I normally print the ground rules in the September/October issue of the column. However, space considerations have not permitted that policy for 2017. Instead I include the 2017 ground rules here.
In each issue I present three regular problems, the first of which
is normally related to bridge, chess, or some other game, and one
speed
problem.
Readers are invited to submit solutions to the regular problems, and
two columns later, one solution is printed for each; I also list
other readers who responded.
Solutions appear two issues later.
For example, solutions to problems in the September/October issue
will appear in the January/February column, which I will need to
submit in mid October.
Please try to send your solutions early.
Late solutions, as well as comments on published solutions, are
acknowledged in subsequent issues in the Other Responders
section.
Major corrections or additions to published solutions are sometimes
printed in the Better Late Than Never
section, as are
solutions to previously unsolved problems.
For speed problems the procedure is quite different. Often whimsical, these problems should not be taken too seriously. If the proposer submits a solution with the problem, that solution appears at the end of the same column in which the problem is published. For example, the solution to this issue's speed problem is given on the facing page. Only rarely are comments on speed problems published.
There is also an annual problem, published in the first issue of each year, and sometimes I go back into history to republish problems that have remained unsolved.