#630 - "A Number of Creatures"

[dudeski]

On the board. Nice one Matt.

[tonyrobots]

I think I have it. Lots of red herrings in this one.

Come to think of it, that’s a creature I’ve never actually seen, either.

[DrTom]

OMG! Someone just pulled back the curtain - What a stroke of genius Matt (and also anyone who solved it). I am indeed shocked and amazed that anybody can even come up with these ideas, but to then put them into a workable crossword grid. I just know Matt laughs like "MWAH HA HA", he is the all powerful MENTO!

I would have worked on this for the rest of my days and perhaps, just perhaps, would have seen what the solvers saw after I exhausted everything else. Still even that is a long-shot. However, this is just one more thing I will remember to try.

[spotter]

Beam me up! I fat fingered my submission with a partially typed answer and had to email Matt. Hope it won't take too long to see if I made it on the board!

[Hector]

Right there with you spotter, having no more time to devote to this, but in all honesty I might well be added to the several wrong answers this week.

[Djquimby]

I have two answers I’m mulling. Each works (to me) in a different way depending on how I interpret the mechanism. Guh. Someone call it in the air for me...

[dudeski]

Tails

[Davesteve]

Yeesh, been staring at this one for 6 hours and nothing. Just can’t see the mechanism here.

[Laura M]

Pretty sure I finally got it after a third (or fourth or maybe seventh) look! If so, I agree that it's amazingly sneaky but not as complicated as one might expect from a week 4. (Of course, all of the complexity in my own head more than made up for that!)

Edit: Beam me up! I wasn't expecting an update at almost 1:00 AM EDT but here we are. I saw several familiar names in the same transport group :-)

[Bird Lives]

I have an answer that I'm reluctant to submit. Matt himself allowed that last week's vitamin meta was a "clunker," so I expected that this week's would be elegant. But the answer I have so far seems to have a bit of clunk as well.

I also had assumed that Matt and the WSJ crew composed puzzles weeks ahead of the publicaiotn date. But with the delay in this one, I feel like a middle school kid finding out the teacher too can be late with his homework and has to ask for an extension.

[KayW]

Beam me up.

I was beginning to think this would be the meta answer I'd never see. I saw all sorts of creatures as I tried to make this way more complicated than it turned out to be. I'm also missing that final definitive "click" a few other posters referred to, but got my name onto leaderboard without it.

Another remarkable puzzle! Matt said this week’s delay was due to a problem he discovered last-minute with the puzzle he planned to release. I would love to hear the details about that and hope he can share it at some point.

[Bird Lives]

I had thought there might be some secondary confirmation -- in the title or somewhere in the grid -- but finding none, I still went with my first hunch. I wasn't wild about it, but apparently it was correct.

[Joe Ross]

Very nice meta! It kept me smiling for an hour.

I had the same apprehension as many, initially, which allowed me to accept the answer, but a key clue/answer confirmed it in my mind. Feel free to PM, if you've solved, or wait for noon, Wednesday.

[JordanianTomlinson]

My first week 4! I thought this was especially hard - odd how I sailed through the vitamins last week no prob and stared at this one for days until it finally hit me.

[Jacksull]

Nice to get a week 4 for a change. But was it a real week 4? I don’t care, I’m counting it as a win.

[Schep]

Would greatly appreciate any 11th hour nudge on this one. I think I’m going through a meta crisis, I’ve been struggling to pick up on some of these mechanisms lately. Must be losing it! TIA!

[Big Mac]

On the board. This was... really quick? For some reason it came to me right away this week. I'll take it.

[CrossedPurposes]

I'd appreciate a nudge for this one. Not having much in the way of luck getting anywhere.

[chnest]

In the same boat. Spinning wheels trying to get to the right number of creatures

[Geoduck]

Well, I can see all the creatures in the puzzle, but I'm drawing a blank on the one I've never seem .