Prizegiving

This week:

• The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to sharon, who was challenged 44 times
• The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to DOM, who sent 53 challenges
• The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to DOM, who played solo 121 times
• The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to Smonkey, whose codes took an average of 5.5 guesses to break
• The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to DOM, whose codes took only 4.48 guesses to break on average
• The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) goes to Bunnery, who completed a game in 8 seconds
• The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to DOM, who took 1 day 23:59:44 to finish one game
• The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to sharon, who decreased their average by 0.26
• The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to Bunnery, whose average increased by 0.26
• The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to Smonkey, who took an average of 7.29 guesses to break codes
• The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to laura, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 4.6 over 10 games

274 games by 6 players, with one frozen out (ah, that'd be me). Laura was the one at the top of the board this week, with 4.6 over 10 games. Not bad, considering they were her first games in over a month. Nice work, have a Bletchley :-)

At the other end of the scale was Smonkey, who finished with an average of 7.29 over 17 games, winning the Brute Force award. Still, as well as being sent hard games, she managed to send out the hardest ones (taking an average of 5.5 guesses to find), and wins the Enigma award. The easiest games were sent by DOM (taking 4.8 guesses to find on average), who wins the Plaintext award. Not content with that, he also won the Open Relay award (sent 53 games), the Turing award (sent 122 games) and the Deep Thought award (took 1 day 23:59:44 to complete one game).

Bunnery played this week's quickest game (8 seconds), winning the Quick Thinking award, along with the Downgrade award for her disimprovement of 0.26 - oddly enough the opposite of Sharon, who won this week's Upgrade award for her improvement of 0.26. Nicely balanced there, ladies :-)

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.

Until next week...

Prizegiving

This week:

• The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to Bunnery, who was challenged 30 times
• The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to Bunnery, who sent 59 challenges
• The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to Bunnery, who played solo 12 times
• The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to Mr.Puzzlewit, whose codes took an average of 5.43 guesses to break
• The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to sharon, whose codes took only 4.5 guesses to break on average
• The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) goes to Bunnery, who completed a game in 13 seconds
• The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to sharon, who took 1 day 23:47:11 to finish one game
• The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to Bunnery, who decreased their average by 0.71
• The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to sharon, whose average increased by 0.55
• The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to DOM, who took an average of 5.38 guesses to break codes
• The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to Bunnery, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 4.71 over 21 games

Eeep - even quieter this week: 102 games by 5 players - and it's only just 5 players. Mr.Puzzlewit didn't play many games this week (8) but that was still enough to not get frozen out, as fortunately for him, Smonkey played just one game. In fact, her one game gave her the worst score (14), but seeing as she's frozen out, she doesn't win this week's Brute Force award - no, that honour goes to DOM, who finished with 5.38 over 24 games. Still, he did manage to win another award: Plaintext, for sending codes that took an average of 4.83 guesses to find. Sharon also managed to pick up a pair of awards: Deep Thought (took 1 day 23:47:11 to complete one game) and Downgrade (disimproved by 0.55). Mr.Puzzlewit was busy setting the hardest codes (taking 5.43 to find on average), and wins an Enigma award.

Finally, everything else was won by Bunnery. Yep, that's an Open Relay (sent 59 games), Secret Admirers (received 30 games), Turing (played 16 solo games), Quick Thinking (finished a game in 13 seconds), Upgrade (improved by 0.71) and this week's Bletchley award for her final score of 4.71 over 21 games. Nice work, busy 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.

Until next week...

Prizegiving

This week:

• The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to sharon, who was challenged 48 times
• The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to Bunnery, who sent 57 challenges
• The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to DOM, who played solo 123 times
• The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to Mr.Puzzlewit, whose codes took an average of 7 guesses to break
• The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to Breadmower, whose codes took only 2 guesses to break on average
• The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) goes to Bunnery, who completed a game in 9 seconds
• The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to DOM, who took 1 day 20:32:25 to finish one game
• The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to Mr.Puzzlewit, who decreased their average by 0.3
• The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to Bunnery, whose average increased by 0.79
• The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to Smonkey, who took an average of 6.25 guesses to break codes
• The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to Sharon, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 4.74 over 47 games

Ah, another quiet week - 268 games, 5 players, 1 frozen, and a similar introduction to last time. Let's face it though, I do seem to say the same things a lot... and use too many commas... and ellipsis... Anyway, enough waffle - it's too warm to be sat here, I think I need to go and sit in front of the freezer. Oh, wait, I'm waffling again. No, Ceiling Cat - don't hiss at me!

