The Last Stand

Hey guys, and these are my last words on this blog. I found out nothing fits in Blogger, when you contribute your post on Google Docs. Comparing Blogger and Google Docs, is like comparing an old Nokia 3310 phone to an iPhone. Sorry guys, as the saying goes, "All the goods come to an end." Thanks to you. Readers, even though there are only like 5 of them.

Announcement #4 and 5

Announcement #4:
Due to infinite space-time continuum and the theory of relativity, I cannot do blog posting crosswords such as Brendan Emmett Quigley and Matt Gaffney Weekly Crossword Contest, etc. Because to do it all, it could take forever.

Announcement #5:
One of my readers told me that the crosswords are technically games, he told me if games are off the bookmark, then bookmarks should too. So I followed the rule and removed the crosswords for bookmarks. Now I have less than 30, the original list was 80 though.

Announcement #3

Announcement #3:
I will not do a crossword the same again. For example, I have done Universal Crosswords for a week in CANOE, then I will not do it again in Boston Globe. Because you know, we need to be efficient. And we don't need to taste the same dish twice. The two crosswords before this announcement will not be cancelled, they will rather be archived. Just like the Conquer Clubs.

MISFITS?

by Gary Cooper on August 15, 2012
Time: 14:50
Difficulty: 5 / 10
Quality: 8 / 10

Theme: MISFITS? - The theme answers are oxymorons. I think.
Theme answers:

• 16A: Not quite tops (SECOND BEST)
• 63A: Remake of an old standard (NEW CLASSIC)
• 10D: It may be gold to a tabloid (SOLID RUMOR)
• 28A: “I’ll be finished in a minute” (ALMOST DONE)

Word of the Puzzle: DRUPES (17D: Stone fruits)  
In botany, a drupe is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin; and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a shell (the pit, stone, or pyrene) of hardened endocarp with a seed (kernel) inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries. The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, lignified stone (or pit) is derived from the ovary wall of the flower. In an aggregate fruit composed of small, individual drupes, each individual is termed a drupelet.
Other fleshy fruits may have a stony enclosure that comes from the seed coat surrounding the seed, but such fruits are not drupes.
Some flowering plants that produce drupes are coffee, jujube, mango, olive, most palms (including date, coconut and oil palms), pistachio, white sapote, and all members of the genus Prunus, including the almond (in which the mesocarp is somewhat leathery), apricot, cherry, damson, nectarine, peach, and plum.
Corking is a nutritional disorder in stone fruit caused by a lack of boron and/or calcium.

2 crosswords in a day, impressive, huh? I’m not sure with the theme, but it seems like an oxymoron to me. Other oxymorons like jumbo shrimp, living dead, pretty ugly, etc. If you don’t know what an oxymoron is, let me tell you: An oxymoron is a phrase that is formed by two words, and are antonyms each other. Like pretty is the opposite of ugly, but the word pretty ugly, pretty means “fairly”. That’s how it works.

I’ve been messing this clue for like 3 minutes. I still cannot get what the fruit is until I smashed my head on the keyboard. I tried from DURIAN → GUAVAS → APPLES → GRAPES → PLUMES → DRUPES. I had to say THAT WAS HARD! That was the third hardest crossword clue/answer that I have ever encountered. The first was a crossword about bands and one of the theme clue was “Isolated like a boss” and the answer was THE LONELY ISLAND. The second one was a crossword about medieval times. And the clue was “Nerds in democratic France” and the answer was RENAISSANCE FAIR. The second was my favorite clue though.
 
I don’t want to complain, but words like OREO, ERA, DELI, ERE, EMIR and OBOE has appeared too many times. That’s why I hate crosswordese.

Bullets:

• 1A: Some turns (LEFTS) Do you know that I’m a leftie?
• 15A: Mammal whacked in an arcade game (MOLE) That’s the reason why I laughed in Austin Powers.
• 38A: Broadway’s “____ Yankees” (DAMN) Didn’t expect profanity on crosswords. Except for a PEN IS on a NYT. (That really happened before.)
• 30D: Made typo-free (EDITED) Do you know that tyops rarely happen to me?

