On 25/01/19 at around 5:50 AM, mars opened the second gate and recovered the “coin”, an identification bracelet, left hidden in a tree where olives and oranges cross near a red hovse.

Alongside the “coin” was this hand-written message: “While our diagnoses may be a part of our identities, they cannot be the sole things that define us. I’ve lived too long in fear of mine, when I should still be inspired by what I can do with brilliant minds around me when I try. Knowing that fear is the mind-killer, I leave behind this bracelet of the past, and I go back to pushing the boulder up the hill. You don’t have to imagine me happy. The boulder feels much lighter this time and I know I can get it higher than ever before. See you at the top.”

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Congrats to mars for winning the first Grandmaster Puzzle Hunt (see this post for instructions and some trailheads), and gaining responsibility over this blog for at least the next year. Unfortunately there aren’t many “riches” from running GMPuzzles, so if it turns out mars is / are rational actor(s), and not an unduly sentimental patron of puzzles like former management, most projects like subscriptions will be “paused” due to excessive costs. There may still be some puzzles posted here as bonuses, but for now we expect a bit of a gap as mars assesses things. Let’s all celebrate the end of a challenging month of puzzles and other content that will take awhile to fully understand.