excellent, an expert.

at last...

i've got 8 easy numbers so far. this one is going to be tricky

nevermind, still making steady progress

well, that was an easy 5 points. no guesses.

and no forcing chains, or whatever those are called

16 numbers so far, easy ones

must be tougher without greens. i saw that Expert ranking and just started filling them in

21 and stuck

Done

done... not so bad

done

easy expert?

woo, that wasnt too hard

And here I was feeling proud that I was doing pretty well.

That explains it.

hmm. wonder what drwho's rating will be

has anybody finished without green?

but the christmas lights are there for a reason!

XD

haha, i know, but i like to try first without :)

well it gets hard to track things like X-Y patterns without them

yep.

and this one had two xy groups

i haven't gotten that far yet :)

other than that it was simple exclusions and exposed / hidden singles

I don't even know what that means.

i don't have the link to the site that had all the terms and solving techniques, i'm sure someone else, especially drwho, would have it though.

Done Goodnight folks.....

if i knew what xy patterns were (and I will look them up) i'd be more concerned about marking, but generally I prefer minimal jumbling of tiny numbers. often it's easier without all the marking i think.

heh

i think it's scanraid.com, isn't it?

maybe

i got to go

l8r everyone

bye grendel :)

http://www.scanraid.com/AdvanStrategies.htm

ta kebek

kebek, thanks for asking about "green"! That prompted me to mess around and figure out you could make notations by holding down shift. I never knew that.

:) you're welcome! they definitely come in handy sometimes.

I used to just do it with pencil and paper before I knew about that feature

I mostly play on the Seattle Times Web site, and usually avoid using notations. Sometimes they help out, but other times I get annoyed at the clutter.

Are you in Seattle?

Yep. Lake Forest Park.

Ballard. :)

Did you get much snow?

Yeah. Several inches. The sidewalks and side streets were awful.

it's snowing there?

my sister lives in seattle

It snowed yesterday and also on Monday night. The snow on monday was very wet and got compacted by cars etc. and was basically a sheet of ice on the streets.

We're at the top of a hill at about 470 feet, so we were snowed in for a couple days. (It's melting now, kebek, but we had a bunch of snow earlier in the week, followed by sub-freezing temps.)

It doesn't usually stay cold enough for snow to stick around, but it was freezing the last few days.

wow, ok. it doesn't usually snow much up there, does it?

Once every year or two, and then it melts the next day. Until this year.

k :)

Woo hoo! I finished. But I only found one little xy chain thingy (I think that's what it is called)

Congrats, itzie. I don't know any of the fancy terminology thingies.

1 guess forced (wrong) forced everything to work out for me - needed to fill in lots of greens tho...

hi all

hello

I guess I'm lucky. One lucky green guess, and it was smooth sailing till the end.

Happy December, everyone. Next month at this time it will be 2007.

happy days

whoopie

now off to work. :(

bye

enjoy ;)

found an only 6!

and finished after first chain. Have a nice day, month,year :)

wow, easiest 5 pts. ever

Easy. No reds, greens, checkpoints, or guesses.

I concur--breezy! :-D

Now, back to Oct 13, a "medium" that I've been staring at for 3 days...

Ahhh.... October is complete. Now I have just a few to catch up in November....

Difficulty score 45. I filled in about 21 numbers without green or red. Then a few more with the green and got stuck. So I made 1 guess and everything fell into place.

easiest 5 points ever, says hokie. once i was sitting on the beach and somebody just walked up to me and gave me five points, so that was my easiest.

why can't i free your doubtful mind and melt your cold, cold heart?

so they say this one isn't challenging, aye?

they do be saying that

i am doing ok so far

doo be dooby dooo ...

Done!

what say you, minski? did you guess/use forcing chain?

blargh. i'm stuck

i have the 21, which drwho mentioned... i shall try to press on

our intrepid hero fights through the blinding mist of numbers

spaceman spiff?

well, i meant me, but sure

well, who doesn't want to be spaceman spiff

me. i'd prefer to be spacegirl spiff

I have to say this starts off quite easy.. already finished the bottom right box

yes, the experts oft begin easily and then turn on you. but people are saying this one is good.

yeah. it's going very quickly for me also

so that's how it feels to use a checkpoint...

i'd be spacechica

I kind of suspect this one will turn nasty on me

as do i

I didn't run into nastiness. I got a little creative with some of the moves, but that came pretty quickly.

to green or not to green, that is the question

I would concur with others that once you fill the 21... it takes one right guess to make everything else fall easily

we no wishy to guess

we wishy to logic

it is against hurshys morals to guess

No greens, backtracking, guesses, or chains for me. I think this was my first "Expert" that ran that quickly

green it, baby!

uhm.. what does 'fill the 21' mean?

yay! i feel hope

ooh, good to know zemox

good ol' MSU, aye zemoxian?

:-D

well dr who reported getting 21 without green, so i knew i could make it at least that far

i have no real affiliation with either, but my step-dad is a UM alum so it's fun to pretend to be an MSU fan ;)

for instance, around christmas it's nice to get him an MSU themed gift.

get your kicks on route 66

she doesn't look cruel, does she?

Don't let the logo fool ya. I'm not football fan, but I do have enough school spirit to watch the occaisional MSU/UM game. I'm always happy to hear that UM got crushed. :-P

yeah i'm not into sports myself

i don't *look* cruel, hursh, that's part of the surprise :D

My wife's from Kalamazoo so she really likes to talk trash with UM fans back at home.

this is what i was trying to say

i got a gal....... in kalamazoozoozoozoozoozoo

ahh, kazoo

hmm. well i've got 20 and no apparent leads

you can get one more!

looooking..

why is it that some people are just so... dislikable

?

i dunno. i kinda like everybody. it's a curse.

this student that just stopped by. he's... he's...

i don't know how to explain it. he's just kind of whiny and annoying.

ahh. a teenager?

indeed.

but many of our teenagers are ok.

hmm. true.

mebbe he'll grow into a well-rounded human being

hmmm

Oh that took one right guess, but I am glad its over

ahh. 21.