Yeah, so, this week our top player was Mr.Puzzlewit, who finished with a final average of 4.6... except for the minor fact that he'd played the fewest games this week (5), so was frozen out. Sorry Mr.Puzzlewit, this week's Bletchley award goes to Sharon, who finished with an average of 4.74 over 47 games. Nice work, Sharon. She's also the most popular player this week, winning the Secret Admirers award (received 48 games).

Bunnery was busy this week, winning the Downgrade (disimproved by 0.79), Open Relay (sent 57 games) and Quick Thinking awards (completed a game in 9 seconds). In fact, Mr.Puzzlewit and DOM also completed games in 9 seconds, so I think I'll have to let them have a Quick Thinking award each too. In addition, Mr.Puzzlewit won the Upgrade award (improved by 0.3) and the Enigma award (set codes that took an average of 7 guesses to find), whilst DOM won the Turing award (played 124 solo games) and the Deep Thought award (took 1 day 20:32:25 to finish one game).

Breadmower set the easiest codes this week (taking a rather pathetic 2 guesses to find on average), winning Plaintext, and Smonkey finished with the highest average (6.25 over 12 games), winning the Brute Force award.

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.

Until next week...

Prizegiving

This week:

• The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to sharon, who was challenged 28 times
• The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to DOM, who sent 36 challenges
• The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to DOM, who played solo 179 times
• The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to Sarah, whose codes took an average of 7 guesses to break
• The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to sharon, whose codes took only 4.62 guesses to break on average
• The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) goes to DOM, who completed a game in 11 seconds
• The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to DOM, who took 1 day 23:59:34 to finish one game
• The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to Bunnery, who decreased their average by 0.92
• The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to Breadmower, whose average increased by 1.08
• The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to DOM, who took an average of 5.19 guesses to break codes
• The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to Bunnery, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 4.63 over 19 games

Another quiet-ish week, I'm afraid: 260 games, 5 players, 1 frozen. DOM was the busiest this week, playing 201 games (just over 75% of the week's games). For his effort, he won five awards: Open Relay (sent 36 challenges), Turing (played 180 solo games), Quick Thinking (for finishing a game in 11 seconds (or -3589 if you beleive the statistics page (which is an hour out, for some reason)), Deep Thought (took 1 day 22:59:34 to complete one game) and Brute Force (for his final average of 5.19).

Elsewhere, Sharon picked up the Secret Admirers award (for receiving 28 challenges) and the Plaintext award (for setting codes that took only 4.62 guesses to find on average), whilst Sarah won Enigma (for setting codes that took an average of 7 guesses to find) and Breadmower won Downgrade (for disimproving by 1.08). Finally Bunnery found a code with one guess (winning an Optimal Algorithm award), which helped her to win this week's Bletchley award for her final average of 4.63. Nice wor, 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.

Predictions

Still nothing going on here, but I'll try to rally the troops for next week, OK?

Until next week...

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.

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...

Prizegiving

This week:

• The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to Mr.Puzzlewit, who was challenged 11 times
• The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to Bunnery, who sent 29 challenges
• The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to Mr.Puzzlewit, who played solo 13 times
• The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to Mr.Puzzlewit, whose codes took an average of 6.5 guesses to break
• The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to Bunnery, whose codes took only 4.33 guesses to break on average
• The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) goes to Mr.Puzzlewit, who completed a game in 10 seconds
• The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to DOM, who took 1 day 23:09:19 to finish one game
• The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to DOM, who decreased their average by 0.89
• The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to Bunnery, whose average increased by 0.69
• The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to laura who took an average of 6.75 guesses to break codes
• The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to DOM, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 4.44 over 9 games

I'll start with the weird one: the statistics page says that DOM won the Deep Thought award for taking 2 days 00:09:19 to finish one game. Yeah, I know - that's impossible. It's just due to the messed up date thing - it really only took him 1 day 23:09:19, so that's OK. DOM also improved the most (by 0.89) winning Upgrade, and won this week's Bletchley award for his final average of 4.44 over 9 games. Nice work, DOM.