JAIL TERM

by Raz Kelper on August 14, 2012
Time: 17:03
Difficulty: 4 / 10
Quality: 6 / 10
Theme: JAIL TERM - I don’t really know.
Theme answers:

• 17A: Like an inmate’s dislocated shoulder? (OUT OF JOINT)
• 58A: Con’s writing implement (FELT TIP PEN)
• 10D: Cartes du jour (BILLS OF FARE)
• 25D: Allowable (PERMISSIBLE)

Oops, no bullets today. Sorry guys, because I just deleted the page, and I have to play again to get the clues. And it’s very complicated. As the scores might change, I decided not to put bullets in this one. This crossword only.

I’m no mafia, and I don’t know these terms. Then I checked on Google Dictionary, and 2 of them are slang terms of prison. I didn’t know prisons have so many slangs. Last time, someone made a video about rapping 100 slangs of money, and they really are 100 slangs.

Out of joint seems scary, and I have never used a felt tip pen. What is that? Is that even close to a fluorescent pen? Well, I have to use it to know it. And shouldn’t cartes du jour be a menu? How should it be related to a prison? Well the only useless fact that I only know about prisons is that in the 1997 Canadian horror film “Cube”, every character is named after a prison. Alderson, Quentin, Kazan, etc. The movie was not that good, but at least better than its sequels.

We have no word of the day so just skip to the next section. This is the first time that I see a variation and the correct spelling in the same crossword. (In this case, it’s RANEE and RANI) I don’t know why does every crossword editor puts an Arabic word in it. But I think this is just a fit of a crosswordese. Talking about crosswordese, let’s talk about poetic terms. EER, OER, SAYST. They’re all from poems. Notably from Shakespeare. So remember kids, the less the crosswordese, the better the quality. (The quality of my crosswords: -1)

Announcement #1

Here's an announcement:
I will not do Conquer Club anymore. After hundreds of votes, I decide not to do Conquer Club any further, mainly because it's a game, which is not what I want.

P.S. The games before the announcement will not deleted, they will be archived in the blog.

Age of Realms 1: Might Map

Age of Realms 1: Might Map

Why is there Dub? Wub Wub Wub!



Map Pic

Profile

Game Commentary

Round 1 & 2

Round 3

Round 4

Map Pic

Profile

Game Type

Assassin

Initial Troops

Manual

Play Order

Freestyle

Spoils

Nuclear

Reinforcements

Chained

Special Gameplay

No

Round Limit

20 Rounds

Round Length

24 Hours

Game Commentary

Round 1 & 2

I get 4 games per day, problem? This is how I live. Well, not exactly. But mostly. The first thing that I noticed on the map is the names of the lands. Eon? Der? Taft? Bin? These are from crossword answers, not original researches! And I’m not surprised that there was a market or a bakery. But a Dub? Wub Wub Wub? Seriously, it’s pssting me off.

Round 3

I get 8 troops this round, 5 from the castle, 3 from the regions. Well I can understand the castle part. But seriously? 1 troop per region? That’s like a 80% off iPhone! Well, I followed the instructions and conquered the land of “Buhy”. The next spoil is “Ghyr”. Man, how could I suppose to get there? By plane? I need like 4 or 5 rounds to get there. And dat RedBaron0 had one port in his hands, that means he could attack me at anytime. Why does the world hate me so much?

Round 4

OK, I’ll just state a short description, then I’ll go to sleep. It’s very late right now. And this round sucks. I get 8 troops, put it on Por and send it to Voigth. A dangerous move, well done.

End Round

That’s why I hate assassin’s mode. Because I died. Immediately. Without warning. I had to say that was quick.

Quick Post 1

Because Conquer Club is a 24-hour game, I decided to activate another bookmark at the same time. To keep me from boredom.

13 Colonies Map (Conquer Club)

13 Colonies (Conquer Club)

I have never thought that the Revolutionary War was that... stupid...