Can it be solved without a guess?

could someone explain to me what 21 means? :p

SHe found 21 numbers, was stuck on 20 for a bit...I think.

Oh.

I just saw someone mention it before, thought it was some sort of code hehe

i'm back from phone call, who's still here, btwrt

did you finish?

Me unfortunately...

ok, well i'm breaking out the moose munch to see if that helps

i think i'm going to green it though. :(

Hursh, you know alot about kitties. We have a kitten who is losing fur on it's feet and tail... can't really afford to take it to the vet at the moment. Any idea what it could be?

ringworm :(

unfortunately, you are going to have to take it to the vet

What about the other cats? We have 9.

keep it away from them, although they've probably caught it by now

unless it is NOT ringworm, that's just the most common cause of fur loss

Oh dear, calculating vet bill for nine cats.....

Maybe I can get the vet to give me something for em all if I take in the one. There isn't an over the counter?

they need a medicated ointment, antibiotics, and/or special shampoo

and they need to be confined, because it is a fungus, it spreads by spores, and you have to clean the house VERY thoroughly or they'll just pick it up again

Well, calling the vet then, maybe he'll bill me. We don't let the cats in the house though.

ah, well then you won't have to do all that cleaning

it could be something else.

but probably needs medication in any case.

if they are outdoors, then maybe they would be less likely to spread it to each other. in the house, if one gets it they all get it. so you might not need to treat them all.

I also have a stray kitty, she is pregnant, won't let us come near her. I'm a sucker for strays, tried to tame her, but no luck.

aw, poor kitty

mine are all indoor, so it's pretty different, i would imagine.

and of course, i am not a vet - i just know ringworm cause mine had it!

We used to let em come in and out, but when we moved, they just started using the bathroom all over the house, so I made em stay iout.

ringworm can be transmitted inter-species. it can also sometimes be picked up from soil. and kittens can have it without showing symptoms, thus easily passing it on to unsuspecting humans.

I would love to let em come in, but I sure don't miss the cat hair everywhere.

if left untreated it just keeps eating deeper and deeper, eats away at skin, muscle, whatever it runs into.

do i sound like a medical dictionary? lol

The kids have been playing with the kitten too, but I haven't any ring worms on them, yet... Will definately put the kitty in the kennel for now.

Yup, but it's good to have extensive knowledge of SOMETHING! lol

they are not worms, it's kind of a misnomer. it is a fungus. it would just show up as a horseshoe shaped rash - it is athlete's foot fungus.

ok, so why am I having more trouble with yesterday's "easy" puzzle than I had with today's "expert" puzzle?

but i didn't get it when my cats had it, so your kids might not get it either.

of course with humans, you can cover it with a bandage and try not to touch things with the affected area to prevent the spread of the spores. but try telling a cat not to rub up against stuff...

if your kids do get a rash, that CAN be treated over the counter with any athlete's foot medication.

I hope not.
Dunno Kitty, had a hard tim ewith todays.

brb

I got ahold the vet and he's gonna bill me if I can get there in a few minutes, and give me extra for the other kitties just in case. I love this man, thanks for the help Hursh, better get!

good luck bunny!

(you are bringing the cat, right? not relying on a non-vet internet diagnosis i hope :)

does anybody else ever find themselves tempted to say, well, if it went there, that would be too easy, so it must not go there... lol

Amazing, got it more easily than I expected! Only had to make one guess, actually two guesses, since the first one didn't work!

zemox did not use a forcing chain... hmmm...

MAYBE zemox put something in when he techinically couldn't, and didn't notice, and it just turned out to be right.

I didn't need to guess on today's at all. Or use any super-advanced strategies, either. Sometimes it seems like it just depends on where you start. Start with the 1's and it is hard, start on, let's say the 7's and it is easy. Just my take on it.

and then there's the question of whether one is having a stupid day.

and whether one gets psyched out by it being CALLED an expert. which i think i did. done now, but forced it cause i'm a wimp today.

like non-hefty trash bags

: )

hurshy, is your icon a picture of your kitty?

i have three kitties, but yes, this is one of them. his name is marty.

i am wapping him right now

what are your other kitties' names?

mitten and cinder

marty loves to be wapped. i hold him and wap his side, like as if you were burping a baby, and he purrs and purrs. he also loves to have his nose pet. he is very weird.

i have got to go now, picking up friends at the airport, nice chatting and see you later :)

I don't like playing these guessing games. They are illogical. But this time it worked out fine.

agreed, I like the logic only ones, I've had to restart this one so many times I can do the bottom right from memory

oh

guesswork isn't required if you follow through where things can/can't go

so it is a logic only puzzle it would seem

No........ I finished it, and then realized my connection was down

Reloaded the page, and I was back at my last checkpoint :(

Jeez, that was easy. Filled in all the easy ones, made a guess in the top-leftmost box where I had two choices left, and everything fell right out from there.

Hey, Brie! I feel you are thinking too hard.

working on 10/8 now. a toughie.

Good for you, JimD. I am stuggling.

hey dr a

i'm still working on todays

OK. halfway done?

done

:) Bravo! You're over 100 now!

yeah

only 100 more and you'll be doubly happy

i'm gonna give 10/8 a shot

ok. be careful

lol, always

I finished it, but I'm not proud because I made a guess.

phooey. no luck on 10/8. Off to bed. Nite all

nite dr

seeya around the campus

yup lol

lol

I'll come back to this later.

go

okay - just for the record i was helping hubby with work for the last hour

in

done