The clock is ticking for the final countdown and the first challenge will be posted this afternoon at 3.15. There is always a rush to get it, and the servers will groan and creak, but hopefully not break. THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC! You have until midnight tomorrow to submit and (hopefully) get full marks for the first Challenge 1B, and you have until midnight Wednesday to get full marks for Challenge 1A, so if the servers are struggling just wait a while and try again. If you all repeatedly hammer at the pages it makes the situation worse for everyone.
One crucial change this year is that the cipher texts are not available for download, they are just displayed onscreen. You can print them out, or you can cut and paste the text from the browser window into your favourite text or word processor, but do be careful to disable automatic spelling corrections as we need you to submit a literal decryption of the text. If you (or your spell checker) think we have made a mistake, check your decryption carefully, but do not try to fix the mistake for us! You will lose marks if you do.
We will switch on the automated feedback system around 11am tomorrow so if you submit before then and make a mistake you will be able to see that and submit a corrected version. In general we only release feedback on a part B solution after the next points boundary is crossed to encourage you to correct your own work, but we are feeling generous this week, so do make use of that!
Good luck to all of you, we hope you enjoy the competition.
All the best,
Harry
