#638 - "Treasure Hunt"

[Bird Lives]

Matt thought this one might be too easy for a week 3. I wonder what he has in store for us in week 4.

My comment when I submitted my answer was that it was more like a Week 6.

[burak]

Wow. Wow wow wow. It's a KAS 4.9 for me. (I tried really hard to get the Xs involved to no avail but who knows, maybe I'd have been successful after a month! And once you get to "under the seas" it is pretty obvious what to do). Brilliant puzzle.

On a side note, these are the kinds of puzzles that make my dislike for nudges grow to a noticeable size. Like, when I look at the board I want to be able to say "oh wow look at all these people who solved this thing by themselves!" Now I'm like "nah half of these people got help from someone else probably."

[boharr]

Wow. Wow wow wow. It's a KAS 4.9 for me. (I tried really hard to get the Xs involved to no avail but who knows, maybe I'd have been successful after a month! And once you get to "under the seas" it is pretty obvious what to do). Brilliant puzzle.

On a side note, these are the kinds of puzzles that make my dislike for nudges grow to a noticeable size. Like, when I look at the board I want to be able to say "oh wow look at all these people who solved this thing by themselves!" Now I'm like "nah half of these people got help from someone else probably."

But I've found that in the comments on this forum those who get nudges are honest enough to say so. Not sure how that solo solve thing on Matt's site works.

[SusieG]

I got this (non-solo solve) at the 11th hour due to a kind nudge. And I also took the URBY-BURY-RUBY detour once I was on the right course.

I think the most helpful part about the nudge was, it FINALLY convinced me to abandon a rabbit hole I was stubbornly digging myself further and further into using 39 Down as an indicator clue:

"SNL" alum whose first name appears frequently in crosswords.
The entry is GASTEYER whose first name ANA is indeed missing from this week's grid (tho ASA and ONA are present). I took that to mean that the missing treasure might relate to ANA and other common crosswordese absent from this puzzle. SNL is somewhat common but absent (and tantalizingly close with the less common SML at 21 across. SNL's network of NBC is absent, tho ABC and CBS are present. I could go on. And did. For waaaaay too long.

I did notice the X's early on - and loved the idea of a HEXED PIXIE - but I got so convinced that ANA was going to lead me to the treasure that I ignored them for too long.

I was also stuck on Ana...I’d heard a story that she wore an eye patch for a long time as a child (she’s blind in one eye). I was convinced it was part of the pirate theme. Was sidetracked by so many other little bunnies, as well.

[DrTom]

Blew this completely (actually no big surprise). I knew that the presence of X's HAD to be important but scurried down the anagram, sound-alike, etc. bunny trails for hours. I actually did even try the X pattern but foolishly did it EXACTLY as it appeared in the GRID with the first X three over from the start. If you do that, as I can attest, you get garbage.

Even if I had gotten UNDER THE SEAS I might not have gotten the next step and would have gone looking for anagrams of RED, DEAD, SARGASSO, etc.

Fantastic puzzle but obviously not for us semi-beginners. Dreading this week.

TB

[MajordomoTom]

yes, given how many instances of S, E and A were in the grid, I was already obsessed with those "SEAs", so had I found this step one, I would have been chasing those rabbits until the end of the universe, not ever making the leap to the "Cs" that were intended.

but I can appreciate the prize/treasure, even if it evaded me.

T

[anjhinz]

Just got nowhere on the first day so I pretty much just gave up on it, but now I kinda think I might have sussed it out if I kept at it... so hard to know when to make that call and just bail (and do more fun things with your weekend), and when to just put your nose to grindstone and see if it comes to you...

[BarbaraK]

Wow. Wow wow wow. It's a KAS 4.9 for me. (I tried really hard to get the Xs involved to no avail but who knows, maybe I'd have been successful after a month! And once you get to "under the seas" it is pretty obvious what to do). Brilliant puzzle.

On a side note, these are the kinds of puzzles that make my dislike for nudges grow to a noticeable size. Like, when I look at the board I want to be able to say "oh wow look at all these people who solved this thing by themselves!" Now I'm like "nah half of these people got help from someone else probably."

Rumor has it Matt’s working on a new website design. I have no idea what’s going to be different, but I’d like to see two leaderboards - one with everyone and the other with solo solves only. It would definitely give a better idea of the difficulty. And since only solo solves count for prizes (assuming he’s still doing annual prizes; we haven’t seen anything about that for 2020 yet, have we?) it would be fun to see where I stand there.