#594 - "A Tale of Ten Cities" - October 18, 2019

An excellent puzzle written by one of the innovators of the meta crossword format. It comes out every Friday at noon and increases in difficulty throughout the month. Available for modest subscription (worth every cent) here: www.xwordcontest.com
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ky-mike
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#21

Post by ky-mike »

Laura M wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 10:11 pm
Meg wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 8:39 am Part of the fun (not) of the process is struggling all Friday afternoon and coming here to discover that many of my solving buddies found the meta easy. Is everything in life relative? At any rate, I finally persuaded my brain to try something new and Voila!
Easy is very much in the eye of the beholder, I think sometimes you're on the same wavelength as the constructor but sometimes really, really not. I struggled a lot with WSJCC this week and was bewildered at all of the people "on shore" very quickly. I think that (almost) everyone has this experience from time to time, keeps us humble. And it feels extra good to solve a meta that your brain tried to tell you was impossible!
Agreed. Some metas come easy to me and hard to others while others seem hard to me and easy for others. I think that comes down to experience and working through all of the different types of puzzle construction. Still working on PGWCC, even after his hint.
Laura M
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#22

Post by Laura M »

ky-mike wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 10:19 pm Agreed. Some metas come easy to me and hard to others while others seem hard to me and easy for others. I think that comes down to experience and working through all of the different types of puzzle construction. Still working on PGWCC, even after his hint.
Well, there are some that are just objectively really difficult :-)
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ky-mike
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#23

Post by ky-mike »

Laura M wrote: Sun Oct 20, 2019 11:53 am
ky-mike wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 10:19 pm Agreed. Some metas come easy to me and hard to others while others seem hard to me and easy for others. I think that comes down to experience and working through all of the different types of puzzle construction. Still working on PGWCC, even after his hint.
Well, there are some that are just objectively really difficult :-)
Agreed. I certainly don’t get them all.
damefox
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#24

Post by damefox »

On the board! I was out of town the last couple days, so I was pleased I was able to get this one fairly quickly when I got home this afternoon. Definitely not a gimme, but I did find it easier than last week's.
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JJD
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#25

Post by JJD »

I think I’m just a Week 1 person.
I need a lot more practice.
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joequavis
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#26

Post by joequavis »

Struggling with this one. I keep trying the same thing and not getting anywhere. Maybe my knowledge of ancient cities is insufficient...
jakeorjacob
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#27

Post by jakeorjacob »

If anyone sees this, I could certainly use a nudge. I feel like I’m close but also super far.E

EDIT: Got it, thanks to some very gentle hints from damefox.
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BarbaraK
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#28

Post by BarbaraK »

Some weeks I just happen to be on Matt's wavelength, and this was one.

I first listed out all 10 cities and noticed that languages as well as cities were involved. Then I highlighted them in the grid, saw how the pairs intersected, with that note about "the first one" now making sense, and thought about translating to the other language. The only one I was unsure about was luau because I think of that more as a cookout than a general party, but it's a common Hawaiian word, and Babel was the perfect answer.
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JJD
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#29

Post by JJD »

I always find fruitless paths to try:
• X is 10 in Roman numerals and the Xie xie entry says to use the first one. (Hello, X’D OUT)
• Also, I tried X-ing OUT all the D’s...
• there are 5 cities across and 10 5-letter entries in the puzzle
• there are 20 3-letter entries that don’t combine into anything, but a couple are 1 letter off (LES-LEN)
• looked at tailing 2 letters of the 5 cities
damefox
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#30

Post by damefox »

For anyone curious, Matt did accept BABYLON as an alternate answer. I know because that's what I submitted; I did write in my comments though that I got to BABEL but figured Babylon was the more common name for that ancient city. (Babel is the name for Babylon in the Bible, but it doesn't seem to appear anywhere else.) A very appropriate answer in any case.
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Jacksull
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#31

Post by Jacksull »

damefox wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 1:16 pm For anyone curious, Matt did accept BABYLON as an alternate answer. I know because that's what I submitted; I did write in my comments though that I got to BABEL but figured Babylon was the more common name for that ancient city. (Babel is the name for Babylon in the Bible, but it doesn't seem to appear anywhere else.) A very appropriate answer in any case.
I submitted BABEL, but was sure I blew it when it took a little while before I showed up on the leaderboard. Glad to find out that either answer was OK.
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FrankieHeck
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#32

Post by FrankieHeck »

damefox wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 1:16 pm I did write in my comments though that I got to BABEL but figured Babylon was the more common name for that ancient city.
I submitted BABEL but did the same.
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joequavis
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#33

Post by joequavis »

I got way too hung up on the title. When I see A Tale of Two (or Ten) Cities, I immediately think of that opening few paragraphs with the contrasting superlatives. So I was trying to combine alternating endings / beginnings of words and their crossings, or the cities related to those crossings. I kept thinking that the right letters were in there somewhere and a more complete knowledge of ancient cities would allow me to just see what he was getting at.

Frustratingly, the thought of translation occurred to me as I remember muttering "Arigato" and "Eight" and decided that couldn't be it (translating 8 -> OKTO -> Eight just didn't seem like it was the correct path).

Oh well. Congrats to all who solved this! Looking forward to week 4...
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BarbaraK
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#34

Post by BarbaraK »

damefox wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 1:16 pm For anyone curious, Matt did accept BABYLON as an alternate answer. I know because that's what I submitted; I did write in my comments though that I got to BABEL but figured Babylon was the more common name for that ancient city. (Babel is the name for Babylon in the Bible, but it doesn't seem to appear anywhere else.) A very appropriate answer in any case.
One of those ignorance is bliss things. I got Babel, vaguely remember the story from the bible, figured that qualified it as ancient, and submitted. Never gave a second thought to where it actually was or whether it still exists or what it's called now.
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TMart
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#35

Post by TMart »

FrankieHeck wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 2:23 pm
damefox wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 1:16 pm I did write in my comments though that I got to BABEL but figured Babylon was the more common name for that ancient city.
I submitted BABEL but did the same.
I sent in BABEL (aka Babylon), with a long winded explanation, complete with citations, about how they are the same city. Matt must get sick of reading that type of nonsense from amateurs like me.
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Al Sisti
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#36

Post by Al Sisti »

TMart wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:34 am
FrankieHeck wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 2:23 pm
damefox wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 1:16 pm I did write in my comments though that I got to BABEL but figured Babylon was the more common name for that ancient city.
I submitted BABEL but did the same.
I sent in BABEL (aka Babylon), with a long winded explanation, complete with citations, about how they are the same city. Matt must get sick of reading that type of nonsense from amateurs like me.
...I wonder if he bites his tongue not making a comment about how much we babble on?
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