| Enigma Variations Contest Prizes
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This contest was brought to you by George Barany and Friends Crosswords, runtpuz.org, and The Art & Science of Singing. Winners will be announced on this page toward the end of January or the beginning of February, at which time we will present the solution to the contest along with our "midrash."
Individuals who submitted the correct answer in accord with the contest instructions are eligible for the prizes listed below, except that certain prizes are restricted to Grandmaster Level winners who solved the contest meta without any hints. As of the close of the contest, we had 86 Grandmaster Level and 23 Master Level winners; there were an additional 12 Honorable Mentions [we count each of the 7 "team" entries as one entry].
We thank our donors and sponsors for their generosity [please support their work!], and we also appreciate shout-outs to the contest from the Rex Parker, BEQ, Wordplay, Pat Tricks, and PuzzleNation blogs. Special mention is given to Professor S. Barry Cooper, who helped publicize the contest to fans of Alan Turing. Finally, our deepest appreciation to Martin Ashwood-Smith, Marcia Brott, Noam Elkies, Martin Herbach, Arlene Romoff, and Ellen Ross who made invaluable contributions during the development of the puzzle and throughout the contest, including adjudicating issues involving selections of winners.
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Grand Prizes, Grandmaster Level |
| [randomly drawn (click here for a YouTube video of the process, here for the website we used, and here for photo of some of the judges) from all completely correct answers of those planning to attend the respective tournament] |
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| Two Free Registrations to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament [Stamford, CT, March 27-29, 2015] |
Donated by two anonymous sponsors |
Dan Feyer* (San Francisco, CA) and John Wilson (Shoreview, MN) [*Note, Dan won the tournament!] |
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| Complimentary Registration to the Fourth Annual Minnesota Crossword Tournament [Saint Paul, MN, June 14, 2015] |
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Dan Sadoff (Saint Paul, MN) |
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| Complimentary Registration to Crosswords LA [Los Angeles, CA, October 24, 2015] |
Donated by Elissa Grossman |
Eric Maddy* (Huntington Beach, CA) [*Note, Eric won the tournament!] |
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| Autographed Puzzle Books (Crosswords and/or Other Puzzles), Grandmaster Level |
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| Author |
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Book |
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Winner |
| Cathy Allis |
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Humorous Coffee Shop Crosswords [reprint of "Humorous Crosswords" (2003)] (3 total) |
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Neville Fogarty (Lexington, KY); Todd Gross (Mesquite, NV); David Steinberg (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) |
| Martin Ashwood-Smith |
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Triple-Stack Crosswords (3 total) |
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Judy Adamski (Jenison, MI); Jane Domino (Brooklyn, NY); Jim Quinlan (Westtown, NY) |
| Patrick Berry |
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Sit & Solve Hard as a Rock Crosswords |
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Tom Pepper (Edina, MN) |
| Matt Jones |
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No Holds Barred Crosswords (2 total; partially underwritten by an anonymous donor) |
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Paolo Pasco (San Diego, CA); Phil Safier (Albuquerque, NM) |
| Patrick Merrell |
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Zep: A Puzzling Adventure and "bonus" bookmark and miniposter |
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Steve Nelson (Walnut Creek, CA) |
| Doug Peterson |
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Sit & Solve® Brain-Straining Crosswords |
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Tad Howard (Washington, DC) |
| Doug Peterson |
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Sit & Solve® Lickety-Split Crosswords |
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Scott Weiss (Walkersville, MD) |
| Will Shortz (Editor) |
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Will Shortz Picks His Favorite Puzzles: 101 of the Top Crosswords from the New York Times (2 total) |
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Seth Canetti (Port Chester, NY); Mike Weepie (Cedar Rapids, IA) |
| Will Shortz (Editor) |
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Puzzlemaster Deck: 75 Brain Twisters and Puzzlemaster Deck: 75 Mind Bogglers |
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Randy Rogers (Davenport, IA) |
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| Crossword Subscriptions (both levels) |
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| Name |
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More Information |
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Winner |
| AVCX Crosswords (Ben Tausig et al.) |
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One-year complimentary subscription (sent weekly via e-mail) |
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Yossi Fendel (Berkeley, CA) |
| Crossword Nation (Elizabeth Gorski) |
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Two-year complimentary subscription (sent weekly via e-mail) and a Crossword Nation cup designed by Liz Gorski |
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Andrew Miller (Washington, DC) |
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| Puzzle Ebooks from Puzzazz (require iPad, Phone, or iPod Touch) |