Map Pic

Profile

Special Rules

Districts, Ships and Territories:

Game Commentary

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8

Round 9

Map Pic

Profile

Game Type:
Terminator
Initial Troops:
Automatic
Play Order:
Freestyle
Spoils:
Escalating
Reinforcements:
Chained
Special Gameplay:
No

Special Rules

• If you hold the two French Ships, Chesapeake Bay and Tybee Roads, and all of Georgia and Virginia, you get two troops.
• If you hold the two English Ships, Boston and Brooklyn Heights, and its landing points, Cape Cod and Long Island, you get three troops.
• The Indian Tribes will kill your troops and revert to neutral +2 when your troop stay over 2 rounds.
• If you hold 2 colonies, you get three troops. If you hold 3, you get four. And so on, until you hold the maximum colony bonus of 8, then you get nine troops.

Districts, Ships and Territories:

(Connecticut, Delaware, English Ship, French Ship, Georgia, Indian Tribes, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia)

Connecticut:
Connecticut

Delaware:
Delaware

English Ship:
Boston
Brooklyn Heights

French Ship:
Chesapeake Bay
Tybee Roads

Georgia:
Chattahoochee
Okmulgee
Savannah

Indian Territory:
Algonquin Territory
Shawnee Territory

Maryland:
Baltimore
Delmarva
St. Mary

Massachusetts:
Bunker Hill
Cape Cod
Castine
Massachusetts Bay

New Hampshire:
Coos
Exeter
Winnipesaukee

New Jersey:
Bergen
Burlington
Trenton

New York:
Bemis Heights
Long Island
New York
Saratoga

North Carolina:
Guildford Courthouse
Halifax
Raleigh
Wilmington

Pennsylvania:
Allegheny
Fort Pitt
Philadelphia
Valley Forge

Rhode Island:
Rhode Island

South Carolina:
Camden
Charles Town
Fort Prince George

Virginia:
Appalachia
Arlington
Roanoke
Yorktown

Game Commentary

Round 1

Hey guys, sorry for the absence for like 3 months. I decided to let my reports to be a demonstration as a thing I’ll do the same as Wikipedia -- the end of my bookmarks. I haven’t played this for like half an year, so let’s get started!

My first reaction is: WTF?! Maine = Massachusetts? Then I realized Maine is not in the original 13 colonies. Or is it? Well, food for thought. I put my three troops on Baltimore, it’s a more dangerous place, I need to learn how to defense, or defence.

Round 2

If you don’t know, I’m the pink one. (End of commentary.) What? Too soon? OK, apparently this has nothing to say, I only put three troops in Baltimore again.

Round 3

Ditto.

Round 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8

Apparently, I don’t have time to, you know, contribute this commentary. This type of elevation that stimulates the stimulation of the condemnation of the excitation of this documentation. OK, no -ations any more.

I assaulted like 3 regions, but I was assaulted 7 times. Seriously, why is it all me? At least I stuck that guy in Appalachia. By the way, I skipped the 7th round.

Round 9

Looks like I’m dead again, well this happens very often. Thanks for reading this post and as always, an useless fact, the original Monopoly was circular.

Classic Map

Original document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JAEakNBw2b4efWGRsCP8LCdRfd6WVGSir2WZxxJ8bCg/edit

Classic Map

Profile:
Game Type

Standard

Initial Troops

Manual

Play Order

Freestyle

Spoils

No Spoils

Reinforcements

Unlimited

Fog of War

Yes

Round Limit

None

Round Length

24 Hours

Cities:

(Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America)

Cairo

Cape Town

Dakar

Johannesburg

Lagos

Nairobi

Astana

Bangkok

Beijing

Delhi

Dubai

Hong Kong

Magadan

Manila

Mumbai

Novosibirsk

Tokyo

Yakutsk

Berlin

Istanbul

London

Madrid

Moscow

Reykjavik

Stockholm

Jakarta

Perth

Port Moresby

Sydney

Anchorage

Chicago

Edmonton

Havana

Los Angeles

Mexico City

Montreal

New York

Vancouver

Bogota

Buenos Aires

Lima

Sao Paulo

Round 1

I am blue, and I put my troops in Madrid, not sure why. But something is sure, Madrid bordered 4 cities so that’s a pretty good reason for why I put my troops in Madrid. (I’m not from Spain.)

Round 2

I can’t choose where to put my troops, so I decided to put my 3 troops at the start more than 3 steps from H&D (hub and danger). A wise decision, huh? And I did the pacifist choice, which is not attacking anyone in 1 round. But maybe someone could attack me. I better warn myself that.

