"Cornerstones"

A weekly meta crossword created by members of the forum. Difficulty levels will vary. Hints are usually available starting Wednesday, and solutions are posted on Sunday.
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whimsy
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#21

Post by whimsy »

Started to work on this a little while ago and thought that the grid was very aesthetically pleasing. But then it became not so pretty when I reached the middle and had the lovely designer rug pulled out from under me. :D
I'll keep on keepin on ---
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MarkL
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#22

Post by MarkL »

OTC. Will PM for confirm.
Mucho gusto!!
'tis... A lovely day for a Guinness!
Dplass
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#23

Post by Dplass »

Thanks for the puzzle, Brian!
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Beth Tyrpin
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#24

Post by Beth Tyrpin »

๐Ÿ›‹
LaceyK
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Location: San Diego

#25

Post by LaceyK »

Off the couch with a little nudge for the finishing touches. Excellent (and quite beautiful) grid & meta.
Schmeel
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#26

Post by Schmeel »

Off the couch.
Nice puzzle - thanks!
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Anita
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Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 1:55 am

#27

Post by Anita »

Solved and sent in yesterday. Waiting to find out if I'm really off the couch, since there was one thing that didn't sit right.

[EDIT: Changed something slightly and arrived at the right answer, now confirmed. Off the couch!]
Dow Jones
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#28

Post by Dow Jones »

Fun! I'm really impressed with the "construction" of this meta. 5 stars!
Tom Wilson
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#29

Post by Tom Wilson »

Pretty sure I'm off the couch; this was a fun one ... even though it took me four days to decipher Brian's ingenuity!
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whimsy
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#30

Post by whimsy »

May have to continue to sit this one out --
Capturecouch3.JPG
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BrianMac
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#31

Post by BrianMac »

Oops, forgot about nudge Wednesday. Here are some nudges:


One alternate title for this puzzle was "Skyscraper," and this was the prompt:

You are the constructor. Your task is to lay the foundation for your skyscraper using materials found at the construction site (i.e., in and around the grid). When you are done, the material you are constructing your skyscraper out of will be revealed.




The weight of most buildings used to be supported by the outside walls. Each floor of the building bore the weight of all the floors above it, and this limited how tall a building could be built. When the support of a building is on the inside, however, then no floor bears any of the weight of the other floors, a building can be built over 100 stories tall. I am not an architect or an engineer, however so take all this with a grain of salt. It's just a long winded way of saying that skyscrapers do not have cornerstones. :)




Complete what would be the cornerstones in the grid. Then move them to their corresponding corners in the internal 5x5 grid.




BONUS NUDGE: the answer is not LEVIS :D Sorry to anyone who got thrown off by that alternative possibility.



Hope this helps! If not, PM me and I will get you there! Thanks for solving!
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DrTom
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#32

Post by DrTom »

Wow VERY clever! I got part one pretty quickly but it is the next steps that I am having difficulty with. Probably won't look at the nudges yet if only to see f I can actually get ANY metas completely anymore. I'm hitting about 50-70% of the mechanism each time. Regardless of whether I solve it or not I really liked it.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
adamsimonlevine
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#33

Post by adamsimonlevine »

Beautiful puzzle! I really enjoyed this mechanism.
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joequavis
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#34

Post by joequavis »

Got it. Awesome puzzle Brian!
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whimsy
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#35

Post by whimsy »

Finally got it after all four nudges.
Since I'm probably the last one off the couch is it OK if I say that:
(tiny spoiler)
I imagine you got your inspiration for this while walking around in the dark at night.
Gotta figure out how to do that rectangular box thing!
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Joe Ross
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#36

Post by Joe Ross »

whimsy wrote: โ†‘Thu Sep 17, 2020 10:49 pm Gotta figure out how to do that rectangular box thing!
To figure out the bb code for anything you see posted on this site, click on the "/quote button, which will open a new post quoting the prior post, then look at the bracketed coding within the quoted post.

For example, you'll see that hidden text is:

[ s p o i l e r ] hidden text [ / s p o i l e r ]

with the spaces within the brackets in the line above removed.
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DrTom
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#37

Post by DrTom »

SUPERLATIVE effort Brian, this is not only a neat mechanism but it works on so many levels that you do not even realize until you have solved. Paraphrasing Dorothy, "THINK MAN, I BELIEVE I LIKE YOURS THE BEST"
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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C=64
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#38

Post by C=64 »

Solved, I think! Really great mechanism; there were minimal instructions but the title and layout made it clear what to do. I also appreciated the clue for 40A.

Update: Based on whimsy's spoiler above, solved!
LaceyK
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#39

Post by LaceyK »

whimsy wrote: โ†‘Thu Sep 17, 2020 10:49 pm Finally got it after all four nudges.
Since I'm probably the last one off the couch is it OK if I say that:
(tiny spoiler)
I imagine you got your inspiration for this while walking around in the dark at night.
Gotta figure out how to do that rectangular box thing!
When I solved I wanted to say:

I reached into the couch and pulled out an answer!
LaceyK
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Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2019 5:10 pm
Location: San Diego

#40

Post by LaceyK »

Thank you for the instructions Joe--fun new tool!
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