be posting to it anymore.

I’ve had a lot of fun running puzzlinks and I think that the last three years have been great ones to run a puzzle blog.  Shortly after I started, there was the Starbucks crossword competition and then the Google Da Vinci Code puzzle competition.  We witnessed the rise and fall of Perplex City and the documentary Wordplay turned cruciverbalists into celebrities.  It’s not easy to turn away from this project, but I know that it’s the right decision for me.

So long, everyone, and thanks for reading.

• DailyTech – Brain Age: Not as Good for Your Brain as Claimed

  It should surprise no one that Nintendo is exaggerating in their claims about Brain Age.

  tags: brain-age, games, puzzles

• iPhone App Solves Rubik’s Cube in 20 Moves or Better | Epicenter from Wired.com

  Can’t solve the cube? Have your iPhone solve it for you.

  tags: rubiks-cube, puzzles, iphone

• Amusing Math Puzzles

  A new blog dedicated to puzzles.

  tags: puzzles, math

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Figure Ground is a unique new puzzle game from Ian Gilman.  The concept is simple, moved colored blocks around on the right to match an image on the left.  There are a couple catches though.  When blocks of the same color are laid next to each other, they are permanently attached.  Also, moving blocks of one color reveal blocks of a different color beneath.

Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube, has developed a new puzzle that is coming soon to a store near you.  The puzzle is called Rubik’s 360.  There aren’t a whole lot of details about the puzzle, but from pictures it appears to be a clear plastic ball with smaller colored balls inside.  The goal is to get each ball into the appropriately colored ring on the surface of the larger ball.

• A day in the life of a MIT Mystery Hunter – Features

  A news article about participation in the MIT Mystery Hunt.

  tags: mit, mystery-hunt, puzzles

• Galactrix

  This is a flash demo of the upcoming Puzzle Quest: Galactrix game.

  tags: galactrix, flash, game

• The Big Totem Pole Puzzle: Four Squares | Smartkit Puzzles and Brain Teasers

  An interesting math puzzle that requires you to find the volume of a collection of blocks.

  tags: puzzles, math, smartkit

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Almost three years ago, I posted about a puzzle alarm clock. Now Mensa is taking a crack at the same basic idea. To turn your alarm off, you have to solve a puzzle insuring that you are really awake. The puzzle for this alarm clock is a Simon-like puzzle as opposed to a jigsaw puzzle.

• Amazon.com: Homage To A Pied Puzzler: Ed Pegg Jr., Alan H. Schoen, Tom Rodgers: Books

  A new book about Martin Gardner.

  tags: puzzles, book, gardner

• Auditorium – Index

  Aditorium is a puzzle game in which you use tools to redirect the flow of light to hit specific targets. It’s probably not unlike puzzle games that you’ve played before, but it’s got a unique interface.

  tags: game, flash, music, puzzles

• My Favorite Math Puzzle from the US Puzzle Championship « The Number Warrior

  The title of the link says it all. From the blog of Jason Dyer.

  tags: puzzles, wpc

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• Puzzlr – Word Puzzles

  A simple word puzzle game. Find the common first two letters for a set of four words. Do this for three sets and form a new word with the resulting six letters. Clicking the question mark for a dictionary definition often makes this puzzle too easy.

  tags: puzzles, word

• Crossword covers side of building – UPI.com

  A giant crossword puzzle on the side of a building in Lvov, Ukraine.

  tags: puzzles, crossword, news

• NSP Games – Free games for your computer. MatchBlox 2 – Abrams Quest Puzzle Pack 1.

  A flash puzzle game that requires you to mave colored blocks around a grid so that they form groups of three or more. This game has a few more tricks than the standard matching game.

  tags: flash, puzzles, game

• Puzzle :: Firefox Add-ons

  This is a firefox add-on that converts any image into a simple jigsaw puzzle.

  tags: puzzles, firefox, jigsaw

• Push N Snap – flash game @ Gameshot.org – browser based games

  A transport puzzle flash game. Similar to Orbox B in some ways.

  tags: puzzles, sokoban

• 4D Sudoku

  This is actually a fairly interesting Rubik’s-Cube-like puzzle (and is only really 3D.) Arrange a collection of magnetic blocks such that every face, including the internal faces, shiw the numbers 1-9 exactly once.

  tags: sudoku, puzzles, rubiks-cube

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• Rubik’s Cube lamp is a puzzling light source – SlipperyBrick.com

  Yes, there is no end to products based on the Rubik’s Cube. The Rubik’s Cube Light lamp is exactly what it sounds like.

  tags: puzzles, rubiks-cube

• FBI issues another crypto challenge, but can you solve it? – Security

  This site features a "crypto puzzle" created by cryptanalysts at the FBI. There’s also an additional puzzle provided by the Tech Herald.

  tags: crypto, puzzles

• Notable Statistical Accomplishments of 2008 – Wordplay Blog – NYTimes.com

  A lot of fun information about a years worth of New York Times crossword puzzles.

  tags: nyt, crossword, puzzles

• onigame: Rubik’s cube book

  Wei-Hwa Huang blogs about a forthcoming book on the Rubik’s Cube that he wrote.

  tags: rubiks-cube, puzzles, book

• NYT Touch Screen Sudoku – A Puzzle Weblog all about puzzles and puzzle games – Passion for Puzzles

  A portable gadget for playing sudoku.

  tags: sudoku, nyt, puzzles

• Blaine’s Puzzle Blog: New Year’s Resolution: Exercise Your Brain

  A "Cross Number Puzzle" for all who resolved to exercise their brains more in 2009.

  tags: puzzles, cross-number

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Anyone who keeps an eye on the comments on this blog has probably found this site already, but I would just like to draw your attention to the Web Kendoku site.  It’s a site that lets you play Kenken puzzles on the web.  Enjoy!

Here’s a great post for anyone who likes woodworking and making puzzles.  The author of the post has gathered free puzzle plans from around the web.  It’s worth taking a look at, even if you don’t intend to make any of the puzzles as many fun designs are on display.

SmartKit is featuring a new puzzle by Peter Grabarchuk called Strimko.  It’s a sudoku variation where, instead of the traditional square grid divided into sections, there’s a grid of circles connected by lines.  The circles that are connected by lines create the equivalent of the internal sections.

Here’s a silly item for the puzzle lover’s holiday gift list that I found on BoingBoing Gadgets.  It’s a toilet paper holder with a puzzle.  In order to gain access to the toilet paper, you have to solve the puzzle.  I guess that’s good motivation.

We have a new site banner for puzzlinks.com, courtesy of Dave Millar over at The Griddle.  It’s been ages since I’ve done anything cosmetic with the site, so I appreciate the new look.  Click through and check it out.  Also check out Dave’s site (if you haven’t already.)

I got an email a while back about a site called Treasure Challenge that offered cash prizes for solving puzzles.  I just tried the puzzle for the first time today.  The site requires you to create a user to log in.  You are then presented with the treasure challenges for the week.  It will either tell you who solved the challenge or when the challenge will be active, or it will let you try the challenge.

First, you are presented with a series of trivia questions that shouldn’t be too difficult for anyone connected to the internet.  Some of the questions require you to click on an ad link.  The answer to the question takes you to a page that contains the answer.  For example, today’s treasure challenge was cleary sponsored by Amazon and all links went to their site.  This is, apparently, how the site makes money.  After you answer the trivia questions, you are presented with a riddle for which you only get one guess per day.

After this, thinks get a bit murky.  I haven’t gone any further, so I can’t say for certain what happens.  The rules say something about a FASTCASH round and multiple clues.  If you want to find out what that means, I suppose you’ll have to play.