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[Dplass]

Just got back from golf, and then watching a streamed fundraiser one of our bands was featured in, and now ready to watch my Yankees... so here's the third nudge:

Post #46

Come on, I want everyone to get this!

Now that’s a great nudge!

C'mon, am I being played here?

[boharr]

Just got back from golf, and then watching a streamed fundraiser one of our bands was featured in, and now ready to watch my Yankees... so here's the third nudge:

Post #46

Come on, I want everyone to get this!

Now that’s a great nudge!

C'mon, am I being played here?

Not at all. That post has a big hint. Reread it. Or PM me.

[BarbaraK]

That is funny you should say that my GF and I were talking this weekend how outside of career/academics we are both slightly below average at everything - like not good at anything and certainly not great - rock climbing, surfing, snowboarding, golf, darts, pool, coding, crosswords, painting, cooking, running... To be fair, she is actually quite good at a number of things but she counts them as all academic/career - I mean she speaks 6 languages other than English and has a Masters degree in French literature - but we generally suck at all of our hobbies which is probably why we have so many. I guess I am good at skydiving because if I wasn’t I’d be dead but even that I’m not great at. Oh - I forgot fantasy football - I’m pretty bad at that also - and poker!

It actually sounds like a pretty good plan to do stuff you're really good at as a career and stuff you enjoy but are not so great at as hobbies.

[FrankH]

Personally, I think that's a great formula! Could I be the very best in the world at something if that's all I worked on... every hour of every day for my whole life? Maybe, maybe not. And if I achieved that? So what? Is that a way to spend our scant time on this marble? Life is so much more rewarding -- for me, anyway - to be a jack of all trades and a master of none.

...he said jack

But he already covered that in his first spoiler today.

[Al Sisti]

Personally, I think that's a great formula! Could I be the very best in the world at something if that's all I worked on... every hour of every day for my whole life? Maybe, maybe not. And if I achieved that? So what? Is that a way to spend our scant time on this marble? Life is so much more rewarding -- for me, anyway - to be a jack of all trades and a master of none.

...he said jack

But he already covered that in his first spoiler today.

Don't make me come back there, you two... I'll turn this car around!!

[TMart]

Late to the party on this one, but now off the couch. I had a good guess, and now I see the mechanism! Great one, Al!

[FrankH]

Off the couch. I had a guess, but finally found the mechanism. Now waiting for confirmation.

[TPS]

I've spent more time on this than I can properly justify - can't see it even with trying to back solve with what I am pretty sure is the correct answer.

I look forward to seeing what everyone else was able to on Sunday!

[Abide]

Ah I see it now after the second nudge. It was invisible until then. Really have to think outside the box on this one.

[Joe Ross]

True confession: on a logical guess. Have no starting point, other than the meta answer, on how to get there via the clues & grid, but have until Sunday to suss.

[Joe Ross]

Personally, I think that's a great formula! Could I be the very best in the world at something if that's all I worked on... every hour of every day for my whole life? Maybe, maybe not. And if I achieved that? So what? Is that a way to spend our scant time on this marble? Life is so much more rewarding -- for me, anyway - to be a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Waxing philosophical, are we? Lemme!

An example of appreciating what the world has to offer: I've been playing more golf, lately, not having spent enough in previous decades to be considered average. I am getting better & my friends tolerate me. I've improved to the point of not being a hindrance, anyway.

Nearly everyone with whom I play is better than me, but there are a few who are simply impressive. It's fun to be there & witness some of the shots they pull off and pull off consistently. One friend, in particular, has a knock-down mid-iron shot he'll use as a rescue, or when a green is open & approachable at the front. For three decades, it still remains a thrill to watch him hit this shot. It's nearly poetic.

I have played enough to understand the innate talent needed to be awesome & the practice it takes to achieve higher levels of play. If I only watched the professionals play, I'd assume that the game was easy. Not having given it recent consistent effort, despite never being in danger of winning, I wouldn't understand nor appreciate the accomplishments & talent of others.

The experience translates, of course, particularly here. Witnessing others' abilities & being privileged to read of their strategies makes me want to try that much harder. Not to compete at their higher level, for I know my limitations, but to enjoy witnessing the process & improving where I can, so that I might be included in the conversation, occasionally.

I can appreciate that.

But I don't agree that it translates 100% here. Seeing a train of people getting off the couch, beamed up, or on the shore when I'm still wondering if this is even a meta, is not a fun, or inspiring, or learning, experience for me. Also, see above, where I'm "trying to" accept my limitations...

Hmm... No WSJ Number Puzzles, this week. The one puzzle for which I had some talent. I'll miss my duels with James, if this is permanent.

[Dplass]

Waxing philosophical, are we? Lemme!

An example of appreciating what the world has to offer: I've been playing more golf, lately, not having spent enough in previous decades to be considered average. I am getting better & my friends tolerate me. I've improved to the point of not being a hindrance, anyway.

Nearly everyone with whom I play is better than me, but there are a few who are simply impressive. It's fun to be there & witness some of the shots they pull off and pull off consistently. One friend, in particular, has a knock-down mid-iron shot he'll use as a rescue, or when a green is open & approachable at the front. For three decades, it still remains a thrill to watch him hit this shot. It's nearly poetic.

