#641 - "No-Win Situations"

An excellent puzzle written by one of the innovators of the meta crossword format. It comes out every Friday at noon and increases in difficulty throughout the month. Available for modest subscription (worth every cent) here: www.xwordcontest.com
User avatar
Hector
Posts: 1297
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:15 pm
Location: San Francisco
Contact:

#641 - "No-Win Situations"

#1

Post by Hector »

This weekโ€™s contest answer is an eight-letter word.
docison
Posts: 405
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:18 pm
Location: Brookline, MA

#2

Post by docison »

Nice grid and meta. Though there's one thing that I found surprising/inelegant.
User avatar
RPardoe
Posts: 736
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:09 pm
Location: Houston, TX

#3

Post by RPardoe »

Done and submitted.

@docison - think I see what you mean. PM sent to check.
Last edited by RPardoe on Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Hector
Posts: 1297
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:15 pm
Location: San Francisco
Contact:

#4

Post by Hector »

I think I know what you mean, but it seems more elegant the more I look at it.
User avatar
Meg
Posts: 2137
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:41 pm
Location: St. Petersburg, FL

#5

Post by Meg »

Got the meta, but now I have to find the inelegance.
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
paige11
Posts: 131
Joined: Sat May 09, 2020 6:02 pm

#6

Post by paige11 »

I was worried I was missing something, but looks like I got it!
Laura M
Posts: 1385
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am

#7

Post by Laura M »

Beam me up! Enjoyed it! At least I got this one, I may have to give up on MMM and PGWCC.

I do see a small inelegance, but <shrug>. (Maybe that's why the puzzle was late?)
pgw
Posts: 90
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 5:24 pm

#8

Post by pgw »

Hector wrote: โ†‘Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:26 pm I think I know what you mean, but it seems more elegant the more I look at it.
I commented to Matt on what I thought was a small inelegance (which didn't bother me anyway) and he pointed out why it was less of an inelegance than I'd realized. Either way, I don't think it makes the solve any less solid.
stmv
Posts: 296
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 5:12 pm

#9

Post by stmv »

Got it, on leaderboard. Unsure about inelegance, seemed pretty good to me; indeed, the one part of it that seemed arbitrary to me at first, I now see has a reasonably elegant explanation.
User avatar
hcbirker
Posts: 1985
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:24 pm
Location: Studio City, CA

#10

Post by hcbirker »

Beam me up!
Heidi
docison
Posts: 405
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:18 pm
Location: Brookline, MA

#11

Post by docison »

Sorry - didn't mean to quibble! Agree with PGW's comment, ultimately the solve wasn't in doubt. It just made me scratch my head for a minute.
User avatar
oldjudge
Posts: 1624
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:16 am
Location: Pasadena, CA

#12

Post by oldjudge »

Nice puzzle-interesting concept
User avatar
ky-mike
Posts: 1943
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 4:22 pm
Location: Near Louisville Ky

#13

Post by ky-mike »

Got it. What seemed like an inelegance at first sight really isn't if you think about how this came together and tie back in to the theme.
User avatar
Richard B.
Posts: 547
Joined: Sat May 16, 2020 1:58 pm
Location: upper west side, NYC

#14

Post by Richard B. »

Beam me up. I think there may be several layers of elegance here (which donโ€™t really affect the ultimate answer).
User avatar
Cindy
Posts: 1248
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:39 pm
Location: Matthews

#15

Post by Cindy »

Solved. Awaiting a board update
User avatar
sharkicicles
Posts: 798
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 12:03 pm
Location: Chicago

#16

Post by sharkicicles »

On the board!
User avatar
Joe Ross
Moderator
Posts: 5002
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
Location: Cincinnati

#17

Post by Joe Ross »

Hoping others' inelegance is mine & that my submitted will be accepted... Confirmed!

I hate submitting when less than 90% sure. Time for that Evan Williams!

[Edit1: Agree with Hector on being more & more convinced of answer (esp. since it was accepted :roll: ), but agreeing with Hector is always the correct thing to do.]
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ.
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ENORMOUS ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ:
๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ,
๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ,
๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ & ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ. ๐—ฃ๐—Ÿ๐—˜๐—”๐—ฆ๐—˜ ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—”๐—ฅ๐—˜!
User avatar
TMart
Posts: 816
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:13 am
Location: Malvern, PA

#18

Post by TMart »

On the board. At first, I thought it was inelegant, and then I saw the elegance when I looked at it differently.
damefox
Posts: 477
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2019 2:18 pm

#19

Post by damefox »

Got it, but I didn't even really understand the answer at the point I figured it out, and at this point I'm in the camp of people who don't see what "elegance" everyone else keeps talking about. It looks a little like a mess to me.
User avatar
Jeremy Smith
Posts: 971
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:45 pm
Location: Tampa Bay area

#20

Post by Jeremy Smith »

On the board! Inelegance? I think not. However way you look at it, it works all the same.
Locked