| Here's a brief sketch for you of who I am and what I've done. I was born and raised in Saskatchewan, and have lived in Western Canada for my entire life. I have a degree in computer science. I have a day job, but if you've reached this site from somewhere other than FaceBook, odds are fairly good that you're more interested in what I work on for fun instead: puzzles. Puzzles I've had a strong interest in solving puzzles since at least my early teens, and at least a passing interest in construction since then. I'm a member of the National Puzzlers' League. I've participated remotely in the MIT mystery hunt (with Codex, a great remote-solver-friendly team). I expect to participate with a (different) on-site team in 2009. I'm a decent solver - I've placed in the top 50 at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, but I'm probably more notable as a puzzle constructor. I've constructed crossword puzzles that have been published by the New York Times and most of the other North American freelance markets. As of this writing, The Walrus magazine has had one of my crosswords in every issue beginning with the first; however, that crossword is going on hiatus as of this fall. I construct more than just crosswords, however. Any puzzle I can solve, I can create, and typically at a high quality level. This includes math and logic puzzles - I've got a fairly long history of contributing puzzles for the qualifying tests hosted here every June. I've also done some interesting variety sudoku work, written crostics and cryptic crosswords, and created wordplay-based puzzles. And other stuff that isn't coming to mind, I'm sure. I'm not currently soliciting puzzle construction work, but I may accept commissions if I have the time and interest. I also enjoy co-constructing, so if you're a fellow constructor, feel free to contact me. Other Stuff I've recently inherited a digital camera, and I've had a lot of fun taking pictures with it so far. You will probably not be surprised to see that I've uploaded some of them. If you actually look at the pictures, you will soon discover that I enjoy spending time outdoors ...when I can drag myself away from my computer. What can I say? I'm a geek. I also enjoy playing games of various and sundry types, and spending time with my niece and nephews. Contact Me My spambot-findable e-mail is craigkas at myway dot com. I am on FaceBook, but I value my privacy; if I don't know who you are, I probably won't accept your friend request. |