I have played enough to understand the innate talent needed to be awesome & the practice it takes to achieve higher levels of play. If I only watched the professionals play, I'd assume that the game was easy. Not having given it recent consistent effort, despite never being in danger of winning, I wouldn't understand nor appreciate the accomplishments & talent of others.

The experience translates, of course, particularly here. Witnessing others' abilities & being privileged to read of their strategies makes me want to try that much harder. Not to compete at their higher level, for I know my limitations, but to enjoy witnessing the process & improving where I can, so that I might be included in the conversation, occasionally.

I can appreciate that.

But I don't agree that it translates 100% here. Seeing a train of people getting off the couch, beamed up, or on the shore when I'm still wondering if this is even a meta, is not a fun, or inspiring, or learning, experience for me. Also, see above, where I'm "trying to" accept my limitations...

Hmm... No WSJ Number Puzzles, this week. The one puzzle for which I had some talent. I'll miss my duels with James, if this is permanent.

Those types of logic puzzles drive me mad (as in, insane.)

[Joe Ross]

I can appreciate that.

But I don't agree that it translates 100% here. Seeing a train of people getting off the couch, beamed up, or on the shore when I'm still wondering if this is even a meta, is not a fun, or inspiring, or learning, experience for me. Also, see above, where I'm "trying to" accept my limitations...

Hmm... No WSJ Number Puzzles, this week. The one puzzle for which I had some talent. I'll miss my duels with James, if this is permanent.

Those types of logic puzzles drive me mad (as in, insane.)

Welcome to the dark side.

[Dplass]

Hmm... No WSJ Number Puzzles, this week. The one puzzle for which I had some talent. I'll miss my duels with James, if this is permanent.

Those types of logic puzzles drive me mad (as in, insane.)

Welcome to the dark side.

I thought I was already on the dark side, by doing metas!

[Joe Ross]

Those types of logic puzzles drive me mad (as in, insane.)

Welcome to the dark side.

I thought I was already on the dark side, by doing metas!

Trust me: Delve into a Killer Sudoku Level 4 for a few hours, realize you made a mistake in the first few minutes, then you'll learn the true meaning of deep rabbit holes, rage, & uselessness.

[Al Sisti]

Thursday leaderboard update:

12. LaceyK
13. Tom Wilson
14. Joe Ross
15. Whimsy
16. Ibray53
17. DPlass
18. TMart
19. FrankH
20. Beth Tyrpin
21. Dow Jones

Remember, there's still time to compete for one of the prizes: your choice of a) a Utica Club keepsake, or b) an unsullied copy of one of the books in Peter Gordon’s “____ingly Hard Crosswords” series, autographed by Peter himself! I might also do a random draw for those who also found the four "reveal ahas."

[Anita]

Off the couch, after hint #2. At least we got it before the final spoiler hint. That's something.

Cute puzzle mechanism. And I'm really enjoying the philosophical discussion too. It's hard to face limits sometimes. There's an assumption most of the time that practice, if not making perfect, at least leads to improvement. But in several arenas I seem to hit a wall. Meta puzzles and gimmick rallyes immediately come to mind. I got all the way to Senior class in the latter, winning awards in all levels to that point, then could not go farther. Steve and I are still improving slightly in our meta solving skills (merely the result of adding to a remembered list of mechanisms used in the past), but are almost always confounded by an entirely new mechanism. It's frustrating, and watching others get these with no hints at all seems like magic. But the game is still fun.

[LaceyK]

Yes I am enjoying the philosophical discussion as well. Joe's comments regarding golf parallel my experience with tennis. I took it up about 10 years ago, and despite how much effort I put into it, it doesn't compare to those who have been playing all their life, or were junior champions or college players. A while back I was asked to list the reasons why I play tennis. Number 1? "It is a puzzle I have not solved yet." And I hadn't discovered metas back then! No surprise I fell for metas so hard. I also have a strong love of learning. You need to surround yourself with those that are better than you to keep learning, and it is fun to marvel at the cleverness and skill.

[Al Sisti]

I am, as we speak, engaged in a philosophical difference of opinion with someone at work. To be more specific, I'm on the Board of Directors for our cultural center, and he -- although not on the board -- is the one who funded it. Anyway, over our objections, he's let go so many people and burned a lot of bridges because of one thing about them he didn't like. I/we have had enough by now, and I told him earlier this week when he wanted to blackball a local distributor because he never returned the owner's call (yeah, that's how petty he is). I told him "I'm not a 'one-strike-and-you're-out" kind of guy. I was a supervisor for 20 years, and I *never* got rid of someone for one mistake. Instead, I looked at a mistake as a teaching/learning opportunity." Everyone gets better the more he or she learns, and if you think you're done learning, well... you've got a lot to learn.

[TPS]

Trust me: Delve into a Killer Sudoku Level 4 for a few hours, realize you made a mistake in the first few minutes, then you'll learn the true meaning of deep rabbit holes, rage, & uselessness.

While it wasn't a KS Level 4 - I have worked on a very difficult Sudoku for a couple hours only to realize I made a very basic mistake early on. The big difference for me is that I don't get overly invested in a Sodoku - I am perfectly capable and happy to wad up a puzzle that I have worked on and never give it another thought - not even bother to look at the solution. I WISH I could do that with crossword puzzles.