XWord Muggles Forum

This was a great puzzle, Brian! And I just found the last piece! Week 3+ for sure.

Keep ‘em coming...

grid done - I'm slow, took 31 (almost 32) minutes (per the PUZ app)

meta, not 8 numbers, played with a few ideas. Will take a nightcap from Isaac in a night-cap and go back to my cabin for the night.

36D - Yes!

Therefore, you need your own topic in Other Meta Crossword Puzzles.

Joe Ross wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 9:24 am 36D - Yes!

Therefore, you need your own topic in Other Meta Crossword Puzzles.

Yup. Stumped me. So far at least.

Brilliant puzzle so far. Still working on the last step.

I think I found a first step but still sitting at the bar.

This is excellent!

On my first look, I didn't see anything. Picked it up again a day or so later and the first two steps jumped off the page at me, and that got me more than half way there. Had a reasonable guess at the rest of it but not a solid way to get there. So this morning, I looked again and said, hmm, I wonder if.. And there it was! Just PM'd Brian.

I second the motion for a new topic for these with a separate thread for each puzzle. And I really hope you'll keep them coming.

Excellent puzzle. Brian please make a new thread so people can find this treasure. I just found it yesterday afternoon.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to solve Original Game. Most people got this one without too much trouble, except for one part, which was an inelegance I added at the last minute. Here is the solution and explanation:

Each of the five theme entries represents a three-word movie title, minus the first word and with the second word turned to its opposite:

POOR ASIANS ==> RICH ASIANS ==> CRAZY RICH ASIANS
SELLERS CLUB ==> BUYERS CLUB ==> DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
FRESH SCOUNDRELS ==> ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS ==> DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
HIT SUNSHINE ==> MISS SUNSHINE ==> LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
HARD PIECES ==> EASY PIECES ==> FIVE EASY PIECES

Next, shamelessly borrowing a technique from Gaffney and Shenk, you can find words in the grid that correspond to the missing first words of the titles:

CRAZY ==> EIGHTS
DALLAS ==> TEXAS
DIRTY ==> TRICK
LITTLE ==> LEAGUE
FIVE ==> IRON (kind of a "green paint" answer, but I needed a vowel)

I couldn't get these connected words in order, so I originally added the numbers 1-5 next to each to indicate the order to obtain TITLE, and that 5-letter word was going to be the answer. I should have quit while I was ahead, but instead, I decided to fix what was not broken. In coming up with a title, I got a little too clever for my own good and decided to try to repeat the mechanism in the "title" itself (get it?) like I have seen Gaffney and Shenk do so elegantly so many times. I decided on the title "Original Game" with the idea that this would turn into "Imitation Game" and lead to the movie "The Imitation Game." Taking "The" from this title, you would connect it to the five-letter word TITLE to arrive at the 8-letter phrase THE TITLE. This also required me to change the numbering to 4-8, which was an attempt to indicate that TITLE was the last 5 letters of the 8-letter phrase.

In retrospect, I obviously should have left well enough alone and just gone with TITLE, since I think every single person expressed reservations about THE (which is really a terrible word to build a meta around). Lesson learned! I am really gaining an appreciation for how hard these are to put together. In this one, it was difficult to work the 5 connected words into the grid at all, after the theme entries were in place, yet the pros can do it week after week so (seemingly) effortlessly!

So thanks again to everyone who solved and gave feedback. These are certainly learning experiences for me, and I really appreciate you all letting me practice on you as I attempt to learn this craft. I am putting the finishing touches on another puzzle that I hope to post later in the week.

I got the 5 movies/shows and stopped at that point, not knowing where to go with those. I'm only a noob, this was good.

I too only got to the 5 movies. Then I went way off and never got back.

I look forward to the next puzzle. And thank you for this one.

I got TITLE, but never saw the path to THE. Still really enjoyed it and look forward to more!

Ugh...I got all the way there, including being pointed back the title and finding The Imitation Game (which I thought was a great concept). I considered “THE” as the first three letters, but thought I must still have been missing something, so I kept going and tried to find three grid words that were movies starting with “THE” to get three more letters. I found The Pearl and.....nothing else. Oh well - great puzzle!

TMart wrote: ↑Mon Apr 06, 2020 8:41 pm Ugh...I got all the way there, including being pointed back the title and finding The Imitation Game (which I thought was a great concept). I considered “THE” as the first three letters, but thought I must still have been missing something, so I kept going and tried to find three grid words that were movies starting with “THE” to get three more letters. I found The Pearl and.....nothing else. Oh well - great puzzle!

I think that counts as solving the puzzle. You solved it and then kept going!

After getting to TITLE, the only three letter words I could think of to go with it and give something you might play for were THE (90%) or CAR (10%). I first looked at OAKS in the grid, because it was IRON's symmetric partner, and thought maybe "The Oaks" but that seemed weak. Took another day before I realized title meant to look at the title of the puzzle and found The Imitation Game.