Fed II Star - March 19, 2006

CRYPTOGRAMS
Saturday March 11
by Catspaws

Godot's Snacks on Earth is an exciting place to pick up a quick snack. The smells are delightful, and there is a tank full of creatures that can entertain a feline for hours. This snack bar also encourages one to do what my mother always told me to do: play with one's food!

After I had chased my snack around for a while, it was time for our weekly game of Cryptograms. Robius joined us from Dryad via the channel, as he is wont to do since there are less distractions for him there (and I think he's afraid of Godot as well) but the rest of the players came to Earth to play. Our warmup puzzle was a simple one, and Fancy, Gilar, Robius finished it easily.

COMMODITIES FOUND IN ABUNDANCE ON AGRICULTURAL WORLDS
L N N G M
Q P G I M
M J P R I M
S E X M
S X E P H
T I Y H M

The second puzzle was a bit more of a challenge, yet Gilar, Robius, Fancy managed to finish it in good time.

THINGS IN A PLANET DISPLAY (When you issue the command DI PLANET planetname)
B O B C A I / Z P I A
I A J T Y P Z C / R H A A C
G V J Q R V J T A
A T V Z V I O
V G Z A J / Z P I A
B Y F N O P J U / I P J Q L N

Our third puzzle was a bit more challenging as I was a bit sneakier than usual and only one of the players listed was actually online at the time of the game, yet Gwaptiva, Gilar, Fancy, Zadymka finished the puzzle... yay! Zadymka!

MANUFACTURERS IN FED II
H N A O G K
E Q Z N A M R Z
L Z I Z Y V O Z
I B Y Y P Z
W G T A D E Y A P
W A M O I M Y E

I've never made a secret of the fact that I'm not a big fan of playing the futures market, though in some ways it amuses me. It didn't seem to amuse Fancy, Gilar, Robius all that much as they struggled to finish the puzzle.

I SEE IN YOUR FUTURE....
Z C J Q / R H F K Q
J X J R Q L J F W L
V C H A F L / K C O O
Q P K D C L A Q / Q M Q L I
O F N X F B C I Q
M C O X Q

Cryptograms tries to insert at least one interesting and potentially educational puzzle each week, and since all our players were of an appropriate rank that they should have been thinking about creating their own planets, and hopefully had explored the demo planets on Magrathea (it turned out some didn't even know the demos where there), our final puzzle dealt with the places on the demo planets where you could hold a party - the bars. Fancy, Robius, Gilar finished the puzzle, and at least one player found his/her way to Magrathea to explore the demo planets during the game.

PARTY ON MAGRATHEA - WHERE'S THE FOOD?
M L R B U / Z L V
W K S P O B G / Z L V / L R B / H V O F F
P R K Q / I T G G R ' P / W K P S G F
S V K H F K B U S G / L R B / S L R E L V B
M K R S V K F / V K K D
P T R P W O R G / Z L V

When the scores were tallied, Fancy barely squeaked past Gilar, and Robius finished third. Join us each Saturday at 4.00pm eastern for Cryptograms, the game that gives your brain an exercise. And if you want the answers to this week's puzzles you can email me at catspaws_fed@sbcglobal.net.