XWord Muggles Forum

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:37 pm**

C=64 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:24 pm Solved the meta after puzzle #4.

There’s a meta? Is it a good one? Maybe I should buy the home puzzles...

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 5:06 pm**

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:37 pm
C=64 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:24 pm Solved the meta after puzzle #4.
There’s a meta? Is it a good one? Maybe I should buy the home puzzles...

The meta is very easy to find once your adrenaline subsides and you take a few moments to look at the puzzles post-solve.

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 5:22 pm**

FrankieHeck wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:09 pm I just can't get over Erik Agard.

For someone who allegedly likes puzzles he doesn't spend much time with them.

Coincidentally, a high-performing muggle has placed adjacently to an old (and ridiculously smart) friend of mine.

I'm looking forward to the puzzles. Does anyone know when they are supposed to drop?

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 5:34 pm**

Missed two squares on the last one. Should've Googled, it's allowed if you have less than 5 minutes remaining, which I did! My score still isn't up for the last one but I expect to place in the 700s :-)

I submitted something for the meta but wasn't 100%. Was there a hint? I wasn't sure what they were looking for exactly.

Edit: #483 Local, #770 overall, didn't even get the meta (overthought it). But it was really well-run with great puzzles, and I enjoyed seeing the constructors talk "in person," and watching the finalists go head to head was amazing!

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:58 pm**

Wow, did better than I thought in the local division. That was a lot of fun and now I'm more interested in doing one of these in person at some point (I've kinda always wanted to but couldn't justify the time off/travel/etc.)

Edit: Let's see... 135 overall, 37 in local. Cannot complain.

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 7:03 pm**

Laura M wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 5:34 pm But it was really well-run with great puzzles, and I enjoyed seeing the constructors talk "in person," and watching the finalists go head to head was amazing!

Agreed, it was so cool to see that. They did such a great job with everything. My brain was too fried to keep looking at the meta post-puzzle-5.

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 7:15 pm**

So fun! I ended up #119 in local and #275 overall. I had the meta after puzzle #3, though the EMUs were giving me some pause. It was very simple for anyone who does metas regularly (maybe so simple you might not even see it,) but nice to have something.

Puzzle #4 from Joon Pahk was wickedly difficult, but really fun if you can get ahold of it. A clean solve on that one in decent time (23:10) was enough to move me up about 150 places overall from my puzzle 3 placement.

Would love to do it in person next year; here's hoping the world is in a state where that's possible.

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 7:27 pm**

tonyrobots wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 7:15 pm So fun! I ended up #119 in local and #275 overall. I had the meta after puzzle #3, though the EMUs were giving me some pause. It was very simple for anyone who does metas regularly (maybe so simple you might not even see it,) but nice to have something.

Puzzle #4 from Joon Pahk was wickedly difficult, but really fun if you can get ahold of it. A clean solve on that one in decent time (23:10) was enough to move me up about 150 places overall from my puzzle 3 placement.

Would love to do it in person next year; here's hoping the world is in a state where that's possible.

Saw you on the Twitch chat, awesome job. I thought for sure I was going to tank after #4 but I managed to move up a bit as well.

joon's puzzle is absolutely diabolical from a timed-tournament perspective, and absolutely brilliant as a theme/mechanism. I hope after the tournament it gets a wider audience; it certainly deserves it.

Tony, here's to perhaps IRL tournaments in 2021!

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 7:58 pm**

That was a fun day! Well done everyone! I wound up #130 overall, #35 in local. I think this means I have to register in the Express division if I do this next year.

Also, sharkicicles, I understand your username now, seeing your full name on the scoresheet. You also are above the Express threshold!

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:05 pm**

damefox wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 7:58 pm That was a fun day! Well done everyone! I wound up #130 overall, #35 in local. I think this means I have to register in the Express division if I do this next year.

Also, sharkicicles, I understand your username now, seeing your full name on the scoresheet. You also are above the Express threshold!

