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#41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 2:08 pm
by Hector
What eight-letter word is hinted at by this puzzle?

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 2:09 pm
by Hector
Tough one, but 100%.

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 9:04 pm
by oldjudge
Got it, but only with plenty of help. This was a week six for me. Hats off to those who got it.

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 9:32 pm
by RPardoe
Had the right general idea early.....then everything clicked to get a solid answer.

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 9:36 pm
by Meg
Peter said 13 correct answers so far. Tougher than he intended.

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 12:33 am
by RPardoe
Mentioned I was #14 when he asked me about the puzzle. Also pointed out something I had missed.

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 10:22 am
by Cindy
I am not submitting this one either. There was something I needed to know that I would never have determined without help I don’t think. Also one quirk that I found misleading.

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 12:07 pm
by MikeM000
I have to look at this more tonight but I at minimum have a solid hail mary in my pocket - an 8 letter word that fits in with the general direction of the puzzle. The wording he uses -- I think it's "what word is hinted at by this puzzle?" -- always makes me wonder if I'm not supposed to have the 100% connection where you *know*, like in the Shenk/Gaffney vein....

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 1:29 pm
by RPardoe
MikeM000 wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 12:07 pm The wording he uses -- I think it's "what word is hinted at by this puzzle?" -- always makes me wonder if I'm not supposed to have the 100% connection where you *know*, like in the Shenk/Gaffney vein....
That is just Peter's style. Almost every one of his prior puzzles use the same language (hinted at).
For me, the answers always had that 100% connection ala Shenk/Gaffney so didn't think anything of the phrasing.

As trivia, examples of his other wording styles are very different phrasing:

What (noun) is this puzzle's missing theme entry?
What two grid entries can be combined to make another theme entry?

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 7:39 pm
by markhr
Got it. Nice puzzle, a definite 100 percenter.
Now back to WSJ, which is so far eluding me.

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 7:12 pm
by ChrisKochmanski
Well, I got it, but only with a lot of help. I won't submit.

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 9:18 am
by Abide
Got there after a strong French press this morning. Nice one!

Now for a refill and the WSJ ....

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 7:54 pm
by MikeM000
Ugh! I fill in the grid, and immediately think "oh, the most obvious 8 letter word is CROUPIER so it won't be that.

So I think about it...

And 1/2 of an ORDERED PAIR is the VERTICAL co-ordinate.
And the first four letters of that 8 letter word are a color in French, like ROUGE.
And the item in France with 37 pockets is different from the American version in the number of green pockets! .

So I submitted my 3/4 baked idea, and the obvious one I dismissed was right... *sigh*

(The answer is published, but using spoilers in case anyone was still trying to solve, as Mr. Fireball himself does in the email.)

Re: #41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2021 3:56 am
by madhatter5
I get PTSD from the title.