The first submission I sent to "Imagine" magazine contained more hints then they felt were necessary. I reviewed their arguments and was quickly convinced. I was also convinced that solving the puzzle by filling in each block of the puzzle with a stamp was sufficient. I originally asked, for each puzzle, whether or not a particular square was to be shaded. This really didn’t add anything to the solution, so we decided to take it out.

In my first submission there was also an error in the solution. From then on, I have always tried to chart out the solution in detail, for this type of puzzle and for all the others.

Rubber Stamp puzzles two and three were part of a group of puzzle submissions that spanned the entire first year of issues. I happened to be at the CTY headquarters in Baltimore during the summer of 1993 while touring colleges for the fall admissions process. I left my soon-to-be editor Carol Blackburn a whole bunch of puzzles that would cover the first year of issues, as well as a few issues in the following years. Now I typically send the magazine each puzzle individually.