"Group Outings" - September 18, 2020

[Abide]

Feeling very blind/stupid with all this chatter about how easy this one is supposed to be.

Same here.

[TPS]

I’ll never understand how people rate the difficulties of the WSJCC puzzle. Last week’s puzzle was a never solve for me yet I got this one in under an hour. Now I realize this puzzle was a more familiar method to those of us who have done these for at least a few months but in my view this week’s is an order of magnitude simpler than last week’s.

I don't do the difficulty ratings because I don't really know how to figure it out. Certainly sometimes there are clear theme answers with an obvious similarity and those should be easy. And others have multiple steps with different methodologies and that will be difficult. But most are somewhere in the middle. And I don't even think my own solving experience is relevant. If I get it quickly, was it easy or was I lucky? If it takes me a long time, was it hard, or was I dense?

I don't know how Matt calibrates the difficulty of MGWCC, and the fact that he sometimes blows it does not surprise me as much as that he so often gets it right.

This is a really good post IMO - probably because I generally feel the same way. I’ve been on the first page twice I think and so of course I thought those were easy puzzles but was the. Surprised to see much much better solvers than me say they thought those puzzles were tough and I have been on the reverse of that dynamic most recently last week.

[yungchap]

made quick work with this one! found the grid a bit frustrating though. a nice, easy puzzle

[EmilyW]

On the shore sipping on a Founders KBS. Every week I tell myself not to look at the forum until I either get the puzzle or am pretty sure I'm not going to, because I get discouraged when there's a lot of comments about the puzzle being easy when I have no ideas. I always give in to temptation though and take a look. This is the first time ever that I wasn't getting anywhere, came here and saw it might be easy, and then went back and immediately got the answer.

[FrankH]

On shore.

[Dow Jones]

Solved and submitted. I am amazed at the uniqueness of every WSJ meta. Kudos to the WSJ Meta Team.

[Prozach]

Hi all - This is my first Meta, really. And my first post here. Great to find you all. As the tradition goes, I will say that I am on shore. Just woke up and took a second (or, 100th) look and I *think* i got it. I had it all on paper since Thursday, but just getting a different look at things, and drilling down one more layer helped. Looking forward to many more of these.

Shana Tova!

[LesY]

Ashore. I can see why some found this “easy” and others found it “hard.” If approached with one mindset it is like a week 2-2.5. But approached with another (which is where I spent 24 hours) it turns into a 3+.

In any event, this was a classically crisp Patrick Berry - a great puzzle that was a pleasure to solve.

Onward to week 3 MGWCC!

[MaineMarge]

Solved. There’s nothing like a middle of the night bathroom break to clear things up.
Yet another neat trick up Patrick’s sleeve.

Before I head to shore Isaac is going to help me plant a hops vine (called bine) in the stern garden. Ever the DIY entrepreneur, he was intrigued by the idea. Some weeks are slow in his bar we know, so he can brew up something new for us.
My own is just recreational hops- they make interesting dried arrangements

Note the ever growing woodpile created by the resident Paul Bunyan. This is northern Maine, so that kitchen wood fire feels good this 27 degree morning.

[hazmat]

on shore.
Does anybody have a link or .puz for the "Variations on a Theme" special puzzle? I haven't watched the Q+A yet. Not a WSJ subscriber.

HERE

Thanks! Fun puzzle.

[Wendy Walker]

Hi all - This is my first Meta, really. And my first post here. Great to find you all. As the tradition goes, I will say that I am on shore. Just woke up and took a second (or, 100th) look and I *think* i got it. I had it all on paper since Thursday, but just getting a different look at things, and drilling down one more layer helped. Looking forward to many more of these.

Shana Tova!

Welcome to the Forum! Please join our Muggle chat via Zoom on Tuesday evening (well, it's evening here in PA) so you can meet us, and so your cat can meet my Tina.