Bunnery was busy this week, winning four awards: Open Relay (for sending 29 games), Turing (for playing 28 solo games), Enigma (she set codes that took 6.75 guesses to break on average) and Downgrade (disimproved by 0.69). Mr.Puzzlewit won a pair of awards: Secret Admirers (received 11 games) and Quick Thinking (finished a game in 10 seconds). Sharon won the Plaintext award (for setting codes that only took an average of 5 guesses to find). Finally, Laura won this week's Brute Force award for her final average of 6.75 over 4 games, despite the fact that she didn't have the highest average (Smonkey performed worse, but had played the least games).

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.

Predictions

Ah, still not normal service down here in the predictions section, so I don't really have much to say. Bunnery didn't even suggest a forfeit for anyone last week. Hmmm... I'll tell you what, how about this: to encourage me to plough on with the rcu update, how about suggestions for a forfeit for me if I don't (honestly) report that I've made some serious progress by this time next week. Bunnery can pick the winner (in lieu of setting a forfeit last week), or perhaps just set one herself if no-one else does. Actually, I'm thinking that something like "play all of my backlogged Codex games" might be one suggestion... hmmm, maybe no-one would've thought of that if I hadn't mentioned it. Never mind.

On an entirely unrelated note: Bin1, I've only just seen your question about the background - I'll try to find the place that I got it from and let you know (though I think it might've been iStockPhoto).

Until next week...

Prizegiving

This week:

• The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to sharon, who was challenged 95 times
• The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to DOM, who sent 103 challenges
• The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to DOM, who played solo 84 times
• The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to Mr.Puzzlewit, whose codes took an average of 5.52 guesses to break
• The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to Bunnery, whose codes took only 4.71 guesses to break on average
• The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) goes to Mr.Puzzlewit, who completed a game in 7 seconds
• The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to DOM, who took 1 day 23:03:31 to finish one game
• The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to Bunnery, who decreased their average by 0.87
• The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to sharon, whose average increased by 0.42
• The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to Smonkey, who took an average of 6.53 guesses to break codes
• Optimal Algorithm awards (for finding a code in one guess) go to sharon and DOM
• The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to Bunnery, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 4.54 over 13 games

So, 380 games played and only 5 players on the leaderboard. Looks like Laura was the one frozen out this week, but that's probably a good thing, considering how warm it is outside. Of course, all I know about that is the view from the window at the rcu nervecentre - I don't get to spend much time out in the big room with the blue ceiling.

Anyway, DOM won a trio of awards this week: Open Relay (sent 103 challenges), Turing (played 84 solo games) and Deep Thought (took 1 day 23:03:31 to complete one game). Sharon took away two awards: Secret Admirers (received 95 challenges) and Downgrade (disimproved by 0.42). Breadmower wins the non-existent "Read before starting to write" award for failing to include Sharon and DOM's Optimal Algorithm awards in the above count, meaning that DOM won four and Sharon won three.

Bunnery won three awards (no, really - I've checked): Plaintext (codes took an average of 4.71 to find), Upgrade (improved by 0.87) and this week's Bletchley award (final average of 4.54 over 13 games). Nice work, Bunnery. Mr.Puzzlewit was quite close behind her, with 4.71, but wins two awards as a consolation: Enigma (codes took an average of 5.52 to find) and Quick Thinking (completed a game in 7 seconds). Finally, Smonkey takes this week's Brute Force award for her final average of 6.53 over 17 games.

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.

Predictions

Last week, there was The (rather simple) Collective Noun Challenge: come up with a new collective noun for something. Suggestions comprised of "a cuteness of kittens", "a confusion of Lost viewers" and "an intellect of Codex players". Those of you who watch Lost will appreciate that (no doubt more so after tonight's episode), though I do like the ego-stroking Codex suggestion. As for a winner, well it doesn't really matter, as they were all submitted by Bunnery (I'm guessing that everyone else has been busy sunbathing and having barbecues or something). Well done anyway :-)

So, last week, we had a prediction (yes, "a" (singular)), again from Bunnery: "Breadmower, Bin1, Sharon, Bunnery" which translates to one white peg. I suppose by the same (sunbathing and BBQ) reasoning, that makes her the winner. Well done, sort of.

Normal service resumed next week, perhaps?

Until next week...

