MEOW #6: CANCELLED!

A weekly meta crossword on the forum started by member Josh (aka madhatter5). These puzzles are often very creative with solving mechanisms out of the norm and skewing towards the more challenging. Puzzles are posted every Wednesday, and the solution appears the following Tuesday.
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madhatter5
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MEOW #6: CANCELLED!

#1

Post by madhatter5 »

EDIT:

IMPORTANT: There is a flaw in the grid that I just spotted and that I think will ruin the meta. So I think I may need to cancel the MEOW this week and get some sleep instead :)

I am usually very careful about avoiding errors so I am so sorry for any time you guys have put into it today. MEOW will be back to usual next week.
Last edited by madhatter5 on Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:56 am, edited 8 times in total.
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oldjudge
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#2

Post by oldjudge »

Josh-I don’t know if it matters, but is the puzzle title “Character Dynamics” or “Can’t Put it Down”?
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#3

Post by madhatter5 »

Sorry, my bad! Doesn't really matter but "Can't Put It Down" was the original title which I decided to change to "Character Dynamics". I forgot to change this in the headings. It's now fixed. (For the web-hosted version you might have to clear your cookies to see the change).
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#4

Post by Joe Ross »

Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
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oldjudge
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#5

Post by oldjudge »

LOL, good thing this wasn’t a Lion or no one would have solved it. Oh wait, .....
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#6

Post by madhatter5 »

Hey, Pumas are no joke either.
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oldjudge
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#7

Post by oldjudge »

Dang, that looks like a Sabre-toothed Puma.
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#8

Post by oldjudge »

Josh-What happened to the test solver? Anyway, stuff happens—look forward to next weeks.
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#9

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Indeed, sorry to learn of the cancellation. I was intrigued by the things that the puzzle might be suggesting — but I’m glad I didn’t spend too much time being intrigued!🙂 I’ll look forward to MEOW’s return next week. Thanks, Josh!
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#10

Post by madhatter5 »

oldjudge wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:49 pm Josh-What happened to the test solver? Anyway, stuff happens—look forward to next weeks.
She solved it! Whimsy has been absolutely fantastic and always provides really detailed and thoughtful feedback on all the puzzles which is highly appreciated and entirely incommensurate with her salary :) The issue has nothing to do with her, just with the meager number of brain cells possessed by yours truly.

The puzzle is still solveable but it's also possible the issue might unfairly prevent a solver from seeing it. It should be easy to fix with a few minor changes. I really like the mechanism on this one so I think what I will do is next week I will provide both the new puzzle and the amended and triple-checked version of this one and then we'll be back to normal.
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Joe Ross
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#11

Post by Joe Ross »

madhatter5 wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:13 am She solved it! Whimsy has been absolutely fantastic...

The puzzle is still solveable...
So, you're telling me there's a chance... YEAH!!!
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
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Wendy Walker
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#12

Post by Wendy Walker »

Thanks for the alert, Josh. We worked at it and came up with some strategies that might actually be great meta ideas for a future puzzle!
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
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RPardoe
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#13

Post by RPardoe »

And I came here thinking CANCELLED was the title of this week's challenge!
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oldjudge
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#14

Post by oldjudge »

madhatter5 wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:13 am
oldjudge wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:49 pm Josh-What happened to the test solver? Anyway, stuff happens—look forward to next weeks.
She solved it! Whimsy has been absolutely fantastic and always provides really detailed and thoughtful feedback on all the puzzles which is highly appreciated and entirely incommensurate with her salary :) The issue has nothing to do with her, just with the meager number of brain cells possessed by yours truly.

The puzzle is still solveable but it's also possible the issue might unfairly prevent a solver from seeing it. It should be easy to fix with a few minor changes. I really like the mechanism on this one so I think what I will do is next week I will provide both the new puzzle and the amended and triple-checked version of this one and then we'll be back to normal.
So Whimsy solved the puzzle as it now stands?
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#15

Post by madhatter5 »

oldjudge wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:51 pm
madhatter5 wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:13 am
oldjudge wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:49 pm Josh-What happened to the test solver? Anyway, stuff happens—look forward to next weeks.
She solved it! Whimsy has been absolutely fantastic and always provides really detailed and thoughtful feedback on all the puzzles which is highly appreciated and entirely incommensurate with her salary :) The issue has nothing to do with her, just with the meager number of brain cells possessed by yours truly.

The puzzle is still solveable but it's also possible the issue might unfairly prevent a solver from seeing it. It should be easy to fix with a few minor changes. I really like the mechanism on this one so I think what I will do is next week I will provide both the new puzzle and the amended and triple-checked version of this one and then we'll be back to normal.
So Whimsy solved the puzzle as it now stands?
Yes :) Basically the mechanism involves noticing a certain pattern which should ideally have been true of the whole grid, but it turns out is only true of most of the grid. So it is still very much solveable if you keep that in mind.

It's turning out to be harder to fix than I thought so I think I'm just going to start afresh next week.
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#16

Post by Hector »

RPardoe wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 10:55 am And I came here thinking CANCELLED was the title of this week's challenge!
It was always only a matter of time until cancel culture came to muggledom.
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#17

Post by whimsy »

Just seeing this now so I thought I'd toss in that I did solve but it was with a bit of Josh's nudges toward or away from the sort of stream of consciousness of ideas that I present to him, as an example of how one (possibly wacky :o)) solver reacts and thinks.
Won't say any more in case the puzzle returns in tweaked form.
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#18

Post by Meg »

With some helpful nudges, I got it! Confirmed.
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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#19

Post by oldjudge »

Solution sent after a nudge from Josh. Awaiting confirmation—Confirmed.
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#20

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Well, with two nudges and a shove, I finally got it.
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