17x17: Paper that solved it available!/A contest inspired by it!/NPC result inspired by it!

Three new 17×17 items:

1. The paper (and some sequels) that SOLVED the 17×17 problem and the 17×18 problem are now available here. The first three papers are relevent.
   
2. There is a contest going on (it started Tuesday) INSPIRED by my 17×17 problem. In brief, they want to, for all c=2,3,4,...,21 have you find the largest n you can such that n×n can be c-colored without any monochromatic rectangles. See here for details. There is prize money! Do it for the fame AND the fortune! Deadline is Aug 31, 2012.
   
3. (I posted this before but got no comments, so I'll just say it again.) The problem of GIVEN a partially c-colored grid does there exist a way to extend it to a c-coloring of the entire grid, is NP-complete. See
   here.