Prizegiving

This week:

• The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to Mr.Puzzlewit, who was challenged 30 times
• The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to sharon, who sent 52 challenges
• The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to DOM, who played solo 64 times
• The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to cooper, whose codes took an average of 6.33 guesses to break
• The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to DOM, whose codes took only 4.98 guesses to break on average
• The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) is a tie between Bunnery and Mr.Puzzlewit, who both completed a game in 15 seconds
• The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to sharon, who took 1 day 23:58:31 to finish one game
• The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to sharon, who decreased their average by 0.63
• The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to Bunnery, whose average increased by 0.72
• The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to Smonkey, who took an average of 8.11 guesses to break codes
• The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to sharon, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 4.91 over 33 games

So, quickly then, before I end up having to lie down for another day: Bin1 looked to be comfortably ahead for most of the week, but pushed it a little too far at the end, finishing in second place (5.0 over 10 games) behind Sharon (4.91 over 33 games), leaving Sharon with this week's Bletchley award - nice work, Sharon!

As if the Bletchley award wasn't enough, Sharon also went on to win the Open Relay award (sent 52 games), Deep Thought (took 1 day 23:58:31 to finish one game) and Upgrade (improved by 0.63). DOM played the most solo games (67), winning the Turing award, and also won the Plaintext award for setting the easiest codes (took an average of 4.98 guesses to find). The week's hardest codes were set by new-ish player Cooper, who wins the Enigma award (codes took 6.33 guesses to find on average).

Mr.Puzzlewit won an Optimal Algorithm award for finding a code in one guess, along with the Secret Admirers award (received 30 challenges) and half of the Quick Thinking award, which he shares with Bunnery for finishing a game in 15 seconds. Bunnery also disimproved the most (by 0.72), winning the Downgrade award. Finally, Smonkey is the winner of this week's Brute Force award for her final average of 8.11 over 9 games.

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.

Predictions

So, last week Bunnery and Bin1 picked a forfeit of... oh, wait, they didn't. Never mind: they predicted that this week... oh, they didn't do that either.

Prizegiving

This week:

• The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to DOM, who was challenged 90 times
• The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to DOM, who sent 120 challenges
• The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to DOM, who played solo 99 times
• The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to Mr.Puzzlewit, whose codes took an average of 5.91 guesses to break
• The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to Bunnery, whose codes took only 4.98 guesses to break on average
• The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) goes to bin1, who completed a game in 4 seconds
• The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to Bunnery, who took 1 day 23:58:04 to finish one game
• The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to bin1, who decreased their average by 1.09
• The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to DOM, whose average increased by 1.55
• The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to Smonkey, who took an average of 6.82 guesses to break codes
• The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to Bunnery, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 4.68 over 19 games

So, lots more games played this week than last week, but by less players. Yes, there were only five ranked players on the leaderboard this week (well, six if you include the one who was frozen out). On the subject of being left out in the cold, Bin1 seemed quite impressed with the new scoring system, commenting that "It looks like the new scoring system is actually working. MR P has locked out Bunnery, I'm close to being locked out... Mr P is in power!", making Bunnery a little paranoid: "I know - you are going to wait until just before midnight - and then grey me out again! Wah!!!". Perhaps he wasn't quite as impressed when he finally ended up being frozen out, though. Never mind, eh, Bin1?

Anyway, award-waffle time. DOM managed to pick up a trio of awards: Open Relay (sent 120 games), Secret Admirers (received 90 games) and Turing (played 99 solo games). Bunnery went one step better, and took home four awards: Plaintext (codes took 4.98 guesses to find on average), Deep Thought (took 1 day 23:58:04 to complete one game), Optimal Algorithm (found a code in one guess) and this week's Bletchley (for her score of 4.68 over 19 games). Nice work, Bunnery.

Bin1 ended up with a pair: Quick Thinking (completed a game in 4 seconds) and Upgrade (improved by 1.09). Ah, now I see that I've not been paying attention. DOM won the Downgrade award (for disimproving by 1.55) as well, didn't he? Of course, I could just go back and edit this, so that you'd never know that I made that mistake, but I tend to just write this as the words come into my head. Ummm, where was I? Yes, Mr.Puzzlewit and Smonkey win one award each: Enigma (codes took 5.91 guesses to find on average) and Brute Force (final average of 6.82) respectively.

