EARTHDATE: February 12, 2006

EVENT REPORTS
Page 1

Chez Guevarra on Sumatra is one of my favorite places for one big reason: the toilet is there! If you haven't been there, you simply have to visit and watch the swirling water. Be sure to wash your hands, though, or everyone will know. I had to sneak in, however, because the Water Authority still has me banned from the planet. Please, no one tell them I was there, ok?

I finally took my attention away from the swirling waters and we began the game with a simple puzzle for a warmup.

Player Names Starting with "M"
V X T N H
V E E B G H
V G B Z S I X B
V E B I U Q
V X B E H
V U B R N F F Q S N Q Y U T

This puzzle was pretty easy, with the obvious starting point of each entry starting with the same letter. Fancy finished first for 3 points, Guido received two points, and Robius got a point for third.

Social Commands (Things You Can Do to Another Player)
J A F F M Z
S O I I
Y L K E Z
T A Y
I Q O M Z
I R K Y

This puzzle, too, was fairly easy, and again Fancy finished it first. Robius finished second, and Lynnea finished third. For me, the double letters in the second entry was a good starting point.

Systems You can Reach from the Interstellar Link (DI SYSTEMS)
V K Y L Q A F
F Y B A K
R Q F O V C Z A F O K
N S Y A L
Q M I A T S P
L F M P V O K I M P Y M

This puzzle was a bit harder, with the only real starting point being the long word at the last. Monkey finished first this time, with Guido second and Fancy third!

Places in Sumatra's South Dome
Q N W R B O R / L R B J O / R N B C A O F B I
H R P - S R D R T B F T / W F Q Q F A P R O I / Q A T F J B I
T C J G / S N J E R O O R
B A F D J B
S O J J P / Z O J J M A W
Q J O E F T J / M A W J / T A W W A P

The fourth puzzle was our explorer puzzle, and wouldn't be all that hard for anyone who has explored Sumatra recently. It was a harder one, though, because there was no real starting point. Monkey again finished this puzzle first, followed by Fancy and Guido.

For our final puzzle, I decided to make everyone work for their points, especially since Monkey and Fancy were so close. I must admit I was rooting for the chimp... For me, the starting point would be the three-letter word found in several of the entries. I would try IKQ='THE'.

Reasons to Buy a New Ship
I P G Q Z / F D / I K Q / X I O G I Q G / X K P M
S Q Q Z / W F G Q / X I F G O N Q / X M O L Q
I P G Q Z / F D / I K Q / N O X / N B V V C Q G
S Q Q Z / C Q X X / X I F G O N Q / X M O L Q
S Q Q Z / I F / X M Q S Z / W F S Q J / A Q D F G Q / I K Q I O E / W O S / I O H Q X / P I
F G Z Q G Q Z / I K Q / T G F S N / X K P M / I K Q / C O X I / I P W Q

Monkey again finished first, Guido finished second, and Fancy finished third. However, when the points were counted, Fancy squeezed past Monkey for first place, Monkey received second, and Guido got the third place trophy. Lynnea received the Good Sport Medal, which had her doing her own strutting! Honorable mention should also go to Caesar and Prometheus, who usually get four of five of the entries in each puzzle, and often finish fourth or fifth.

We play Cryptograms every Saturday at 4.00pm eastern, and if you want the answers to this week's puzzles, you can email me at catspaws_fed@sbcglobal.net.

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