Quick links: Puzzles / Other interests / Colophon
Hello! I’m Ben, or if you’ve come across me online you’re likely to be more familiar with me by the name Rubrica—I’ve been using that username for over half of my life at this point, so it feels as real as my given name! This is my personal blog; I don’t post to it all that frequently, but I still like to keep it around for when the mood strikes. You’ll mostly find puzzles here (see below), but also possibly other content depending on what I feel like posting.
As for me specifically—I’m a mathematics graduate from Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford, and I still maintain an avid interest in all things mathematical! Generally I find I lean more towards pure maths, although areas of applied maths do interest me, particularly where they intersect with topics such as differential equations or functional equations. I also enjoy recreational mathematics, even if I don’t keep as up-to-date with it as I would like these days.
In line with the above, I have previously worked as a mathematics teacher, and greatly enjoyed it, though unfortunately I am currently out of work due to poor health. The silver lining in that is that it leaves me with a little more free time to pursue my other interests when I feel able to; I tend to cultivate a wide variety of hobbies, some longer-lasting than others, as I generally enjoy the experience of learning new things. A selection of these interests is outlined below.
Puzzles
My primary fixation at the moment is puzzles! That’s a pretty vague descriptor that can mean a lot of things to different people, so to elaborate:
Puzzle video games
Video games were my first introduction to puzzles as a kid! I enjoy the classics like Portal, The Witness, and Fez, but over the past few years I’ve also been getting into more niche/indie games. Particular highlights of late include Lingo, The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass, and Pâquerette Down The Bunburrows.
Pen-and-paper puzzles
This is the type of puzzle you’re most likely to find on this blog! You’re likely familiar with Sudoku already, which made its way across the sea to become popular with Western audiences a couple of decades ago. It turns out that Nikoli, the company who created Sudoku, also created a great many other puzzles in a similar vein, which have yet to achieve the same widespread acclaim that Sudoku has but are just as good. Not all of these puzzles involve placing numbers; some involve drawing loops, or shading cells, or dividing regions, or all of the above! Nowadays, pen-and-paper puzzles are a thriving and diverse medium, and many constructors other than just Nikoli invent new puzzles and genres on a daily basis.
Physical/mechanical puzzles
Although I don’t possess a gargantuan collection, I do enjoy physical puzzles as well. These include puzzles like those produced by Hanayama, involving manipulating physical components in order to separate them from each other, or packing puzzles such as those produced by Yuu Asaka, which act like a rather devious variant of the classic jigsaw puzzle.
Other interests
I tend to flit between a lot of different interests, some of which I might talk about here! Recent fixations (other than puzzles) include knitting, LEGO, piano, and TTRPGs.
I’m also an avid consumer of various media, with a particular fondness for genre fiction such as sci-fi or fantasy, but really I’ll try most anything. Some recent favourites that come to mind include:
Novels
The Traitor Baru Cormorant (possibly my favourite novel of all time—I will recommend it to anybody who will listen); Stoner; Winter’s Orbit; 1Q84
TV and film
The Expanse; Succession; Severance; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (I haven’t got round to watching any other Star Trek shows yet, but I intend to!)
(Non-puzzle) video games
Baldur’s Gate 3; Hitman 3; all manner of interactive fiction (Heaven’s Vault and I Was a Teenage Exocolonist are two recent highlights)
Colophon
Finally, a little bit of information about this site. It’s built on WordPress (I know, I know…) using the Twenty Twenty Three theme, with a bit of customisation by myself to match the moderncv 
All text is set in Classico URW, with the exception of the ‘Ben Woodley’ logotype which is set in P22 Cilati with swash caps. Both webfonts are provided through Adobe Fonts. I should have liked to use Optima nova instead, so I could have a true italic, but goodness knows I’m not going to pay for a subscription to Monotype Fonts just for that!
My domain and my web hosting are both provided by Purely.Website, whom I can’t recommend strongly enough; they are a UK-based host who provide extremely cheap hosting plans suitable for individuals, with none of the unnecessary bells and whistles that other hosts I came across try to advertise with. (I’m not paid to endorse them or anything, I just really like them.) Previously, I have also used InstaFree for hosting, whom I can also recommend, particularly to anybody looking for free hosting; their signup process is a little peculiar, but well worth it for the personal attention and support their admin gives to users.
I have made a strong effort to make this website accessible, and compliant with Level AA of the WCAG. If you think I have missed an area where I could be more conformant with the WCAG criteria, or you have personal feedback on accessibility requirements outside the scope of those guidelines, then I encourage you to contact me, as this is a topic I prioritise highly.