[Wendy Walker]

I just watched this week's WSJ Q&A. The three gentlemen are so amusing, well spoken and smart, and it was great to hear a discussion about our common interest. And what a nice shout-out to the Muggles! I have been wrapped up in an over-the-top local political issue this week, so it was such a relief to know that calm, reasoned discourse still exists in the world. FYI, I did not get the answer to the TOY BOX puzzle or, of course, PAGEANT.

[Wendy Walker]

Solved. There’s nothing like a middle of the night bathroom break to clear things up.

Before I head to shore Isaac is going to help me plant a hops vine (called bine) in the stern garden. E

Hops is such a pretty plant and a great climber!
I've had dreams about the meta. I've solved the meta in a plane, in a car, at a track meet, at dinner. But I can safely say that I have NEVER had inspiration on a nocturnal potty visit!

[tigerfly222]

Checking in for the first time in many weeks! Still sunny and warm here in Barcelona.
Successfully solved this week's meta. That makes 2 in a row, a streak I am sure will be speedily broken.

[boharr]

I’ll never understand how people rate the difficulties of the WSJCC puzzle. Last week’s puzzle was a never solve for me yet I got this one in under an hour. Now I realize this puzzle was a more familiar method to those of us who have done these for at least a few months but in my view this week’s is an order of magnitude simpler than last week’s.

I don't do the difficulty ratings because I don't really know how to figure it out. Certainly sometimes there are clear theme answers with an obvious similarity and those should be easy. And others have multiple steps with different methodologies and that will be difficult. But most are somewhere in the middle. And I don't even think my own solving experience is relevant. If I get it quickly, was it easy or was I lucky? If it takes me a long time, was it hard, or was I dense?

I don't know how Matt calibrates the difficulty of MGWCC, and the fact that he sometimes blows it does not surprise me as much as that he so often gets it right.

This is a really good post IMO - probably because I generally feel the same way. I’ve been on the first page twice I think and so of course I thought those were easy puzzles but was the. Surprised to see much much better solvers than me say they thought those puzzles were tough and I have been on the reverse of that dynamic most recently last week.

I agree with all this. On a couple of rare occasions I got the meta before completing the grid, and I was then surprised that others found the puzzle difficult. I think it's mostly a matter of what we see and when we see it.

[Fishoutowater]

Frustrated last night, relooked this morning, and finally ashore. First time solving a meta, no hints... looking forward to trying more!

[haari]

On shore once again. I'm getting worried that I'm solving these things quicker now. Is my inner word nerd coming out?

[Priscilla]

Hello all! This is my first puzzle after catching the live-streams the last two weeks. I see people saying it’s pretty easy, but I’m lost—could someone possibly help me out with a hint?

[Mister Squawk]

Like others, NOT on shore, and irritated, because last week was so EASY!

[CPJohnson]

I like to do puzzles and have done a lot of them over my life but I had honestly forgotten that Word Squares were even a thing - so aside from about 5 other things that would have made that one unsolvable for me - that would have certainly killed me.

Hard to believe that Toy Box had a higher solve rate than Pageant.

I don't think solve percentage is the best way to compare puzzle difficulty. Some puzzles have a defined set of possibilities, and I think that encourages guessing. And then PAGEANT is really in a category of it's own.

In raw numbers, 242 people got the correct answer to PAGEANT. Only 98 got CLUE. So I'd argue that means Toy Box/CLUE was harder.

It took me all weekend to get that one. When I was refilling the grid yet again, I realized that I didn't really know exactly what a word square was, so I googled it and read the wikipedia article. And then, those 7 four letter words, 2 with the same first letter, suddenly made sense.

I prefer to solve the crossword part of metas without google. But for the meta part, I google everything I'm not absolutely sure of and even some of what I am.

Barbara
I am not sure what is a good metric which is why I keep graphs. The problem with pure numbers is that over time we have doubled the participation so naturally the contests from the "early years" would have lower numbers. I agree with you that the ones with a low and finite number of possible answers encourage guessing.

This contest was different in that there were very few references to actors/directors, or TV shows of which I know very little but when I reach a dead end, I will google them. I can't remember when I have had to google to get the meta

Not even Rock Lobster? (3-3-17)