Just to blow my own trumpet for a change

 I finished fourth in the Excel Esports battle on Thursday morning!

You'll remember that I already qualified for the finals in battle 4, back in April, but that time I was actually seventh on the day - luckily some people higher-ranked than me were qualified already. This result is a new high!

And now I come to look at the case without the time pressure... bonus question 3 is very simple! Practically nobody in the chat on the live stream after our half hour was up had attempted it, just like I didn't, because at a quick glance it looks like it might be a complicated calculation. If I'd got the 100 points for that, and no-one else did, I might have been top of the class!

I think there's a definite pattern to Excel battles I excel in - they are the ones that lend themselves to quick mental puzzle-solving rather than particular Excel expertise. I think I have to hope for a lot of that kind of thing when it comes to the finals...