"Color Code" - July 24, 2020

A place to discuss the weekly Wall Street Journal Crossword Puzzle Contest, starting every Thursday around 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Please do not post any answers or hints before the contest deadline which is midnight Sunday Eastern time.
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pddigi
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#21

Post by pddigi »

Dom usually greets me with a Thursday morning text saying "HMD", for Happy Meta Day!

Inspired by last week's puzzle, he texted me "How you -kle". It was initially lost on me, but to be fair, he sent it at 5:00 am eastern, which is 4:00 am here in Nashville, so he woke me up with that text, and decoding a text from my out-of-town son at that hour is not in the top 50 responses that ran through my mind!
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Scott M
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#22

Post by Scott M »

Grid was tougher than usual. Not a clue on the meta, and no ideas how to get past square one.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
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BarbaraK
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#23

Post by BarbaraK »

Wow! How do they keep coming up with all these clever ideas?!

Took a bit to figure out just what I was meant to do. But only one empty rabbit hole before snatching the bunny.
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C=64
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#24

Post by C=64 »

Success! Afternoon mai tais at the C=64 household. (Later -- it's only 3:15pm.)

I was temporarily stuck after step 1 of the meta, but putting down the puzzle and looking at it again with fresh eyes made everything clear.
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cbarbee002
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#25

Post by cbarbee002 »

Al Sisti wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 4:44 pm Safely in the sand... Guinness me please? Please?
World order is restored - - Al back on page 1!
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C=64
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#26

Post by C=64 »

Are the WSJ puzzle ratings in this discussion based on the KAS scale or how much we liked the puzzle? I ask because this one has a rating of 4, which doesn't seem like an appropriate KAS number this early in the game.
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Joe Ross
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#27

Post by Joe Ross »

C=64 wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:23 pm Are the WSJ puzzle ratings in this discussion based on the KAS scale or how much we liked the puzzle? I ask because this one has a rating of 4, which doesn't seem like an appropriate KAS number this early in the game.
You might be viewing on a phone. On a larger screen, it says that the rating is for the difficulty of the puzzle.

The current rating of 4 is from a very small sample of 2 muggles.
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C=64
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#28

Post by C=64 »

Joe Ross wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:25 pm
C=64 wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:23 pm Are the WSJ puzzle ratings in this discussion based on the KAS scale or how much we liked the puzzle? I ask because this one has a rating of 4, which doesn't seem like an appropriate KAS number this early in the game.
You might be viewing on a phone. On a larger screen, it says that the rating is for the difficulty of the puzzle.

The current rating of 4 is from a very small sample of 2 muggles.
Thanks for the clarification. I would think that folks would need to take more than a couple of hours before declaring a puzzle beyond their capabilities.
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Hector
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#29

Post by Hector »

On many browsers, you need to do a "hard refresh" to see the current rating (as opposed to the rating when you first loaded the forum page). On PC browsers, that's CTRL-F5. Right now the rating is 3.5 based on 9 reviews.
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TPS
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#30

Post by TPS »

C=64 wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:30 pm
Thanks for the clarification. I would think that folks would need to take more than a couple of hours before declaring a puzzle beyond their capabilities.
I've never solved a puzzle on my own that I didn't solve within the first 3 hours - never. I've spent 48+ hours in and was no point closer. So I can generally tell within the first 2-3 hours whether its beyond me.
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Wendy Walker
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#31

Post by Wendy Walker »

pddigi wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:40 pm Dom usually greets me with a Thursday morning text saying "HMD", for Happy Meta Day!

Inspired by last week's puzzle, he texted me "How you -kle". It was initially lost on me, but to be fair, he sent it at 5:00 am eastern, which is 4:00 am here in Nashville, so he woke me up with that text, and decoding a text from my out-of-town son at that hour is not in the top 50 responses that ran through my mind!
If you both solve this week's meta it'll be interesting to see his text NEXT Thursday!
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
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Amanda Hugginkiss
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#32

Post by Amanda Hugginkiss »

That was one of those perfect metas that I feel totally clueless about at first, but then the lightbulb goes on. I love that feeling!
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TPS
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#33

Post by TPS »

Onshore with a shove - this puzzle was the combination of what I initially though the puzzle would be when I saw the title and then the first rabbit hole I went down. As happens to me so often - I couldn't make the connection on my own and then like someone says one word. But without that word I NEVER would have made it home.
Dplass
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#34

Post by Dplass »

TPS wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:36 pm
C=64 wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:30 pm
Thanks for the clarification. I would think that folks would need to take more than a couple of hours before declaring a puzzle beyond their capabilities.
I've never solved a puzzle on my own that I didn't solve within the first 3 hours - never. I've spent 48+ hours in and was no point closer. So I can generally tell within the first 2-3 hours whether its beyond me.
Pretty much the same with me.
Dplass
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#35

Post by Dplass »

Al Sisti wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 4:45 pm
Cindy wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 4:11 pm A five letter word!
So we've got it narrowed down to that...
According to Mr. G there are 12478 five-letter words. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
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oldjudge
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#36

Post by oldjudge »

Finally ashore. I like the concept.
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KayW
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#37

Post by KayW »

Completed the grid without too much difficulty, but so far nothing on the meta. Hoping for post-enlightenment. I think this is one I will need to sleep on...
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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Streroto
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#38

Post by Streroto »

Easy grid done by 4:15. Then nada. Meta no clue. Hope not another weekend like last one. Ugh. I see something that almost can’t be a coincidence yet cannot take it further. Need to sleep on it I guess.

Stay well all
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TPS
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#39

Post by TPS »

Streroto wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 8:30 pm Easy grid done by 4:15.
When I first read this I thought it meant you finished the grid in 4 minutes 15 seconds - and I was like "Holy F'ing Sh*t" I'm always ecstatic when I finish them in under 20 minutes but I'm happy anytime less than 30 minutes and thought I was pretty decent at solving grids - but I need to reevaluate that if people are solving these in under 5 minutes!! But then my brain started working.
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FrankieHeck
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#40

Post by FrankieHeck »

On shore thanks to my husband, who picked up my puzzle and finished solving the meta as I was washing some dishes.
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