Charlie, thank you for your letter and for correcting the order of digits in my 2nd mentioning of the correct answer,-  I've immediately edited the mistaken text  and gave you the credit for pointing it out.

The puzzle was created and solved by me almost a year ago while I was on a month-long vacation in Canada, submitted about  4 month ago. The solution stored in the queue consisted of  the correct number  without any additional text.

When I wrote my letter to you I first mentioned the correct number, then referred to it as "the 1st candidate",  recalling that the result was obtained in allmost "no time".

As to your claim that "one never knows  when the right permutation will appear - at the beginning, the  middle or the end of 720-strings'  long list" -one should bear in mind that it was within d2 level of difficulty and therefore not needing heavy resources. 

I fully accept your will to expand the scope of any problem beyond the original definition, but still think that you err  regarding   the nature of the ties between the text and the body of the puzzle. 

And last but not the least, I was not  and am not offended, -during  our cooperation in the last decade I  am attentive to your remarks, corrections and suggestions and usually accept them , sometimes try to modify the suggested modifications - but it is always bona fide.

Let's keep it this way.

Edited on April 26, 2017, 4:08 pm

Posted by Ady TZIDON on 2017-04-26 15:27:51