req.co.uk Codex newsletter #84

posted by Breadmower on Sun 25th May, 08 at 18:08:17

What's this newsletter all about then?

Welcome to the Codex newsletter, where we bring you up to speed with what's going on at the site and - more importantly - let you know the results of the weekly leaderboard, and what accolades have been awarded to the movers and shakers this week.

Bored of this waffle already? If you're receiving it by email, then you can unsubscribe by going to the blog and clicking "unsubscribe from this blog"...

In this issue

• Mr Waddy and The Assignment
  
• Ceiling Cat is watching me procrastinate
  
• Leaderboard update
• Prizegiving
• Predictions

Mr Waddy and The Assignment

OK, non-Codex news first: a couple of weeks ago I mentioned MattWaddy and his entry in a Canon photography competition. Well, time has passed, votes have been counted, and he's made it into the top ten of his category - now an "expert panel of judges" is going to pick a winner, and hopefully it'll be him. You can see the eleven photos in the top ten (yes) over here on the Canon site (his is in the Landscape category). He might not play Codex, but does read the newsletter, so feel free to woo yay in his direction down in the comments. On that note: woo yay - nice work :-)

Ceiling Cat is watching me procrastinate

OK, so you know what's coming here: I was supposed to do loads of stuff, and predictably enough, I haven't (though I have been busy, honestly). The good news is that I now have someone keeping an eye on me. Yes, Ceiling Cat is watching me procrastinate (and will presumably hiss at me if he catches me slacking off). Want to make your own Ceiling Cat? Head over to TubbyPaws and print off the Ceiling Cat papercraft.

Oh, actually - I did sort something out: req.co.uk time is correct again now, so hopefully our time-travelling headaches should subside now. Ted - don't forget to wind your watch.

Leaderboard update

When the leaderboard closed for the week, here's how things looked (rank - user - average guesses):

1st - Mr.Puzzlewit - 4.67 (12 games)
xx - Breadmower - 5.25 (8 games)
2nd - Bunnery - 5.36 (11 games)
3rd - sharon - 5.46 (39 games)
4th - DOM - 5.62 (66 games)

Total games played: 141

See the full leaderboard, along with a trend graph for the top five players on the statistics page.

Prizegiving

This week:

• The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to sharon, who was challenged 21 times
• The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to DOM, who sent 31 challenges
• The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to DOM, who played solo 51 times
• The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to Bunnery, whose codes took an average of 5.62 guesses to break
• The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to sharon, whose codes took only 4.71 guesses to break on average
• The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) goes to Bunnery, who completed a game in 7 seconds
• The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to sharon, who took 1 day 22:42:54 to finish one game
• The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to Mr.Puzzlewit, who decreased their average by 0.53
• The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to DOM, whose average increased by 1.18
• The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to DOM, who took an average of 5.62 guesses to break codes
• The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to Mr.Puzzlewit, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 4.67 over 12 games

Hmmm... quiet week: only five players on the leaderboard, and one of those frozen out - yes, Mr.Puzzlewit played a few games on Saturday night to get ahead of Breadmower, freezing him out (that'll teach him to write about himself in the third person). Anyway, Mr.Puzzlewit is our Bletchley winner for the week, with his final average of 4.67 over 12 games, following his Upgrade-winning improvement of 0.53. Nice work, Mr.Puzzlewit.

Down at the other end of the board is DOM, who played the most games (66), but also picked up four awards: Open Relay (sent 31 games), Turing (played 54 solo games), Downgrade (disimproved by 1.18) and Brute Force (final average of 5.62).

Sharon won three awards, whilst Bunnery grabbed the remaining pair: Secret Admirers (received 21 games), Plaintext (codes took an average of 4.71 guesses to find) and Deep Thought (took 1 day 22:42:54 to complete one game) for Sharon; Enigma (codes took an average of 5.62 guesses to find) and Quick Thinking (finished a game in 7 seconds) for Bunnery.

Congratulations to everyone who won an award - they'll now be visible on your personal statistics pages so that the rest of us can marvel at your skills.

Got a suggestion for a new award? Let us know - leave a comment on the blog.

See the full award details on the statistics page.

Predictions

Ah, no predictions made this week, and, uhhh, no forfeits set either. Perhaps I should leave it at that and make a quick getaway...

Until next week...

That's it for this newsletter, thanks for reading. Want to make a comment or suggestion? Leave a comment on the blog.

Remember, you've got under seven days to make your mark on this week's leaderboard... get to it!

Have fun,

Breadmower and the rest of team req.co.uk

Hiss...

Ceiling Cat hissed at me twice whilst writing this newsletter...