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The Geekword Puzzle

By Samuel Kotel Bisbee-vonKaufmann

Greetings from the Gazette's reference section! Recently I offered my crossword writing services to the Linux Gazette, which our fair editor was rather ... enthused about.

[ Sam, you didn't think I *meant* it about the caviar and champagne served by the Playboy bunnies, did you? Some people will take a figure of speech _so_ seriously... -- Ben ]

My goal with these puzzles is to provide a Linux and FOSS vocabulary brain teaser. Some of the clues and answers will be purposefully obscure in the hopes that you will look them up once you have completed the puzzle. I will also surround said parts with easier words or common "geek" culture references.

I am open to commentary, so if you feel I could be doing something better or you think you have found an error, please let me know. And before you ask, yes, I do hope to increase the size of the puzzles to the standard 15x15 (time permitting).

To your enjoyment and much head scratching,
     --Samuel Kotel Bisbee-vonKaufmann, "ravidgemole"

 

1
2
3
4
5
 *
6
7
8
9
10
*
11
12
*
13
* * *
14
15
16
17
18
*
19
20
*
21
22
23
24
* * *
25
*
26
27
28
29
30
*
31
32
*
33


[ Crossword formatting and JavaScript via Alon Altman's cwd. The ASCII-art, printable version is available here. ]

 

Across

1: Chown, not chmod
6: _assassin
10: Using libcss in USA
11: Tiny : DSL :: _ : Ubuntu
12: Test Software
13: Grab music from other's iPod
14: Popular collection of scientific programs
16: Mozilla's web CVS tool
19: Interface Data Unit
20: Upload : FTP :: Update : _
21: "32"s in ASCII
23: Maintenance package's daemon name
25: Uses sin, cos, ang., tan
26: "State of MA _ toward open source"
30: Study of electricity & electronics
31: /, sysop, x in f(x) = 0, sudo's ~
32: _tat, package of sar, iostat, and mpstat
33: Sniff
 Down

1: Output in base eight
2: Adv. queuing method
3: US gov. term for the Internet
4: Popular LISP based text editor
5: "_ the source code!"
6: _metal theme
7: Often world readable directory
8: A howto
9: Connects chipset's northbridge and RAM
15: Grip, SoundJuicer, cdparanoia
16: Clients flooding a server's connection
17: "Java & XML Data Binding" bird
18: Script kiddie tools
22: Plugin
24: Many of a common bot
27: Ectoplasmic _
28: Magn_
29: Detects buffer overflows on stacked vars

 

Solution to the last month's Geekword (ASCII version here):

 

1
E
2
D
3
I
T
4
R
E
5
S
 *
6
L
D
D
 *
E
 *
P
 *
I
 *
E
 *
7
D
I
F
F
8
F
I
N
9
D
 * *
D
 *
* *
10
T
I
D
11
E
 *
12
C
13
S
 * *
A
 *
X
 *
H
14
T
A
I
L
 *
I
 *
M
T
 * *
O
 *
T
 *
O
Y
 *
15
S
G
 * *
16
O
D

 


Talkback: Discuss this article with The Answer Gang

[BIO]

Samuel Kotel Bisbee-vonKaufmann was born ('87) and raised in the Boston, MA area. His interest in all things electronics was established early as his father was an electrician. Teaching himself HTML and web design at the age of 10, Sam has spiraled deeper into the confusion that is computer science and the FOSS community, running his first distro, Red Hat, when he was approximately 13 years old. Entering boarding high school in 2002, Northfield Mount Hermon, he found his way into the school's computer club, GEECS for Electronics, Engineering, Computers, and Science (a recursive acronym), which would allow him to share in and teach the Linux experience to future generations. Also during high school Sam was abducted into the Open and Free Technology Community (http://www.oftc.org), had his first article published, and became more involved in various communities and projects.

Sam is currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science at Boston University and continues to be involved in the FOSS community. Other hobbies include martial arts, writing, buildering, working, chess, and crossword puzzles. Then there is something about Linux, algorithms, programing, etc., but who makes money doing that?

Sam prefers programming in C++ and Bash, is fluent in Java and PHP, and while he can work in Perl, he hates it. If you would like to know more then feel free to ask.


Copyright © 2006, Samuel Kotel Bisbee-vonKaufmann. Released under the Open Publication license unless otherwise noted in the body of the article. Linux Gazette is not produced, sponsored, or endorsed by its prior host, SSC, Inc.

Published in Issue 132 of Linux Gazette, November 2006

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