Update: February 2026

 Despite having suffered from a cold, I'm getting back into the swing of things. Last week, I picked up the Patchwork project again and made a little more progress in the second part. However, at the moment, I'm focusing most of my free time on something related to algorithmic puzzle solving: I made a particularly interesting independent discovery on Wednesday and I intend to type up an informal paper on the ramifications.

I've been burning a lot of my time on solving the 2025 category puzzle, but by osmosis this has inspired me to get back into setting custom Connections. The first puzzle here was set on 2/11/26 as a better version of a puzzle I've sent previously in the blog. The second was made on 2/24/26. Just as a heads up, I've been told that the first is too hard and the second is kinda lame. I recommend trying to solve the second without looking things up, as a large part of its charm is how well the cards mesh with each other.

It Just Wasn't in the Cards (v2)

Fairly Constructive