Chess puzzle

Tech companies are infamous for torturing career hopefuls with mind-melters during interviews. This week, you’ll try your hand at one without the stress of job prospects on your shoulders. Google is rumored to have used this puzzle over the years, although it has since retired the practice altogether.No Google AI Search, I Don’t Need to Learn About the “Benefits of Slavery” I encountered this puzzle a long time ago, and it sounded to me like it would be tedious, so I didn’t give it much thought. Recently, I decided to…

Image: Photo: Shutterstock Graphics: Vicky LetaGames are a bottomless reservoir of puzzle inspiration. This is because games and puzzles both tend to be founded on a concise set of logical rules. This week’s puzzle concerns one of the simplest strategy games ever devised: tic-tac-toe. Don’t feel too assured, though. You may be a tic-tac-toe expert, but have you ever tried to play it backwards?Did you miss last week’s puzzle? Check it out here, and find its solution at the bottom of today’s article. Be careful not to read…