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| Author |
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E-Book |
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Winner |
| Roy Leban (Editor) |
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The Year of Puzzles (Note: also available as PDF) |
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Louis Lana (New York, NY) |
| Elizabeth Gorski |
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Connect-the-Dots Crosswords |
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Oliver & Markand Thakar (Baltimore, MD) |
| Mike Selinker |
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The Maze of Games |
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Craig Harman (Washington, DC) |
| Mike Shenk |
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Puzzability's Variety Show |
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Jeffrey Schwartz (New York, NY) |
| Bob Stigger (Editor) |
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Cryptic All-Stars |
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Brad Eldredge (Cumming, GA) |
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More Puzzle Books (underwritten by several anonymous donors) |
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| Author |
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Book |
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Winner |
| Patrick Berry and Todd McClary |
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Crowd-Pleasing Puzzles |
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Iris Broudy (Belchertown, MA) |
| Jerry N. Carolson |
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Sit & Solve® Commuter Cryptograms |
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Elma Kuntz (Aldergrove, BC Canada) |
| Amy Goldstein |
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Trivial Pursuit® Word Search Puzzles (2 total) |
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Joanne Friedman and Paul Mason (Marblehead, MA); Etan Yeshua (Arlington, VA) |
| Peter Gordon (Editor) |
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Hellaciously Hard Fireball Crosswords: 45 Ultra-Tough Puzzles (puzzles from 2013) |
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Erin Rhode (San Francisco, CA) |
| Peter Gordon (Editor) |
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Infernally Hard Fireball Crosswords: 45 Ultra-Tough Puzzles (puzzles from 2012) |
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Charlie MacFadyen (Burlington, VT) |
| Peter Gordon (Editor) |
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Sizzlingly Hard Fireball Crosswords: 45 Themeless Puzzles (themeless puzzles from 2010 and 2011) |
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Jill Palmer (Leverett, MA) |
| Peter Gordon (Editor) |
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Blazingly Hard Fireball Crosswords: 45 Themed Puzzless (themed puzzles from 2010 and 2011) |
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Tariq Samad and Karen Nemchik (Minneapolis, MN) |
| Jeffrey Harris |
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Sit & SolveĻ Pop Music Crosswords |
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Russ Williams (La Mesa, CA) |
| Landoll |
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Hours of Enjoyment! Crossword Puzzles: Vol. 29 (1994) (picked up at a garage sale; slightly used) |
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Will Glass-Husain (Burlingame, CA) |
| Frank Longo, Patrick Berry, and David Levinson Wilk |
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Crosswords Roasting on an Open Fire |
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Sharon Caraballo (Clifton, VA) |
| Brendan Emmett Quigley |
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Sit & Solve® Marching Bands (2 total) |
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Amy Goldstein (Princeton, NJ); Jeremy Horwitz (San Francisco, CA) |
| Andrew J. Ries |
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Minnesota Crosswords: 40 Fun Puzzles About the North Star State |
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Howard Cannon (Boston, MA) |
| Will Shortz (Editor) |
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The New York Times Easy Crossword Puzzles Vol. 14: 50 Monday Puzzles |
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Mukkai Krishnamoorthy (Troy, NY) |
| Will Shortz (Editor) |
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The New York Times Super Sundays: 150 Sunday Puzzles |
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Raisa and Charles Deber (Toronto, Canada) |
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| Autographed Crossword Puzzles (determined in consultation with winner) (* means additional options) |
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| Constructor |
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Puzzle |
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Winner |
| Cathy Allis |
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To Open: The Complete Instructions, published 7/24/2009 in the Wall Street Journal [click on link already given, or here for PDF] |
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Hugh Murphy (Glen Mills, PA) |
| Martin Ashwood-Smith |
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New York Times puzzles of 10/3/1997 and 5/19/2000 [the given links reveal the answers] |
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Hannah Gardner (West Chester, PA) |
| George Barany (*) |
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"Vanity" puzzle (possibly non-standard dimensions) with winner's name and other interesting info in the answer grid. Done! See Latin Lovers |
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Al and Gloria Cangahuala (Claremont, CA) |
