XWord Muggles Forum

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:02 pm Good Sunday morning muggles.

The shore is extremely crowded with 140 muggles on the shore and 3 keeping Isaac in business. Several people have jumped ship in the last day so Isaac appreciates his loyal crowd.

Hew to the shore since yesterday are:
Burak
tonyrobots
Doug M
DrTom
Susan G
diplomat
jag
pookie
rexthree
lusophile
HowardH
boharr
eagle1279
phofer
the Geoduck who was on the shore yesterday but since ducks are low, I did not see him
asechres
David R
and Tom Shea

Good luck winning the mug.

And stay safe, the coronavirus is nothing to fool around with especially for those of us over 60

I am not a duck! Wrong phylum.

I am, however, much lower than a duck.

P.S. The most disturbing thing to me about Covid 19, is that I have learned that I am now considered "elderly"

When the heck did THAT happen??!?

eagle1279 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 10:22 pm Ashore, got the meta but still have a few holes in the grid.

Presumably, still eligible for The Mug even if I don't finish the grid by midnight Sunday ...

Congratulations on solving. Enter! You only need to have the correct puzzle answer. There is no code for not filling the grid.

I guarantee you that most of the other-wordly, incredibly fast solvers (within a few minutes of publication) have done so before completing the grid. Not that that matters with the WSJ Crossword Contests. I dare say it happens on other meta crosswords, such as Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest, where only correct entries are posted and are time-stamped.

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:02 pm And stay safe, the coronavirus is nothing to fool around with especially for those of us over 60

I have a few more weeks of living large, then. Maybe a quick trip to St. James Gate...

Made it ashore in record time on Friday, just posting this now.

Geoduck wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:10 pm

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:02 pm Good Sunday morning muggles.

The shore is extremely crowded with 140 muggles on the shore and 3 keeping Isaac in business. Several people have jumped ship in the last day so Isaac appreciates his loyal crowd.

Hew to the shore since yesterday are:
Burak
tonyrobots
Doug M
DrTom
Susan G
diplomat
jag
pookie
rexthree
lusophile
HowardH
boharr
eagle1279
phofer
the Geoduck who was on the shore yesterday but since ducks are low, I did not see him
asechres
David R
and Tom Shea

Good luck winning the mug.

And stay safe, the coronavirus is nothing to fool around with especially for those of us over 60

I am not a duck! Wrong phylum.

I am, however, much lower than a duck.

P.S. The most disturbing thing to me about Covid 19, is that I have learned that I am now considered "elderly"

When the heck did THAT happen??!?

I know - you are a clam but duck makes a better story.

pookie wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 4:15 pm I'm finally on shore! Yay!
It's really fun when it finally becomes clear. What's really frustrating is when, after I've solved the grid, I go to the Muggles blog and see 7 pages of "On shore!" And that's from THURSDAY! Just kidding.
Now I can concentrate on something else for awhile.

This just speaks more about the meta fanaticism of the group. Every week, we are waiting for the time to start and burst out of the gate.

On the bright side, if there are 7 pages of "on shores" early on Thursday, I take it to mean that the meta that week is most likely one I will have a chance of solving!!
Thanks to Joanne for an absolutely delightful and very clever puzzle!!

Made it to shore quite easily this week.

Yikes, it's up to me to help Isaac make rent this week. On the ship and I can't even find my swim trunks.

On shore Saturday am but forgot to post. Had seen part of it Friday evening, and the next morning look did the trick. Will be interesting to see the comments Monday that others were not able to post without giving away a clue.
The MMMM this month is one of my all-time favorites! Really clever and fun and I've been listening to the song since.

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 1:17 pm

Geoduck wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:10 pm

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:02 pm Good Sunday morning muggles.

The shore is extremely crowded with 140 muggles on the shore and 3 keeping Isaac in business. Several people have jumped ship in the last day so Isaac appreciates his loyal crowd.

Hew to the shore since yesterday are:
Burak
tonyrobots
Doug M
DrTom
Susan G
diplomat
jag
pookie
rexthree
lusophile
HowardH
boharr
eagle1279
phofer
the Geoduck who was on the shore yesterday but since ducks are low, I did not see him
asechres
David R
and Tom Shea

Good luck winning the mug.

And stay safe, the coronavirus is nothing to fool around with especially for those of us over 60

I am not a duck! Wrong phylum.

I am, however, much lower than a duck.

P.S. The most disturbing thing to me about Covid 19, is that I have learned that I am now considered "elderly"

When the heck did THAT happen??!?

I know - you are a clam but duck makes a better story.

