I suppose in some philosophical sense it always is today, but what I really mean is "It's today!!! The Cipher Challenge starts today!!!!!!". The first challenge will be published at 3.15 this afternoon BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO DOWNLOAD IT THEN. Sorry to shout, but if you all try to get on the site at or just before that time, it will take you all forever to get in. The server should be able to cope, but there are a lot of you (well over 1,000 teams already) and a relatively narrow tube that the electrons have to fit through (or something).
We have set up the scoring system so you have plenty of time to get the challenge, solve it and post the solution to Challenge 1B and still get top points (time doesn't matter for Challenge A which is marked entirely on accuracy). You can always see the points schedule for a given challenge B by clicking on the link which says "Points Scheme", right next to the Challenge itself. For Challenge 1 it is as follows:
10 points before midnight tomorrow, then one point less each day until midnight Sunday 21st October when the points reach 0.
So even if you don't download the challenge until tomorrow teatime you will have a few hours left to get maximum points. In any case the points for Challenges 1B and 2B won't count towards your final position in the overall leader board as these are practice rounds, so please don't crash our beautiful server in a stampede to get the challenges this afternoon. If it is busy take five minutes out to do your Zen deep breathing exercises or to look up "Index of Coincidence" in your favourite code-breaking manual (just kidding) then try again.
Now, more exciting news. It's today, it's today!!!!!! No, not the launch of the first challenge, we already did that in the paragraphs above. This is the stupendous coincidence that our old friend Simon Singh has a new book out today, The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets. It is a fact well known to Mathematicians that text books are yellow, at least the Springer ones are, and I like to think that this was the inspiration for the jacket design of Simon's book, though I suspect it has more to do with the Simpsons themselves. It is also well known in the field that the writers of The Simpsons have advanced degrees in mathematics and buried a lot of in-jokes in the scripts. Simon has delved into the series to bring those jokes to life for the uninitiated and in the process has produced perhaps the funniest maths text book ever, or at least the funniest one in a yellow cover. (Springer maths books have many strengths, but humour is not one of them).
Simon is a longstanding supporter of the Challenge and he has offered 8 autographed copies of the book to be awarded to participants in the first round, so sharpen your pencils and get a submission in. Everyone who successfully cracks Challenge 1A will be entered into a draw for the books. Probably best to give them to your school library so everyone can enjoy them.
Now I have to return to the Black Chamber to prepare for the launch this afternoon, see you all later,
Harry