Easter Egg Hunt
Latest activity Reply by Matt Tearle
on 26 Nov 2025 at 14:42
Congratulations to all the Cool Coders who have completed the problem set. I hope you weren't too cool to enjoy the silliness I put into the problems.
If you've solved the whole problem set, don't forget to help out your teammates with suggestions, tips, tricks, etc. But also, just for fun, I'm curious to see which of my many in-jokes and nerdy references you noticed. Many of the problems were inspired by things in the real world, then ported over into the chaotic fantasy world of Nedland.
I guess I'll start with the obvious real-world reference: @Ned Gulley (I make no comment about his role as insane despot in any universe, real or otherwise.)
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Hi Matt,
Nedland resembles England as it is famous for its stately gardens.
Yup, and the name of the problem references a related song.
Hi Matt,
Hi Matt,
Nedball World Cup as Football World Cup.
Hi Matt,
In the Problem 61060. Popular Word Game™ Distance and Problem 61061. Government of the Neds, by the Neds, for the Neds - Distribute the Nedsburg City Councilors
University of Nedsburg as University of Pittsburg,
The Nedsburg Times as The Pittsburg Times,
The City of Nedsburg as The City of Pittsburg,
Nedsburg city councilors as Pittsburg city councilors.
The choice of "Nedsburg" as the city name actually came from the Bridges of Nedsburg problem, which is a reference to a very similar graph theory problem about bridges and islands.
From there, the others followed pretty naturally.
However, the choice of "Times" as the newspaper comes from Popular Word Game, which is based on a ... well, popular word game that is now owned by a "Times" newspaper.
Hi Matt,
Also it resembles Indian Premier Leagure Cricket.
And the MathWorks Premier League :) Yes, MathWorks has its own cricket league!
However, neither the IPL or the English Premier League football has a trophy like the one described in the problem. But such a trophy does exist, in the country of my birth. As in the problem, the trophy is a shield and was donated by a wealthy nobleman. Good luck to everyone trying to figure it out from those clues!
Nowadays just a little clue may be too much for LLMs. 🤖
Is the trophy inspired by the "Log o' Wood"?
Nicely done. I'm convinced every sportsball league would be enhanced by some version of this. Also by something like the FA Cup (giant randomized knockout, open to every team from megarich franchise to village amateurs).
Hi Matt,
That is a happy coincidence. As mentioned elsewhere, I was originally thinking of a different city with bridges and islands, that made people wonder about how to travel around.
In another happy coincidence, that city was the home of some significant mathematicians.
This reference is quite famous, so I am almost sure is inspired by one of the first "graph" problems: Seven Bridges of Königsberg - Wikipedia
Also the name of the game itself is a reference to The Royal Game of Ur, although the rules are a bit different
Yes! Well spotted. Of course, Nebuchadnezzar II was Babylonian, not Sumerian, but the Royal Game of Ur seems to have been widespread and long-lasting, so maybe he would have played it.
I'm not saying the real Royal Game of Ur would be too complicated for King Neduchadneddar, but it would be too complicated to make a simple transition matrix for.
If not obvious, the name of the problem is a play on "to err" meaning make a mistake (maybe best known from the saying "to err is human; to forgive, divine" by Alexander Pope). It could also just be the noise you make when confused/thinking/unsure.
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