Don''t sweat it. An elderly geoduck would certainly be much older than you! A generic duck, not so much.

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 3:27 pm

DrTom wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 2:01 pm Ashore, tough grid but a nice Meta. I even got my friend who usually thinks these are missives from hell (the Meta not the CW) involved and he saw some of the AHAs before I did so I may have him hooked (obviously this was one of those gateway metas).

No if someone can tell me if the MGWCC is difficult or not this week because I am new to them and solved a few of the free ones. I signed up, got the Friday "In the Mix" one and am floundering badly. Don't know if it is hard or if because I finally pulled the trigger and joined I am having "premature exasperation".

Yes, I'd say this week's MGWCC is harder than the usual week 1. And that seems to be the consensus on its board here.
forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=314

Agreed. Harder than a Week 1 should be. The strategies required would be at the top of the toolkit of experienced solvers, but a neophyte might have trouble knowing where to start and how to interpret the parenthetical numbers.

Still with Isaac... With so many ashore and so few here in the bar, maybe I’m an introvert after all?

To shore tonight
Weather too nice and day long
Puzzles wait ‘til dusk

These haikus (haikii?) are great for getting posts down to bare minimum!

Ashore, fun mechanism once I found it.

Bird Lives wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:06 pm

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 3:27 pm

DrTom wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 2:01 pm Ashore, tough grid but a nice Meta. I even got my friend who usually thinks these are missives from hell (the Meta not the CW) involved and he saw some of the AHAs before I did so I may have him hooked (obviously this was one of those gateway metas).

No if someone can tell me if the MGWCC is difficult or not this week because I am new to them and solved a few of the free ones. I signed up, got the Friday "In the Mix" one and am floundering badly. Don't know if it is hard or if because I finally pulled the trigger and joined I am having "premature exasperation".

Yes, I'd say this week's MGWCC is harder than the usual week 1. And that seems to be the consensus on its board here.
forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=314

Agreed. Harder than a Week 1 should be. The strategies required would be at the top of the toolkit of experienced solvers, but a neophyte might have trouble knowing where to start and how to interpret the parenthetical numbers.

I guess I am still building my toolkit? I am pretty sure from the WSJCC what the parenthetical numbers mean, but darned if any of the tools I have used so far are breaking the "code" enough that I can use them. Still, if it is like most tool things it will require four trips to Lowes; first to get what I need, second to get what I REALLY need, third to get the right size of what I REALLY need, and fourth to return all the things I didn't need. My problem is I never get around ot the fourth so I have quite a selection of almost rights in the garage.

I'll keep pounding away (mallet, ball peen, claw, tack, sledge??) and hope to crack it.

Yea! After a couple of days of staring, there it was! I know it's late in the game, but have submitted and am ashore. Nice puzzle, meta, and answer.

Almost forgot to check in this week, finally enjoying some sunny warm weather up here in Michigan, and on shore for the puzzle!

Good evening
Our final count is 5 on the ship and 148 on the shore.
Softie and Colin joined the ship's contingent

Omnibus
William
Joel
LaceyK
Matthewm
Ksoav
Dennis
and Mark C joined the crowded shore

As always when we are close to a record on shore (currently 150), I will update the status tomorrow morning

Good luck with the long odds of winning the mug

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 1:17 pm

Geoduck wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:10 pm

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:02 pm Good Sunday morning muggles.

The shore is extremely crowded with 140 muggles on the shore and 3 keeping Isaac in business. Several people have jumped ship in the last day so Isaac appreciates his loyal crowd.

Hew to the shore since yesterday are:
Burak
tonyrobots
Doug M
DrTom
Susan G
diplomat
jag
pookie
rexthree
lusophile
HowardH
boharr
eagle1279
phofer
the Geoduck who was on the shore yesterday but since ducks are low, I did not see him
asechres
David R
and Tom Shea

Good luck winning the mug.

And stay safe, the coronavirus is nothing to fool around with especially for those of us over 60

I am not a duck! Wrong phylum.

I am, however, much lower than a duck.

P.S. The most disturbing thing to me about Covid 19, is that I have learned that I am now considered "elderly"

When the heck did THAT happen??!?

I know - you are a clam but duck makes a better story.

To quote Groucho, "Why a duck? Why not a horse?"

Recovering from cataract surgery and didn't get a chance to comment earlier. But since we're close to the 150 record, I'm happy to report that I'm ashore.

Decided to leave for the shore with an empty pint glass and packet of chewing gum to help get my very leaky boat to the beach. Funny, not many here