Episode #236 Contest: "But First, This!"

Meta crosswords from Lollapuzzoola creator and host Brian Cimmet, offered from time to time through the Fill Me In podcast, which is hosted by Mr. Cimmet and Ryan Hecht. More information available here: https://bemoresmarter.com/
LesY
Posts: 678
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:21 pm

Episode #236 Contest: "But First, This!"

#1

Post by LesY »

New puzzle is up on the Fill Me In podcast site. The answer is “a movie (or its titular character).”
LesY
Posts: 678
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:21 pm

#2

Post by LesY »

Enjoyed this one! I went down a couple of rabbit holes then saw the light.
User avatar
FrankieHeck
Posts: 839
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:57 pm
Location: West Virginia

#3

Post by FrankieHeck »

I enjoyed this, too, and got it pretty quickly. Made it slightly harder than it was. I almost forgot to include the password in my submission, though. Just not used to doing that.
User avatar
ChrisKochmanski
Posts: 2156
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:51 pm
Location: Saline, Michigan

#4

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Got it!

Also made it harder than it needed to be. I can see where some, who are better at metas, would get this one very quickly.
User avatar
Hector
Posts: 1297
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:15 pm
Location: San Francisco
Contact:

#5

Post by Hector »

A wee bit of the old back-solve got me there.
User avatar
Beth Tyrpin
Posts: 512
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:11 pm

#6

Post by Beth Tyrpin »

I was so close to an answer the wrong way that I was getting a little discouraged. Found the right way. Sleep and coffee often do the trick.
User avatar
BarbaraK
Posts: 2590
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
Location: Virginia

#7

Post by BarbaraK »

I still haven't figured this one out. I finally realized that something I'd assumed was the first step was in fact meaningless, and I've now got what I'm quite confident is the starting point. But it's a subject that I know very very little about - had to google just to get this much. Will keep googling and see if I can find something that leads to “a movie (or its titular character)”.

Edit: just found a pretty obscure movie that will work well enough to be my guess if I don't figure out anything better in the next 10 days.
damefox
Posts: 477
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2019 2:18 pm

#8

Post by damefox »

Got this one yesterday. Wound up being much easier than I was trying to make it. Brian definitely has an interesting constructing style. (That'd be a fun contest by itself: try to guess which constructor made any given meta.)
Laura M
Posts: 1384
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am

#9

Post by Laura M »

The answer is what I would have guessed, but I really took the long way around figuring out why! (Not submitting, just in for the fun of it.)
User avatar
Al Sisti
Posts: 2037
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
Location: Whitesboro NY

#10

Post by Al Sisti »

Finally got it, after chasing my tail for too long. Good meta...
User avatar
BarbaraK
Posts: 2590
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
Location: Virginia

#11

Post by BarbaraK »

Got back to this now that MGWCC is done, and realized it wasn't nearly as complicated or esoteric as I tried to make it.
User avatar
BarbaraK
Posts: 2590
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
Location: Virginia

#12

Post by BarbaraK »

Disney princesses are not my strong suit, so this probably took me longer than most others. My first idea was that "But first, this" meant to use the sounds of the first syllables of the theme entries, so sin, miss, poke, maybe jazz, but then what?

Once I did realize that those were Disney characters, I had to google to find the others. Then had no idea what to do with them and got way too deep in the google before backing out and noticing the clues. And, as I'm getting used to with Brian's puzzles, I then saw how nicely everything fit together.

In my googling, I did learn that there was a 2008 TV movie called Princess. If I hadn't found the answer, that was going to be my guess.
User avatar
FrankieHeck
Posts: 839
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:57 pm
Location: West Virginia

#13

Post by FrankieHeck »

Congrats, Beth!
damefox
Posts: 477
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2019 2:18 pm

#14

Post by damefox »

Yay Beth!

Is anyone else having trouble downloading the new Contest of Now (ep. #238)? The link at http://bemoresmarter.libsyn.com/fill-me ... what-it-is doesn't seem to work. What am I missing?
User avatar
BarbaraK
Posts: 2590
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
Location: Virginia

#15

Post by BarbaraK »

User avatar
bcimmet
Posts: 130
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2019 3:16 pm
Location: Syracuse NY
Contact:

#16

Post by bcimmet »

As you've all figured out by now, the solution to the Contest of Episode 236 was MULAN.

Five Disney princesses were in the grid, clued in other ways. The first letter of each clue (hence the title, "But first, this") spell out MULAN.

Thanks for playing ... and check out the new post for the Contest of Episode 238!
--
Fill Me In, a crossword podcast
Apple Podcasts • RSS Feed • fmi@bemoresmarter.com • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram
User avatar
bcimmet
Posts: 130
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2019 3:16 pm
Location: Syracuse NY
Contact:

#17

Post by bcimmet »

Huh. I can't make a new post ... Maybe someone will see this and give me permission to make a new post for Episode 238?
--
Fill Me In, a crossword podcast
Apple Podcasts • RSS Feed • fmi@bemoresmarter.com • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram
User avatar
Al Sisti
Posts: 2037
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
Location: Whitesboro NY

#18

Post by Al Sisti »

bcimmet wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 12:34 pm Huh. I can't make a new post ... Maybe someone will see this and give me permission to make a new post for Episode 238?
You're up there now, Brian...
User avatar
bcimmet
Posts: 130
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2019 3:16 pm
Location: Syracuse NY
Contact:

#19

Post by bcimmet »

Yup, it got fixed (and I don't know how to delete the previous post!)
--
Fill Me In, a crossword podcast
Apple Podcasts • RSS Feed • fmi@bemoresmarter.com • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram
User avatar
Beth Tyrpin
Posts: 512
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:11 pm

#20

Post by Beth Tyrpin »

Thanks for the congratulations. 🎉 I listened to the podcast and was cracking up when my name was mispronounced because they talked a lot about pronunciations today.
Locked