| George Barany (*) |
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"Vanity" puzzle as per description immediately above. Done! See Come Together |
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Peter Leopold (Cambridge, MA) |
| George Barany (*) |
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"Vanity" puzzle as per description immediately above. Done! See Ode to Joy! |
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Amy Paepke (Minneapolis, MN) |
| Charles Deber |
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Playing the Angles, published 4/4/1982 in the New York Times [Deber's debut; the given link reveals answer] |
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Barry Haldiman (Lenexa, KS) |
| Victor Fleming (*) |
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Custom puzzle published 3/27/2015 in Vic Fleming's "I Swear Crossword" series. Done! |
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Howard Barkin (New Jersey) |
| Todd Gross (*) |
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Original 21x21 "tribute" to a pre-Shortz constructor; winner can help with fill and clues, as further explained here |
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David Krol (Burbank, CA) |
| Joon Pahk |
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"Double or Nothing" (published in a wordplay magazine) |
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Jennifer Gutbezahl (Somerville, MA) |
| Tom Pepper (*) |
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"Vanity" puzzle as per Barany description, above. Done! |
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Mike Phenicie (Burnsville, MN) |
| Tom Pepper (*) |
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"Vanity" puzzle as per Barany description, above. Done! See The Gang's All Here; also One Cool Thing (#187) and listen to a shoutout here [near the end of the podcast, about 2 min starting at 1:10:30] |
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Craig Mazin (La Canada, CA) |
| David Steinberg |
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New York Times puzzle of 12/12/2013 [the given link reveals answer] |
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Juanita Fernandez (Vienna, VA) |
| Alex Vratsanos |
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Unpublished puzzle circa 2012: please try Say Cheese! |
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Robert Lemke Oliver (Palo Alto, CA) |
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| Other Fun Prizes |
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| Donor |
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Description |
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Winner |
| Mike Shenk, Amy Goldstein, and Robert Leighton |
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Amazing Mind Benders 2015 Page-A-Day Calendar |
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Tyler Hinman (San Francisco, CA) |
| Jim Bernhard |
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Words Gone Wild: Fun and Games for Language Lovers |
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Dan Fisher (Westport, CT) |
| Carmela Ciuraru |
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Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms |
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Don Lloyd (Point Reyes Station, CA) |
| Charlotte Higgins |
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Latin Love Lessons: Put a Little Ovid in Your Life |
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Jorge Pontual (New York, NY) |
| Andrew Hodges |
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Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film "The Imitation Game" |
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Sam Levitin (Worcester, MA) |
| Drummond Moir |
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Just My Typo: From Sinning with the Choir to the Large Hardon Collider |
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Arthur Tansky (Philadelphia, PA) |
Nick Nash |
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Nearly Complete Conductor Kits so you can lead Enigma Variations, or any other piece of music you can think of (3 total) |
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Oren Benjamin (Arlington, VA); Lenore Jones (Palo Alto, CA); Carl Voss (Saint Paul, MN) |
| Nick Nash |
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Conducting batons (12") so you can lead Enigma Variations, or any other piece of music you can think of (4 total) |
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Kristy McGowan (Boulder, CO); Barbara Randolph-Anderson (Hopkins, MN); J. T. Williams (Pasadena, CA); Tom Williams (Medford, MA) |
| Stanley Newman |
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Cruciverbalism: A Crossword Fanatic's Guide to Life in the Grid |
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Brian McLaughlin (Upland, CA) |
| Richard Rhodes |
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Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World |
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Joel Rosenberg (San Diego, CA) |
| Sandy Wood and Kara Kovalchik |
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mental_floss Trivia: Brisk Refreshing Facts Without the Ice Cream Headache! |
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Dan Katz (North Attleboro, MA) |
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Available to All Contestants |
| Nick Nash |
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25% discount (not including shipping) for any item in the catalogue, including ersatz diplomas in cruciverbalism and Nearly Complete Conductor Kits (offer expires April 1, 2015: use the code word "enigma" to trigger the discount) |
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