"Stress Test" - July 3, 2020

[LadyBird]

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A few days ago on our deck. Red-tailed hawks?

The black band across the white chest makes me think Red-tailed Hawk. How nice to have a pair.

[LadyBird]

I have an answer of sorts, but it BArely makes sense--I couLD venture to say that it makes no sense. Which lEAds me to think that I should just keep paddling around for a while (which should feel good in this hot and humid weather) and explore other possible anGLEs.

Never mind. My dear husband just towed me to shore! He'll have a pina colada. Maybe he'll share with me.
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On another note, o wise and quirky muggles. Any suggestions for something fun go have delivered to our son and his wife this weekend. They were supposed to come up this weekend to visit us and her folks, but they are now laying low since she was exposed to a patient who was then found to have Covid. It's been one thing after another: delayed honeymoon to Europe canceled,; grad school graduation canceled; job that was supposed to start last month now delayed ( perhaps forever), and now this. Thanks!

I love your birdiegrams, too! This week’s answer was especially appropriate under the circumstances that occurred shortly after I finished filling in the grid on Friday morning. I was sitting on my screened porch and heard a loud splash on the lake. When I looked up there were two of those magnificent birds heading away from me, one with a fish in his/her talons. (They were both juveniles so it was hard to tell their gender.) I watched in awe as the second bird flew behind the first, making every move in unison with the leading bird. It was as if their flight had been choreographed. So beautiful!

Now you are really not going to believe my next sentence. As I was typing the paragraph above, another one of these great birds splashed down to catch a fish in our little cove. Unfortunately, this attempt was not successful.

Finally, I have a suggestion for your son and DIL, or for future sending since I know I am posting long after your original request for ideas. I just have to give a shout-out to a great online bakery here in NC. Check out Carolina Cookie Company: www.carolinacookie.com. I have sent several boxes to friends and relatives over the years to celebrate all sorts of occasions. Yes, I would have preferred to do my own baking, but when you are not nearby, this is a lovely alternative.

How cool with the bird activity in your lagoon!

And thank you to all for the fun suggestions. They were all great--so I've got some to keep in my back pocket for birthdays and Christmas (if I remember! ).

[Devilbunny]

Did the puzzle Friday, didn’t see it. Took another look this morning, got step 1 but overlooked the necessary material for step 2. One last glance before asking for a nudge and it hit me.

[stmv]

After having chased many, many rabbits, I believe that I'm on shore (with help from my wife), but I'm missing that satisfying "click" that makes one 100% sure. When the answer is revealed I will be very interested to see if there was more to it than I've seen so far.

[Bob cruise director]

Onshore, but only thanks to the kindness of two Muggle rescue boats.

I started metas about 6 months ago and sometimes I feel like I've gotten progressively worse in my solve rate.
Fearing I'll be demoted to the forum for "Struggles" instead of "Muggles"

I have you with 21 on the shore and only 9 on the ship for a 70% success rate. That is great in my opinion and you will get better. My experience is that after about 100 of these, you mind will have gotten warped enough to think like Matt/Mike and they will come even more frequently.

No demotions here. Keep fighting. All of us need a rescue boat from time to time.

[Anita]

I forgot to report in, but I'm on the ship as well. Have had several ideas for possible mechanisms but none is working. Does anyone have a nudge for me please?

[Devilbunny]

Who knew my powers of observation would get keener in direct proportion to my holiday beer consumption?

I think all the engineers here can verify this axiom.

It's somewhere between an a law and a theorem.

It even inspired an XKCD comic: https://xkcd.com/323/

[PJM]

Sadly I have been lost at seas for days.

I'll treat myself to a sip of this if I'm ashore by deadline. Unless and until then, a local IPA will have to suffice!

[ClayD]

On shore, this was a fun one

[Joe Ross]

I think all the engineers here can verify this axiom.

It's somewhere between an a law and a theorem.

It even inspired an XKCD comic:

This is Devilbunny's post!

[Patty]

Still LAS. Enjoying Isaac‘s company and the respite of Maine Marge‘s garden.

[Bird Lives]

What happened to the WSJ Saturday variety and crossword puzzles? Are they taking a long holiday weekend at the beach? I don't see them on the WSJ puzzles page, nor does https://www.fleetingimage.com/wij/xyzzy/20-wsj.html have a link.

[boharr]

From the WSJ site: Note: Since there is no WSJ set to publish on July 4, there will be no crossword or variety puzzle for this upcoming weekend. We hope you have a happy and safe holiday! See you on Monday.

[Anita]

Got it after a small nudge. It's funny how the nudge didn't actually give any new information (was already doing the thing), and yet still helped. Thanks.

[LadyBird]

I guess that I am officially a meta geek (along with my bird nerd title). I just created a spreadsheet to track the date, puzzle (title, clue, solution), creator, if I solved it, and my bird reference.

[DrTom]

I'm going to go out on a limb (and if I see anything avian there I'll PM Ladybird) and say that if you are in the "I think I have the answer but I'm (a) not sure (b) seems shaky (c) something's missing, then you do not have the answer. This is a "whaky" META to be sure, and you have to be just a bit twisted to see it right off the bat (explaining my early shore leave) but the pot of gold is quite real and there is no "well is it really a pot and is that really gold". So, unless it is 11:55 this evening don't submit your "almost" this is, as my friend Joe Ross would say, a 100 percenter.

[norrin2]

Oh well, it's a nice day to sit on the deck, the beer is cold and Isaac is good company. There might be sharks in the water and cannibals on the island.

[RichA2]

I think I’m in the sand, on my first ever try at this contest—unless there’s a level of complexity that I am missing. Wouldn’t have had a chance without the hints on methods of solving contained in the FAQs section of this board.

Kudos to Mr. Gaffney for a fun and diabolical puzzle; filling in the grid led to some serious head-scratching until the contest answer became clear.

[BarbaraK]

I think I’m in the sand, on my first ever try at this contest—unless there’s a level of complexity that I am missing. Wouldn’t have had a chance without the hints on methods of solving contained in the FAQs section of this board.

Kudos to Mr. Gaffney for a fun and diabolical puzzle; filling in the grid led to some serious head-scratching until the contest answer became clear.

Welcome, and way to go!!

[DrTom]

It's somewhere between an a law and a theorem.

It even inspired an XKCD comic:

Unfortunately it is not a universal theorem and appears to work only for select things. It does not work for driving and, from hazy memories of 50+ years ago, does NOT make you cooler in bars. The bar phenomenon is best explained by refraction, where a witty repartee viewed through alcohol did not go the way it looked in your mind.