#608 - "Illegal Activity"
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Lookout Bear
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:08 am
- Location: Arlington, VA
Alright, gang. I'd love to jump on the January nudge bandwagon! I have a lot of great ideas that are leading nowhere...
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davidb
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 12:20 pm
I will also join the crowd and ask for a nudge if anyone is still willing to provide one at this eleventh hour. Thanks!
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damefox
- Posts: 482
- Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2019 2:18 pm
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Lookout Bear
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:08 am
- Location: Arlington, VA
Thanks! Definitely needed that nudge this week.
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Eckless
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2019 10:13 am
- Location: St Louis Park, MN
Would love to get a nudge...could anybody pass it on via private message? Thank you and much appreciated!
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Eckless
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2019 10:13 am
- Location: St Louis Park, MN
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BrianMac
- Site Admin
- Posts: 787
- Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:45 pm
- Location: Connecticut
I also got the nudge that did the trick. Thanks, guys! Should have seen this one on my own, though. 
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joequavis
- Posts: 500
- Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:29 pm
- Location: Windsor, Colorado
Throwing in the towel. Had some good ideas, learned a few things, but just never saw what I needed to see. Awaiting Joon's explanation at the Fiend...
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Leslie
- Posts: 237
- Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:18 pm
Ditto. Ditto.
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TMart
- Posts: 818
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:13 am
- Location: Malvern, PA
This was a really good one. Right off the bat I saw GO and UNDER, but didn't know what to do with them. I blacked out the G at 2 to create a 2-Across entry and came up with nothing. Then I noticed the "illegal" grid asymmetry and spent a lot of time in that rabbit hole trying to find seven letters that would put the grid back into symmetry, to no avail.
I then realized that the asymmetry probably was a result of Matt trying to key something to grid numbers, and I stumbled onto the answer without seeing the true mechanism at first. With 69 numbers in the grid and a seven letter answer, I started thinking around taking one letter per ten-number group, and started with the twos (i.e. TWOACROSS). First, the letters at each two didn't spell anything. Next, I tried blacking out all of the "2" squares to create (some) illegal across entries and see if they created valid words going down in the grid. They didn't, but the initial letters of the down words and fragments the blackouts created spelled out NO CAN DO, which was a perfect answer to the title, so I thought that had to be it without really knowing why. It was only after I submitted that I went back and found the words going across at each 2 that gave the (easier) path to the solution. Weird solve but great puzzle, and happy for the solo solve on this one, as painful as it was.
I then realized that the asymmetry probably was a result of Matt trying to key something to grid numbers, and I stumbled onto the answer without seeing the true mechanism at first. With 69 numbers in the grid and a seven letter answer, I started thinking around taking one letter per ten-number group, and started with the twos (i.e. TWOACROSS). First, the letters at each two didn't spell anything. Next, I tried blacking out all of the "2" squares to create (some) illegal across entries and see if they created valid words going down in the grid. They didn't, but the initial letters of the down words and fragments the blackouts created spelled out NO CAN DO, which was a perfect answer to the title, so I thought that had to be it without really knowing why. It was only after I submitted that I went back and found the words going across at each 2 that gave the (easier) path to the solution. Weird solve but great puzzle, and happy for the solo solve on this one, as painful as it was.