Round 3

Trip to Russia for 6.... anyone? Well I got it. Not the real trip, but 6 troops in Russia is mine “at the moment”. Still, anyone go to Novosibirsk or Yakutsk around this month? Pretty cold there, and also remote. 13 in Madrid, don’t know why they put it Madrid not Barcelona, and yes, this is disturbing.

Round 4

Unplayed.

Round 5

OK guys, there’s a good news and a bad news. The bad news is, I missed a round. Well the good news is, because I missed a round, I have 6 troops! (3+3=6, I think you could do the math yourself, please.)

Again, some Infernal Affairs (American: The Departed) tried to attack me from my troop in Novosibirsk from about 3000 miles away (4000 miles for who uses metric just like me and other 190~200 countries as a basis unless you’re from Liberia, Myanmar or USA.) How to pronounce that city? Eye-dee-kay. Well I was originally going to put it in London, but then I realized I had a deferred troop, so I changed my mind and again and again and again and again and again and again.

Round 6

New round, new risk. I decided to attack Magadan which is pretty a dumb choice. I should prepare to defense other players’ troops. Well Beijing (currently conquered by Jamie) probably could attack me, but his round has ended. So if I could get earlier than him, I maybe could attack him. But, no.

Round 7 & 8

Sorry, I was too late to type Round 7, so I put it with Round 8 together.

OK, my goal in this game is to conquer the whole Eurasia to get enough bonuses I need. Since there are 19 cities in Eurasia, seems like I had to do it one at a time!

Round 9

Whoa! Magadan Attack! Double Threat Warning! This is what I call a double-trouble-bubble.

Well I only had 6 regions, unlike other people. But notably, 3 got 9 at the same time! That’s memorable for sure.

Round 10

Another round, another danger. I am still far away from the goal of the Eurasia “conquership”. You’ll be surprised, unless you’re the Mongols. That empire was pretty big though. Overall, Jamie is going to attack me from Moscow, then I used my reinforcement. First time in this game, not in this club though. But, still, pretty impressing.

Round 11

I’m taking over half of the Europe! Not sure why the Moscow attack works, it shouldn’t though. By the way, Istanbul is an European city? I thought Istanbul is both European and Asian! It should have a bi-color text!


I’m taking over half of the Europe! Not sure why the Moscow attack works, it shouldn’t though. By the way, Istanbul is an European city? I thought Istanbul is both European and Asian! It should have a bi-color text!

Round 12

Jamie was eliminated, that’s ironic! Because I remember days ago, he still had like 12 regions! Hmm.... bad luck for him. Whoa! 1 city left to conquer the whole Europe, hope there’s not even one CCCCCCCCCOMBO BREAKER! to break my combo.

Round 13

Unplayed.

Round 14 & 15

Europe conquered! I hope this round won’t be a CCCOMBO BREAKER! round. Hope no one breaks my combo. 8 troops, can you believe it? That’s like Kim Kardashian putting her head in a blender! That’s a bad metaphor, I know.

Round 16

Le five extra troops has finally arrived! (Rage comics reference). Now, next goal, conquer the whole world. Mwahahahaha, Ok, not the evil scientist laugh. Yakutsk (currently remoted) kinda lonely though. Well I have some thing up

my sleeves and you’ll never know what it is. What is it? A box of chocolate!

Round 17

That cr1961 guy’s pretty impressing, from 6 to 20 regions in one night, what a call! Well at least he doesn’t affect on me, that’s what I call revenge! Damn keyboard, why does every time I wanted to type the letter !, it turned to @? Le dawn of a combo breaker broke my combo on Reykjavik, only 1 round of sweet 8 troops, what a hoe!

Round 18 & 19

Time to invade other continents! Better watch out for cr1961! Although I still don’t notice his large regions and troops. Well, it’ll eventually come after me. So I better pack up those 8 troops and ready to conquer! That’s why this club’s called Conquer Club!  

Round 20, 21, 22 & 23

A four-part season finale! Actually, 3 though, I missed one of them. cr1961 conquered the whole map! I am the runner-up, but I missed 9 points during the game. What a jerk! #amateurofalltrades-bookmarksatoz, call me!