Why Google and ITA Are Meant for Each Other: Hiring Puzzles

Consider, if you would, a theoretical lonely hearts ad. Peripatetic puzzle fanatic seeks similar. Must be rolling in Benjamins, like primary colors, travel, the eternal quest for knowledge, and free food, including the stuff in trays found on airplanes. Is this perhaps the secret message that ITA, the company that creates the software underlying almost every online travel transaction, sent out as it looked for a buyer for its $1 billion business?

There are myriad reasons why Google and ITA...