XWord Muggles Forum

Zonker: "Well, Coach, that 2-D play worked! We Z's countered and pulverized the 36-D just like you drew it up in the locker room."
Coach: "What the sam hill is a Zioph?!"
Zonker: "Hmmm, there seem to be a 23-D hanging over our huddle, B.D."
BD: "Dude, are you in the 55-A again?"
Z: "Solstice. Conjunction. Far out."

Jaclyn wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:35 pm

Jaclyn wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 6:12 pm I'm submitting... I'm on A beach. May or may not be the right one, but it's warm.

It was absolutely NOT the right beach. Possibly in the wrong hemisphere.



I found "9:00" clocks, then anagrammed the 6 letters "in bed" to get MOPPET. Yikes.
On a good day, my moppet is in bed before 9...

The two AT ONEs threw me for a loop for a while, too. I tried something similar for too long to remark.

I'm a new puzzler. No idea how to approach these. Would appreciate any help.

good resources here:

forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=49

it takes a while for all of this to sink in ... I've been doing these about 14 months now, at first, had many problems. This CATNAP, got it in under 2 hours - the 6Zs, all on the left side of the grid, were very curious. That made me go to the title, test the "9", and find the answer.

I am addicted to Snooze Buttons myself, never realized they were nine minutes.

Some of the puzzles are "well done", others are of medium difficulty, it can be rare to find one that you just solve immediately.

one "rule" that I don't recall in that list ... in a grid like this one, the 6 Zs clearly mean something. That's too unusual a letter to appear 6 times in a grid by chance. And you're looking for a 6 letter word/answer.

Now another "rule" is that the grid designer "doesn't waste space". So the 6 Zs at the left ... none on the right. Ok, why? That means that there's something that links the Zs to something on the right, else the entire right side of the grid was "wasted". So it makes it more plausible to find some way to "go from the left to the right". My first guess was the "by 9" of the title. Getting C ... ok, a fine start. A ... ok, not bad. T ... ok, I think this is something. Then the N ... ok, looks promising. Then the A, I have a guess and then the P, done.

But don't expect to get good at these if you don't do them frequently. Do this one, look at other constructors online, I've been doing this one since last 2019, started the Patreon of Gaffney since something like March or April of 2020, and found another one (that's now on hiatus, sadly), so for a while was doing 3 metas a week. That's the only way to start getting traction on these.

Of course, tax season 2021 is right around the corner, so when my "day job" heats up, I'll be back to not getting these done as quickly. Though they're a great release/relief valve during tax return review.

blackravenflower wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 6:55 pm I'm a new puzzler. No idea how to approach these. Would appreciate any help.

Welcome...check out the 'Come Aboard' section of this forum. Under the second section (FAQ's), you'll find helpful hints.

Here's a link,

forums/viewforum.php?f=18

Good luck!

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:49 am
And I just got a confirmation from Mike Miller - the contest will come out on line at 4 pm on WEDNESDAY

YEA!!!
Thanks, Bob and WSJ

Well, I was thinking I would be wishing everyone a merry Christmas on/after the day. Now hoping it's on Wednesday . . . .

michaelm wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 3:59 pm A sad aside, KT Oslin, triple Grammy winner and member of the Nashville and Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame, has died at the age of 78.

You forgot one large honor - "Subject of a a META puzzle!" Before I die I hope to have the same honor - well Peter Kind of made me the subject of a "Quick Solve" puzzle but Nirvana would be a META.

RIP KT

Merry Christmas all,
See you on the other side...
May Santa provide!

A cruise ship safety video from 3 years ago that hits all the right spots and includes our favorite cast - wash your darn hands!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyWMkOW55g0

Forgive me if this was posted before, but I'm still just a muggle noob...

(gimme that mug!)

OMG! The original actors are so OLD!! Oh, wait. So am I. No prob. But I must say Isaac hasn’t lost his verve, or elan, or pep!

escapeartist wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 1:13 am A cruise ship safety video from 3 years ago that hits all the right spots and includes our favorite cast - wash your darn hands!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyWMkOW55g0

Forgive me if this was posted before, but I'm still just a muggle noob...

(gimme that mug!)

Even if it was posted before here, many of us are seniors and probably would not remember. Thanks for the posting

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 9:12 am

escapeartist wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 1:13 am A cruise ship safety video from 3 years ago that hits all the right spots and includes our favorite cast - wash your darn hands!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyWMkOW55g0

Forgive me if this was posted before, but I'm still just a muggle noob...

(gimme that mug!)

Even if it was posted before here, many of us are seniors and probably would not remember. Thanks for the posting

I resemble that remark! ...and echo the sentiment. Thanks!

Kris Zacharias wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:56 pm Screen Shot 2020-12-21 at 5.46.54 PM.png

Has anyone actually tried to complete this puzzle? I did and I found it extremely 18-19. I still don't have an acceptable answer for 14-15!

DrTom wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:07 pm

michaelm wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 3:59 pm A sad aside, KT Oslin, triple Grammy winner and member of the Nashville and Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame, has died at the age of 78.

You forgot one large honor - "Subject of a a META puzzle!" Before I die I hope to have the same honor - well Peter Kind of made me the subject of a "Quick Solve" puzzle but Nirvana would be a META.

RIP KT

One of my first semi-successful meta solves. I had never heard of the artist, but I educed the correct letters from the puzzle. KTOSLIN meant nothing to me. Played with anagrams for a while. Not enough vowels. Finally surrendered, resorted to google and learned the letters were already in the correct order.
RIP, KT.

I didn't get this one (but should have).

I immediately saw the sleep connection and that all the Zs were on the left, and figured that there must be some mechanism to use them to select letters on the right. My first attempt was mirror image, but that resulted in landing on a black square.

This part is sad --->> My next attempt was to count 9 squares to the right from each Z, but I counted only letters, excluding black squares, based on the mistaken assumption (learned from the mirror image attempt) that if I counted black squares too that I might land on a black square. That led to nothing, and then life intervened (a visit from my son and his adorable wife) and I never got back to the puzzle to try the next (obvious in hindsight -- aren't they all) attempt of counting black squares too.

Along the way, I saw the intriguing ATONERS/ATONES and SNOOZE/OOZE, but I never even bothered to think about them. C'est la vie.

Best to all and Happy Holidays!!
JAQT

I fell into the trap of looking at the last clues in the grid. 52D = Salts. I looked at the center clues: 37A = arizoNA 39A = CLuster. This couldn't be a coincidence, so I spent the rest of the weekend looking for the other salts in the puzzle. UGH !!!

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 9:12 am

escapeartist wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 1:13 am A cruise ship safety video from 3 years ago that hits all the right spots and includes our favorite cast - wash your darn hands!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyWMkOW55g0

Forgive me if this was posted before, but I'm still just a muggle noob...

(gimme that mug!)

Even if it was posted before here, many of us are seniors and probably would not remember. Thanks for the posting

Watched it four times and each time I said, "Hey, never saw that before....", whatever it was.

Well here's something interesting. If one looks up "Fibre of the gomuti palm" for the FUN puzzle at the top of the page (and why wouldn't you) from the web you get Answer: DOH!
Well that changes EVERYTHING!