http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner en-us Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:02:59 -0700 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:56:33 -0700 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m11d5-Scrambling-to-make-words-out-of-letters?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner A recent New York Times column about Word Warp reminded me of how awesome word-assembling games are. In Word Warp, you rearrange six letters into as many words as you can. The problem is that it's an iPhone app, and I could not afford an iPhon... vocabulary Jumble wordplay Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:56:33 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m11d5-Scrambling-to-make-words-out-of-letters?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d31-MerriamWebster-word-games-offer-a-quick-hit-of-fun?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner One of the best reference book sites, Merriam-Webster, goes beyond the obvious searchable dictionary and thesaurus by offering another product to appeal to word lovers: in-browser vocabulary games. The best part is that most of the games are not o... vocabulary Jumble wordplay logic puzzles Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:34:21 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d31-MerriamWebster-word-games-offer-a-quick-hit-of-fun?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d29-Mystery-Case-Files-Return-to-Ravenhearst?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner Mystery Case Files is my favorite family of hidden picture games, and the Ravenhearst series reinforces the reason why. After I finished the first installment, MCF: Ravenhearst, I could not wait to download the sequel, Return to Ravenhearst. The b... logic puzzles visual puzzles Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:12:56 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d29-Mystery-Case-Files-Return-to-Ravenhearst?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d28-In-sudoku-scandal-something-doesnt-add-up?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner OK, it's not as earth-shattering as the Bay Bridge repairs falling apart already, but the puzzle world is in a tizzy about the mysterious outsider who came out of nowhere to place third on Saturday in the Philadelphia Inquirer National Sudoku ... sudoku controversy Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:08:36 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d28-In-sudoku-scandal-something-doesnt-add-up?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d23-Indie-crosswords-every-day?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner A crossword dog that isn't Asta? Thank you, John Mann. You can get name-brand crosswords from a local newspaper, the New York Times site, and Games magazine, among many sources. But MyYahoo just turned me on to a crossword source off the beaten path... crosswords cryptic crosswords Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:12:43 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d23-Indie-crosswords-every-day?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d20-What-lawyers-do-during-nonbillable-hours?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner At least, I hope they're not billing for this. The Daily Report, a prominent newspaper for legal professionals, apparently runs a weekly crossword puzzle full of legal terms, and the publication's website runs it as well. Fortunately, lega... crosswords Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:19:36 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d20-What-lawyers-do-during-nonbillable-hours?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d15-Mystery-Case-Files-Ravenhearst?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner It's almost Halloween, and all the other game and hobby Examiners get to cover their spooky and grisly games. What I have is even better: Mystery Case Files.   MCF is a series of games in which you find various hidden objects in cluttered pictu... visual puzzles Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:10:48 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d15-Mystery-Case-Files-Ravenhearst?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d13-Set-symbols-make-an-attractive-logic-game?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner This game looks super-easy, but it has a bite. I was on the New York Times site tonight looking for the numbingly difficult (for me) math puzzles I had stumbled across yesterday when I noticed a game on the puzzle page that I hadn't seen before: Set... logic puzzles Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:59:53 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d13-Set-symbols-make-an-attractive-logic-game?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d8-Baseball-names-for-crossword-fans?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner Jacoby Ellsbury: handsome man, handsome name While watching the Red Sox hand Game 1 of the American League Division Series to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, I mulled the rich lexicon of athlete names. Any puzzler knows Bobby Orr and Mel Ott,... crosswords vocabulary sports Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:45:38 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d8-Baseball-names-for-crossword-fans?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d7-Perhaps-crosswords-dont-make-compelling-TV?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner Sure it is, Ty. You keep telling yourself that. Was I the only person who watched Merv Griffin's Crosswords? Apparently so. Wikipedia's entry was unusually mean, and even the show's website is under construction. The show has been canceled, which ex... crosswords Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:30:53 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m10d7-Perhaps-crosswords-dont-make-compelling-TV?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d30-Visual-puns?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner "eiln pu." Get it? Today I was looking for rebuses, and my corner store is too classy to carry Mickey's malt liquor. Fortunately, the Internet is a nearly endless source of time-wasters. I didn't find great rebuses in the beer-cap mold, bu... wordplay Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:48:59 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d30-Visual-puns?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d28-Appreciating-William-Safire-for-his-appreciation-of-words?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner William Safire and some guy giving him a medal. When someone dies, I try to come up with a positive effect they had on the world, even if it's just, "He was good at parties." (Sorry, Matt, that was the best I could do.) On Sunday William S... vocabulary wordplay Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:26:10 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d28-Appreciating-William-Safire-for-his-appreciation-of-words?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d24-Will-Shortz-the-face-of-American-crosswords?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner You might know this face. The founder of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is famous, even if you don't recognize his face. He used to just be the enigmatologist who ran Games magazine, which was enough to make his name well known in certain ... crosswords Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:58:36 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d24-Will-Shortz-the-face-of-American-crosswords?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d23-Jumble-grumble?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner As you can see, I suck at Jumble.Akin to last week's sudoku situation, when I am stressed out, I find a nice round of Jumble quite soothing. I have the game Jumble Madness living in the Nintendo DS on my nightstand for times when I can't sleep. Jumb... Jumble Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:06:43 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d23-Jumble-grumble?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d20-Crossword-words-that-make-me-cross-pt-2?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner Kimono sash or _ Wan Kenobi? (Image: Pitke)For the first installment of cheesy crossword words, I was able to pull most of them from my own memory. However, I still had a few, like obi and doxy, that didn't fit into a list of 10. To fill out a secon... crosswords vocabulary Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:27:56 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d20-Crossword-words-that-make-me-cross-pt-2?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d17-Some-days-call-for-sudoku?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner At The Times, easy sudoku does mean easy. If yesterday's column about cryptic crosswords made you feel as inferior to read as it made me feel to write, why not curl up with a soothing, not-too-taxing puzzle? I avoided sudoku for a long time becaus... cryptic crosswords sudoku Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:21:37 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d17-Some-days-call-for-sudoku?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d17-Stephen-Sondheim-is-smarter-than-you?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner And rather handsome, too. The trivia section of Stephen Sondheim's entry on IMDB says, "Is aficionado of puzzles, according to The New York Times." That is more of an understatement than IMDB's assertion that Lindsay Lohan "is one of ... cryptic crosswords Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:09:44 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d17-Stephen-Sondheim-is-smarter-than-you?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d15-Latin-is-for-crossword-lovers?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner Sine qua non and persona non grata, exempli gratia.The crossword in Monday's Examiner contained not just two Latin phrases, but two consecutive Latin clues, as you can sort of see from this picture. Being a card-carrying Latin scholar, I was amused.... crosswords cryptograms vocabulary Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:14:34 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d15-Latin-is-for-crossword-lovers?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d13-Crossword-words-that-make-me-cross-pt-1?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner ORT stands for Opioid Replacement Therapy. Creating a grid of interlocked letters that spells out real words is a tough task, as any Scrabble player knows. Adding the symmetrical requirements of a professional crossword increases the difficulty sign... crosswords cryptograms Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:55:17 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d13-Crossword-words-that-make-me-cross-pt-1?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d10-Let-the-games-begin?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner Solving a crossword in ink is bold, but not for everyone. Welcome to the new SF Pencil Games column, a blog for people who like crossword puzzles, sudoku, cryptograms, rebuses and other brain-teasing time wasters. I found this almost completed cros... crosswords cryptograms Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:53:16 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-8938-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner~y2009m9d10-Let-the-games-begin?cid=exrss-SF-Pencil-Games-Examiner