Nice work! Congratulations! Also saw you pop up on the chat. You killed me on the final puzzle BTW.

One of my favorite comments ever was regarding my username. On Fiend, I remarked my username is an anagram of my actual name, and someone responded “hello, Les Sharkicic!” I assume that’s pronounced “SHARK-a-sitch.”

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:05 pm**

#115 local, #266 overall. I feel like I'm a fast solver, but watching the finalists made me realize how inefficient and clumsy my solving process is. I'm like "Yeah, I was under 18 minutes on both puzzles 4 & 5!" then I see that a bunch of people were under 10 minutes.

As there were right around 1,250 participants, my ranking is just out of the top 20% so I can continue to claim rookie status at the next tournament. Fine with me.

Posted: **Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:16 pm**

C=64 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:05 pm #115 local, #266 overall. I feel like I'm a fast solver, but watching the finalists made me realize how inefficient and clumsy my solving process is. I'm like "Yeah, I was under 18 minutes on both puzzles 4 & 5!" then I see that a bunch of people were under 10 minutes.

As there were right around 1,250 participants, my ranking is just out of the top 20% so I can continue to claim rookie status at the next tournament. Fine with me.

I’m happy with where I placed, but, yeah the top of the top is just mind boggling. Especially on joon’s puzzle.

In any case, it’s still fun!

Posted: **Sun Aug 16, 2020 7:22 am**

Congratulations to all who participated! It sounds like it was a ton of fun. Can’t wait to get the puzzles today.

Posted: **Sun Aug 16, 2020 9:27 am**

Great word work, everyone! I have no intention on attending, not even the home version, but you all have competed so well. WOW! The fun you've had is apparent in every word of every post. As an observer, only, thank you for sharing!

Posted: **Sun Aug 16, 2020 12:38 pm**

I second Joe's post! Got the puzzles this morning. Will be fun to go through them this week.

Posted: **Sun Aug 16, 2020 3:07 pm**

So wait. Did someone win this thing, whatever it is?

Posted: **Sun Aug 16, 2020 4:55 pm**

Completed the two practice puzzles in good time. I thought "OK, I got this."

Completed (well, actually worked on as I didn't complete them all in the allotted time) the five contest puzzles and had my wife grade me. Had I competed yesterday, my score would have placed me just above the bottom 20% in the express category and just slightly lower overall. I can do the puzzles, but I have no idea how some people complete them in the time that they do. The top competitor overall spent just over 18 minutes completing ALL of the five puzzles. I timed out on the last two 40 minute puzzles and spent a total of 130 minutes out of the allotted 160 minutes.

I am in awe of those fast solvers.

For those yet to do the puzzles, enjoy and please share your thoughts on the contest.

Posted: **Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:46 pm**

ky-mike wrote: ↑Sun Aug 16, 2020 4:55 pm Completed the two practice puzzles in good time. I thought "OK, I got this."

Completed (well, actually worked on as I didn't complete them all in the allotted time) the five contest puzzles and had my wife grade me. Had I competed yesterday, my score would have placed me just above the bottom 20% in the express category and just slightly lower overall. I can do the puzzles, but I have no idea how some people complete them in the time that they do. The top competitor overall spent just over 18 minutes completing ALL of the five puzzles. I timed out on the last two 40 minute puzzles and spent a total of 130 minutes out of the allotted 160 minutes.

I am in awe of those fast solvers.

For those yet to do the puzzles, enjoy and please share your thoughts on the contest.

18 minutes on all five?

Wow!

Posted: **Sun Aug 16, 2020 6:21 pm**

I think my time in puzzle 4 alone was around 19-something.

Posted: **Sun Aug 16, 2020 6:28 pm**

hcbirker wrote: ↑Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:46 pm

18 minutes on all five?

Wow!

2:09 / 20:00
3:08 / 30:00
3:37 / 30:00
4:09 / 40:00
4:47 / 40:00

Amazing. I don't know that I could type that fast if I had the answer key in front of me.

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