#593 - "Union Meeting" - October 11, 2019
- Streroto
- Posts: 780
- Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 4:24 pm
- Location: Newtown Square, PA
Just joined MGWCC. Have been doing WSJ for several years and I usually get it quickly. This puzzle is killing me though!! If this is a week 2 then I am never going to get a week 3 or 4!
- hcbirker
- Posts: 2010
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:24 pm
- Location: Studio City, CA
This is not a typical week 2. Hang in there! (Heidi)
Heidi
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- Posts: 1393
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am
Welcome, and take heart, this is not a normal week 2! I think that the numbers are going to show it was more of a week 3. Which means that Matt might give us an easier one next week to make up for it...
Having done WSJCC for about 2.5 years and MGWCC for almost a year, I'd say that the WSJCC metas are usually around a week 1.5-2 difficulty on the MGWCC scale. MGWCC is definitely a step up.
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- Posts: 1617
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:57 pm
Thanks for the encouragement, old timers. I started the MGWCC this August, and have not gotten a week 3 or 4 ( or 5!) yet. This one has me befuddled.
- Streroto
- Posts: 780
- Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 4:24 pm
- Location: Newtown Square, PA
- BarbaraK
- Posts: 2607
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
- Location: Virginia
With my usual impeccable timing, I submitted an answer right after Matt updated the leaderboard. So it probably won't be official for a while, but I'm pretty confident I'm beaming up.
I'm curious about the high number of wrong answers this week. Are they all the same? Is there some reasonable approach that gives another answer? Is this going to be another SFORNO week when Matt ends up accepting almost anything?
Update: Matt didn't make me wait long in the transporter beam. I'm officially on board.
I'm curious about the high number of wrong answers this week. Are they all the same? Is there some reasonable approach that gives another answer? Is this going to be another SFORNO week when Matt ends up accepting almost anything?
Update: Matt didn't make me wait long in the transporter beam. I'm officially on board.
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- Posts: 190
- Joined: Thu May 02, 2019 5:48 pm
Finally, felt like week 4 while doing it but in the end I think it was a week 2.
- joequavis
- Posts: 500
- Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:29 pm
- Location: Windsor, Colorado
I'm pretty sure I've found the wrong answer others have submitted. I've stared at this a long while and even filled out the grid a second time. Not sure I'll end up submitting anything...
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- Posts: 238
- Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:18 pm
Beam me up, I guess! I wasn’t at all sure about my answer but I was tired of trying to get to 100% certitude so I went ahead and submitted. I’ll be interested to see if I missed some confirmation.
- FrankieHeck
- Posts: 839
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:57 pm
- Location: West Virginia
I felt pretty much 100% confident. And I'm usually not confident at all. Should be some interesting conversation soon!
- Jeremy Smith
- Posts: 985
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:45 pm
- Location: Tampa Bay area
I got it, but I felt nowhere near 100% that I was correct. In fact, I was rather surprised when I saw my name on the leaderboard.
- FrankieHeck
- Posts: 839
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:57 pm
- Location: West Virginia
I felt confident because the chances of there being 49 states represented on the outer border of the puzzle, with one weird asymmetric black square, seemed impossibly small. Plus Delaware was considered a border state during the civil war. I didn't like the title, though. It had me looking for connecting or abutting state codes for the longest time.
- BarbaraK
- Posts: 2607
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
- Location: Virginia
Once I figured out that the 49 border squares could be state initials, it wasn't too hard to find the missing D for Delaware. But the only way to be sure that was the correct mechanism was to match up the other 49. That's tedious, not fun. Fortunately I was home and could do it without too much trouble on my computer. But if I'd been away and had to do it all on paper, I'm not sure I'd have bothered - just submitted and taken my chances. (OK, I'm too OCD for that, I'd have done it by hand but grumbled the whole time.)
All around not my favorite MGWCC puzzle.
All around not my favorite MGWCC puzzle.
- Jeremy Smith
- Posts: 985
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:45 pm
- Location: Tampa Bay area
I attempted using two-letter postal abbreviations, but all that accomplished was making a mess out of the grid. Realizing that Delaware was considered a border state during the War Between the States, and that it was 1 (first) out of 50, I ultimately submitted Delaware.
- FrankieHeck
- Posts: 839
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:57 pm
- Location: West Virginia
Well, I was at home, but I found the matching up part pretty exciting, because I knew it was going to end with success. Although I accidentally missed Delaware the first time around, then miscounted the Ws, and almost excitedly submitted West Virginia as the answer (also a border state.) Thank goodness I double-checked!BarbaraK wrote: ↑Tue Oct 15, 2019 12:28 pm Once I figured out that the 49 border squares could be state initials, it wasn't too hard to find the missing D for Delaware. But the only way to be sure that was the correct mechanism was to match up the other 49. That's tedious, not fun. Fortunately I was home and could do it without too much trouble on my computer. But if I'd been away and had to do it all on paper, I'm not sure I'd have bothered - just submitted and taken my chances. (OK, I'm too OCD for that, I'd have done it by hand but grumbled the whole time.)
All around not my favorite MGWCC puzzle.
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- Posts: 483
- Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2019 2:18 pm
Somehow, at some point in my life, although I can't remember when or why, I learned all of the states in alphabetical order. That cut down on the googling enormously this week. It was just a happy coincidence that it occurred to me to write out all of the letters along the border. Then I noticed there were 49, plus that pesky asymmetric square in the corner, hmm... Then again by a happy coincidence it occurred to be to write the letters in alphabetical order, which is when knowing the states in alphabetical order really came in handy. Four A's, no B's, three C's... wait a minute... and then it all fell into place.
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- Posts: 1393
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am
That's so funny that there was another way to get Delaware! I went down the Civil War border states rabbit hole briefly (mostly because of Union in the title) but didn't make that connection to Delaware when I eventually got it.Jeremy Smith wrote: ↑Tue Oct 15, 2019 12:32 pm I attempted using two-letter postal abbreviations, but all that accomplished was making a mess out of the grid. Realizing that Delaware was considered a border state during the War Between the States, and that it was 1 (first) out of 50, I ultimately submitted Delaware.
Amusingly, when I finished the grid and started thinking about the meta, the first thing I said was "Those 6 Ms at the top have to mean something... Are there 6 states that start with M?" And I looked it up, and there were 8, so I let that one go (sigh). It came back to me when I eventually noticed the grid asymmetry and counted the "border" squares (containing 2 more Ms).
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- Posts: 238
- Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:18 pm
Me too. I spent a lot of time looking at the many state postal codes in the grid (I think 27 states were represented there, many "meeting" in the same word). Then I focused on the "meeting" of the "Union" and looked at the Civil War Border states (DE, MD, WV, KY, MO). Only DE appeared in the grid -- four times! Plus Delaware was the first state of 50. I didn't have a lot of time this weekend and decided just to go ahead and submit without a lot of confidence.Jeremy Smith wrote: ↑Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:59 am I got it, but I felt nowhere near 100% that I was correct. In fact, I was rather surprised when I saw my name on the leaderboard.