Sigh.

Imagine a game store where you walked in with a game still in plastic wrapping and a receipt and said, "I'm sorry, this isn't actually what I wanted. Can I exchange it?" and they said "Sure, and since what you wanted is the same price, no problem. $100, please."

Now imagine an airline where you call up with an unused ticket and a receipt and say, "I'm sorry, this isn't actually what I wanted. Can I exchange it?" and they said "Sure, and since what you wanted is the same price, no problem. $100, please."

I hate the airlines. I mean I really, really hate the airlines. As a community. Made so much worse by the fact that they're unavoidable for most travel.

Good puzzles and bad (and worse)

Some day, I'll get around to actually putting up a website devoted to the theory and practice of puzzle-writing, in particular Mystery-Hunt-style "open-ended" puzzles, as opposed to crosswords or sudoku or the like (there're plenty of guides to writing crosswords done by people far more qualified than I am). Among other things, I'd like to work towards an understanding of what makes a puzzle bad vs. good, and what makes a puzzle good vs. great; for as much as can be determined independently of taste.

Here's a start. The following is, objectively, without question, a bad puzzle. Indeed, perhaps the worst puzzle I've seen. Worse than my standard example of a bad puzzle (namely, "How much money do I have in my pocket?"--at least there you have a chance). Worse...oh, here, just go look: https://secure.tanga.com/puzzles/265-2-28-2007.

Meditate on it. Consider it. Then click on the solution link below it. Meditate some more. And reflect that, no matter what else may happen to you, you will never be called upon to solve this puzzle, and your life is therefore just slightly more blessed than it otherwise might have been.

[As an interesting side note: testsolving is often considered a crucial step. In this case, the author explained: "...my test solver did solve it with the couple of hints I expected to give out during the first hour...." To which I replied, Here's the thing. If the hints are necessary to solve the puzzle, then they're no longer "hints"; they're just part of the puzzle. You might as well put them into the puzzle, if people can't solve without them. (Imagine a crossword grid, where after an hour of staring you get "hints"--i.e., the clues.) This is part of the aforementioned understanding of good vs. bad, and it underscores the fact that "It was testsolved" is clearly not an actual justification for a puzzle.]