Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderSo many of these start or end with an `x*`, `(x|y)`, `[xy]` or `[^xy]` that I only see two characters I can fill in before I need to start looking at multiple constraints for the same cell and either doing combinatorics or guess-and-check. This might be fine for hard mode, but as someone who considers themselves a regexpert it's not very approachable as a first puzzle IMO. A more gradual introduction to the format would be to give a few…
This looks like it belongs in Guantanamo Bay more than it does on my screen.
Yesterday, I discovered regexle [1] and today found out that this was the inspiration for it. I think I've seen this puzzle before, but I really enjoyed myself gradually solving it while doing other things in the last two hours. I'm sharing this for anyone else who wants a way to spend their afternoon! [1]: https://regexle.com
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 610
- Total comments
- 204
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-12-03 | RegEx Crossword | andrelaszlo | 2 | 0 |
| 2017-02-08 | RegEx Crossword | andrelaszlo | 3 | 0 |
| 2021-03-12 | RegEx CrosswordFirst breakout · Best thread | andrelaszlo | 390 | 151 |
| 2023-11-02 | RegEx Crossword | nabla9 | 155 | 31 |
| 2025-10-28 | RegEx CrosswordHall induction · Latest 20+ point return | a022311 | 60 | 22 |