"A Series of Unfortunate Events"

A weekly meta crossword created by members of the forum. Difficulty levels will vary. Hints are usually available starting Wednesday, and solutions are posted on Sunday.
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FrankieHeck
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Location: West Virginia

#41

Post by FrankieHeck »

Bird Lives wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 9:15 pm
FrankieHeck wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:26 pm
I made up a cipher (well, it went beyond that, with lots of word symbols and symbols for verb tenses and sound combinations) when I was in 7th grade. I have a collection of journals written in that code from 7th grade to grad school, and I still use the code for Christmas lists and other secret things. Thankfully, when I die, I'm sure nobody will be interested in cracking it to read my deepest secrets :D
There's a podcast where adults, before a live and usually lively audience, read aloud the journals they wrote as teenagers. It's called "Mortified."

https://getmortified.com/podcast/
Oh my gosh. That sounds horrible!! What an apt name for the podcast. I might have to check it out. Couldn't pay me enough to participate, though!
Laura M
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Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am

#42

Post by Laura M »

I'll call myself off the couch, but I needed all the hints to get there! I can see how I should have gotten the first step a lot sooner; I'll blame the gaps in my education (and memory). Not sure I ever would have gotten step 2 on my own. Anyway, this puzzle was very well done, thanks Adam!
adamsimonlevine
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#43

Post by adamsimonlevine »

Unveiling the solution...

S
P
P
I
L
E
R
.
.
.


The five theme entries all start with some of the Ten Plagues from the Exodus story - familiar to some from the Passover Seder and/or The Ten Commandments and/or the Prince of Egypt:
  • 17-Across: (2016 Coen brothers film) = HAIL CAESAR. Hail, the seventh plague.
  • 23-Across: (2003 horror movie, or its fictional title town) = DARKNESS FALLS. Darkness, the ninth plague.
  • 38-Across: (Singer's problem) = FROG IN THE THROAT. Frogs, the second plague. (In case you don't like the singular/plural, just note that the Talmud, noticing Exodus 8:2's unusual use of the singular noun tzfardea (frog) rather than tzfard'im (frogs) in the description of the start of the plague, suggests that the plague began with one giant Godzilla frog. Is this the first time anyone has used Talmudic exegesis to justify a crossword entry? Maybe.)
  • 50-Across: (Sees red) = BOILS WITH RAGE. Boils, the sixth plague.
  • 60-Across: (Cutthroat competition) = BLOOD SPORT. Blood, the first plague.
Since the puzzle's title referred to a series of events, let's take the numbers associated with each plague, and look at the letters in the correspondingly numbered squares in the grid. We have a C in square 7, A in square 9, M in square 2, U in square 6, and S in square 1, giving us our answer of Albert CAMUS, author of The Plague.

A few people managed to solve it without figuring out the mechanism - they saw the plagues and immediately thought of the novel. Clearly, this is a very well-read crowd!

Thanks for all the great comments that I received this week - it was really great to share with such an enthusiastic group of solvers! Looking forward to solving future puzzles in this series.

Adam
unfortunate-grid.png
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Al Sisti
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Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
Location: Whitesboro NY

#44

Post by Al Sisti »

adamsimonlevine wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 10:16 am Unveiling the solution...

S
P
P
I
L
E
R
.
.
.


The five theme entries all start with some of the Ten Plagues from the Exodus story - familiar to some from the Passover Seder and/or The Ten Commandments and/or the Prince of Egypt:
  • 17-Across: (2016 Coen brothers film) = HAIL CAESAR. Hail, the seventh plague.
  • 23-Across: (2003 horror movie, or its fictional title town) = DARKNESS FALLS. Darkness, the ninth plague.
  • 38-Across: (Singer's problem) = FROG IN THE THROAT. Frogs, the second plague. (In case you don't like the singular/plural, just note that the Talmud, noticing Exodus 8:2's unusual use of the singular noun tzfardea (frog) rather than tzfard'im (frogs) in the description of the start of the plague, suggests that the plague began with one giant Godzilla frog. Is this the first time anyone has used Talmudic exegesis to justify a crossword entry? Maybe.)
  • 50-Across: (Sees red) = BOILS WITH RAGE. Boils, the sixth plague.
  • 60-Across: (Cutthroat competition) = BLOOD SPORT. Blood, the first plague.
Since the puzzle's title referred to a series of events, let's take the numbers associated with each plague, and look at the letters in the correspondingly numbered squares in the grid. We have a C in square 7, A in square 9, M in square 2, U in square 6, and S in square 1, giving us our answer of Albert CAMUS, author of The Plague.

A few people managed to solve it without figuring out the mechanism - they saw the plagues and immediately thought of the novel. Clearly, this is a very well-read crowd!

Thanks for all the great comments that I received this week - it was really great to share with such an enthusiastic group of solvers! Looking forward to solving future puzzles in this series.

Adam

unfortunate-grid.png
Yeah, I didn't notice the numbers. Love these extra levels of elegance that show up in the reveals; that second "aha." Well done, can't wait for more...
Dplass
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#45

Post by Dplass »

How did you solve it without the numbers?
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Al Sisti
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#46

Post by Al Sisti »

Dplass wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 11:52 am How did you solve it without the numbers?
I put the obvious words (hail, darkness, frog, boil, blood) into one Google search and all the hits had to do with the plagues. And I knew of the book "The Plague," and I knew who wrote it.
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boharr
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#47

Post by boharr »

Al Sisti wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 12:20 pm
Dplass wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 11:52 am How did you solve it without the numbers?
I put the obvious words (hail, darkness, frog, boil, blood) into one Google search and all the hits had to do with the plagues. And I knew of the book "The Plague," and I knew who wrote it.
Yeah, I had the book too and even saw CAMUS jumbled on the top line. But needed the numbers to unscramble.
Laura M
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Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am

#48

Post by Laura M »

Timely theme! Not being familiar with the plagues, my wrong assumption was that each theme entry had something to do with a series (probably book, but maybe TV or movie) that probably involved unfortunate events. There were several TV series referenced in the clues, and BOILS WITH RAGE happens to correspond really closely with a Simpsons episode so I was trying to match up the others for the longest time! When I read the hint that all of them were part of one series, I Googled them together and found plagues quickly, but I should have done that in the first place!

I'm not sure why it didn't follow naturally to assign a number to each item in the series, but I didn't manage to make that leap either, sigh. Of course, once I'd broken down and read one hint, I figured the damage was done so I didn't try very hard to work out step two on my own... Great puzzle, just a little beyond me this time!
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BrianMac
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#49

Post by BrianMac »

I liked this a lot, but I quit too early. I saw the names of the plagues and guessed crossword-friendly author Leon Uris (Exodus). Didn't think to number them, but should have wondered harder about why only these 5?

Thanks, Adam, I hope you share more with us!
adamsimonlevine
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#50

Post by adamsimonlevine »

For those craving more, I have another meta-puzzle on my puzzles page called "To the Left, To the Left," which I wrote about a year ago. https://knottygrids.blogspot.com/2020/0 ... -left.html. I'll warn that this one may be harder, as the solution requires some specific knowledge that might be difficult (although not impossible) to figure out with Google. There's a solutions link in the post; feel free to contact me if you need a hint. (But right now I'm excited to turn my attention to today's Muggle Meta Monday!)
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Hector
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#51

Post by Hector »

Fun, thanks! (And while I caught onto the first step, I did need substantial googling from there.) (Referring to "To the Left, To the Left".)
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