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.

Predictions

Last time, we had a slightly non-standard set of predictions, but I deemed Bin1 to have been the most accurate. His forfeit for Bunnery was to tell us what bionic upgrade she'd like the most. He also congratulated me on one of the earliest newsletters yet. Of course, that's balanced out this week by the fact that it's now 22:30, and I'm still not finished... but I digress...

Prizegiving

This week:

• The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to bin1, who was challenged 114 times
• The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to Bunnery, who sent 124 challenges
• The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to bin1, who played solo 125 times
• The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to Breadmower, whose codes took an average of 7 guesses to break
• The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to Smonkey, whose codes took only 4.71 guesses to break on average
• The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) goes to bin1, who completed a game in 3 seconds
• The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to laura, who took 1 day 18:09:50 to finish one game
• The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to sharon, who decreased their average by 0.91
• The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to bin1, whose average increased by 0.63
• The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to bin1, who took an average of 5.92 guesses to break codes
• The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to DOM, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 3.67 over 6 games

This week, it seems, is all about Bin1. Well, mostly, anyway. I'll get his stuff out of the way first: whilst he finished at the bottom of the leaderboard (Brute Force - 5.92 over 232 games) due to disimproving the most (Downgrade - 0.63), he did manage to play the fastest game (Quick Thinking - 3 seconds). He also played over 200 games yesterday (2x Colossus - 2x 100 games in 24 hours), and rather unsurprisingly also played the most solo games (Turing - 126) and received the most challenges (Secret Admirers - 114) during that bin(1)ge (Smonkey's pun).

Bunnery sent the most challenges (Open Relay - 124), and Breadmower set the hardest codes (Enigma - 7 guesses to find on average). Smonkey set the easiest codes (Plaintext - 4.71), and also managed to find a code in one guess (Optimal Algorithm). Laura took the longest to finish a single game (Deep Thought - 1 day 18:09:50), and Sharon improved the most (Upgrade - 0.91).

Finally, DOM finished with the lowest average (Bletchley - 3.67 over 6 games), though he was quite close to being one of the frozen out players - saved only by Laura and Mr.Puzzlewit, playing only 5 games each. Nice work, DOM!

Thinking that this is a bit short? Yeah, well you haven't seen the next bit yet - it's, like, the biggest predictions section ever. Probably. I've even left some stuff out, you know.

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.

Predictions

Previously, we had an ambiguous result for the predictions - Bin1 had two white pegs, whilst Bunnery had a single white peg. As per usual, they each put forward a case for winning.

Bin1 put forward a simple theory: "A lone black peg means you've got one right... somewhere. Two white gives you a much better insight to the solution."

Bunnery's logic was a little more complicated (or is that complex?). Pay attention at the back - here comes the science bit:

"Consider this:

Although there were an estimated 20,000 black rhino in Kenya in the 1970s, by 1982 the population was reduced to fewer than 400. Since then, their number has increased and now stands at over 420. The number in fenced areas has risen at an average rate of four percent each year when the conditions are good.

The white rhino that are now found in Kenya were all introduced to the country from stocks in South Africa. In 2000 there were an estimated 130 white rhinos in Kenya.

So 1 black peg = 420 rhinos

and 2 white pegs = 260

So bin1 wins.

Fairer than a fiiiiiight - I'd hate to see bin1 get injured ;-) "

Now, you have to admit that that's some good reasoning, and - if it wasn't for one slight mistake - I would definitely have agreed with her that Bin1 had won. The slight mistake? She'd actually proven that she'd won, not Bin1. Fortunately, she noticed her mistake, and corrected herself: "Erm... I meant to say it was me who got the black peg therefore the black rhino count was mine! That means I win :-) If bin1 concurs with my rhino logic, that is. Maybe I should read the newsletter a little more carefully in future. Therefore as punishment for losing bin1 must write a book review on the last book he read. He can pop it in the relevant blog if he likes. Maybe I should write one too - for being so dozy.....".

Pretty clean cut... until Bin1 responded with a good counter-argument: "I disagree... plus I have a fun forfeit.Rhinos are an endangered species. So, therefore, the more you have (420) means the more outlandish the claim!". His forfeit suggestion? "provide a classic 'Heat Magazine' favourite: Famous Person I-Look-Like Picture!". OK, Bin1 - you win there.