XWord Muggles Forum

I was sure it was I.E. thinking, added note, that is, P.S., physician, that is M.D., etc. But I really couldn't make a case for it and then went back to why there were 7 theme answers when I was sure there were 6. After I thought about it, I saw the 3 letter answers and arrived at SOLIER and knew that something was missing. So I listed all the other 3 letter answers in the grid until I found EDT and, voila--SOLDIER. Then backed into ET for Alien. Phew. At least I got it. It will most likely be another mug-less week but happy to have re-started what I hope is a solving streak (hey, I'm happy these days with 2 in a row!!!). Have a good week, Muggles.

I love the post-mortems every week whether or not I felt the AHA before Sunday night.
Some are frighteningly familiar and some I never would have dreamed.
All contribute to a unique knowledge base for sure.
Maybe the constructors note the rabbit holes presented in this forum for future reference?
Have a nice week everyone!

michaelm wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 2:51 pm I love the post-mortems every week whether or not I felt the AHA before Sunday night.
Some are frighteningly familiar and some I never would have dreamed.
All contribute to a unique knowledge base for sure.
Maybe the constructors note the rabbit holes presented in this forum for future reference?
Have a nice week everyone!

I always wonder if on Monday, Mike and Matt are sitting back with a tall cold one, laughing about the intentional and unintentional red herrings and rabbit holes that we follow week in and week out.

Before I had the letters in the right order, I noticed that SOLID was in the grid, meaning the leftovers were E and R.

Yep...I almost submitted ER before I remembered that Matt would never be that inelegant.

HeadinHome wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 9:28 am Found this one very frustrating because of what seemed a fairly straightforward trail plus the fact that SO many muggles were reporting that this was an easy meta. My trail was that seven of the clues offer TWO people/items (using “and” or “or”), so that felt like an easy start to an “easy” meta. I then was looking for a way to use those clues’ or answers’ initials. Spent way too much time trying to get something from DASIACO (Detective, Alien, Solid, Iveys, Alis, Citta, Oona). At sea all weekend, feeling like a complete dolt missing a good party. : (

That's exactly what I did. Was disappointed that it didn't lead to the beach.

John77 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 1:16 pm I locked on to the word "company" in the puzzle title and said, "AHA! It must be DJ (Dow Jones, of course)."

Of course !

ky-mike wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 11:08 am

JRS51 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 11:04 am

LittleGood wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 10:54 am I was preoccupied until Friday afternoon with 5 answers that each appeared phonetically identical to a 2-word initialism (IVEYS = I.V., ACEY = A.C., EMMY = M.E., OPIE = O.P., IDI = E.D.). I was trying coax 2 more answers to fit this pattern and lead me to an answer.

Kas-2 for me; I just overlooked the obvious because ALIEN didn't look like a theme answer until I got the mechanism from the other six. DOH!

I'm also relieved to see the solution is "G.I." (with periods) rather than "GI".

I was doing the same thing on Friday. Fortunately the correct mechanism occurred to me Saturday night and i found the answer.
However, i did submit as “GI” not “G.I.” Hope that doesn’t keep me from a chance at the mug!

I don't recall punctuation ever being a determining factor between right and wrong. I also submitted GI.

Oh my, then you obviously did not have Mr. Evans for English Composition....

ReB wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 8:51 am

Joe Ross wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 8:30 am Survey question, IYHonestO:

Was 45A: ME(H)TA an intended Easter egg left for us to find?

Given the theme answer, more likely an IED

Well it is an ID of course and the "E" (the third and crowd making member), well that obviously stands for E E E the phonetic equivalent of what Matt/Mike do when they toss in one of those improvised editorial devices.

michaelm wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 2:51 pm I love the post-mortems every week whether or not I felt the AHA before Sunday night.
Some are frighteningly familiar and some I never would have dreamed.
All contribute to a unique knowledge base for sure.
Maybe the constructors note the rabbit holes presented in this forum for future reference?
Have a nice week everyone!

Stop giving them ideas!!! There are already enough ways to break your solving legs without them knowing where to put more holes!

As I read through everyone's post and think, "gosh this was so easy", I think back to when I started META madness and there was absolutely no WAY I'd have gotten this. It is only because I recognized this as a rather common technique (and I'd bet I can say that for a lot of the people on this thread) that the answer came rather quickly.

I mean I should certainly have gotten the Matt Gaffney one rather easily but it threw me for a loop until someone dope slapped me into the right path. For all who feel frustrated by the answer or the mechanism SOLDIER on and remember "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!"

Apologies for the delay and the brief report, puzzlers--we are on the road this week.
A classic multi-step Gaffney challenge drew 1981 entries, with 75% correct. For some reason, of the 7 two-letter phrases suggested in the puzzle, ET drew a landslide of incorrect submissions (150), perhaps because it was sitting in the center? The other 6 each drew smatterings, plus a long long list of other two-letter guesses.
Congrats to this week's winner: Leo Dombrowski of Skokie, Ill.!

My initial initialism was GI. However, there was no way to validate it I could find. Scanning clues, I found 26D and 34D to be telling because of “TV” (not a perfect initialism but awfully coincidental) EMMY -> “M” OPIE -> “P”
MP
I still like it, but I guess I overthought it.

DrTom wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2020 8:04 am

ky-mike wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 11:08 am

JRS51 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 11:04 am

I was doing the same thing on Friday. Fortunately the correct mechanism occurred to me Saturday night and i found the answer.
However, i did submit as “GI” not “G.I.” Hope that doesn’t keep me from a chance at the mug!

I don't recall punctuation ever being a determining factor between right and wrong. I also submitted GI.

Oh my, then you obviously did not have Mr. Evans for English Composition....

...nor considered an example like this:

Panda walks into a restaurant.

Eats, shoots and leaves. Or should it be "Eats shoots and leaves."?

Great book.

I love to read the early-week comments about the previous Friday’s meta. What a creative bunch! I’m seriously envious of some of the folks who come up with “wrong” answers that make perfect sense!

Join us this evening for a cordial drink, live postmortem on Two's Company, and general thoughts on puzzles we have known!
YourPalSal's Muggle Meetup
5pmPT/8pmET on Zoom!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82938294870

Deb F wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 2:23 pm I was sure it was I.E. thinking, added note, that is, P.S., physician, that is M.D., etc. ...

You will kindly note that IE is in the middle (kinda) of ALIEN, the middle theme answer. You will also kindly note that there seven instances in the grid of I and E being diagonally adjacent in some direction. Yes, I and E are common letters, but there have been a maximum of four such "adjacencies" in the past five puzzles.

yourpalsal wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2020 12:56 pm Join us this evening for a cordial drink, live postmortem on Two's Company, and general thoughts on puzzles we have known!
YourPalSal's Muggle Meetup
5pmPT/8pmET on Zoom!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82938294870

Just passed a pleasant approximately 60 minutes with my Muggle family, great fun. For some reason my camera refused to work so for those of you wondering I am 6'3" with a full head of hair and washboard abs. I also, unfortunately, suffer from delusions. SO nice to put faces to names and voices to text. Here is hoping we keep this up and that I eventually get my video on so that you can see just how big a prevaricator I am.

Great Zoom social hour!

I intended to pop in, but I shot a good round of golf (for me), so I had to stay for beers afterward. Right. If there are more such meetings, I would like to see everyone.