Episode #340 Contest: It's a Zoo!

[bcimmet]

There's a new contest puzzle from Fill Me In. I'll rate this one 0.8 bananas on a scale of 5 bananas. (Bananas has nothing to do with the puzzle, it's just a 1-to-5 scale we made up.) As always, I have a poor sense of difficulty, but based on the feedback from our testers, this one played quite easily.

The puzzle is called "It's a Zoo" and was constructed by me (Brian Cimmet). The solution to the puzzle is an animal.

The crossword can be downloaded from here. You're welcome to solve and talk about the puzzle -- but if you want to be eligible for a prize, you have to listen to the podcast for this week's password. The podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, our own website, or wherever you collect your podcasts.

Once you've solved the puzzle, submit your answer and this week's password by email to fmi@bemoresmarter.com. You can also contact us with any suggestions, questions, comments, or ideas. Thanks for playing along!

[Schmeel]

Banana's peeled.
Good puzzle!

[bcimmet]

That was quick!

[boharr]

Another banana peeled.

[oldjudge]

Why can't a pdf be provided so us paper solvers have an easier time?

[dot]

Peeled it! We did not think it was a 0.8 out of 5 in difficulty. It took us a little bit. Maybe more like a 3? Nice one!

[ChrisKochmanski]

Peeled!

[oldjudge]

Not hard, but if bananas translate to Matt’s scale then this is definitely not a .8. I would rate it as 1.5-2 bananas.Loved the meta, hated the clueing.

[benchen71]

Banana's peeled. Fun one!

[bcimmet]

Why can't a pdf be provided so us paper solvers have an easier time?

Making a generic PDF is very easy -- and I would recommend loading our PUZ file into Nam Jin Yoon's website. Here's the link:

https://njyoon.github.io/pdf

The main reason I'm not making a PDF is that a generic one like that (or a print from Across Lite) doesn't appeal to me, and the standard I would set for myself for a PDF that *does* appeal to me would take too much time. I'm a one-man team -- for the podcast, the puzzle, managing email and social media. I do as much as I can with the resources I have, all with attention to my own self preservation so I don't burn out or resent the work.

If anyone in this forum or elsewhere would like to generate PDF files and share them with the community, I certainly won't object. But I'm afraid I can't add that to my own to-do list each week.

Thanks for understanding.

[bcimmet]

Peeled it! We did not think it was a 0.8 out of 5 in difficulty. It took us a little bit. Maybe more like a 3? Nice one!

Glad you liked it -- and sorry for the miscalculation on difficulty. I make the best guess I can based on our testers' feedback ... though perhaps if I'm so off the mark, I should leave out the difficulty estimate?

[bcimmet]

Not hard, but if bananas translate to Matt’s scale then this is definitely not a .8. I would rate it as 1.5-2 bananas.Loved the meta, hated the clueing.

Sorry you didn't agree with the clues or the difficulty estimate. I make the best guess I can from our testers' feedback, but perhaps if I'm too off the mark, maybe I'll leave out the difficulty thing in the future?

[oldjudge]

Thanks for responding Brian. Joe Ross kindly showed me that site this afternoon and it worked like a charm. Hopefully, no more whining from me over pdf’s. Love the podcast, highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t tried it.

[BarbaraK]

Peeled it! We did not think it was a 0.8 out of 5 in difficulty. It took us a little bit. Maybe more like a 3? Nice one!

Glad you liked it -- and sorry for the miscalculation on difficulty. I make the best guess I can based on our testers' feedback ... though perhaps if I'm so off the mark, I should leave out the difficulty estimate?

Judging difficulty is difficult. Matt Gaffney, who has been doing this every week for 722 weeks, mis-guesses sometimes.

And even if your guess is exactly right for the average solver, some individuals will experience it differently. Even with the hardest puzzles, someone will just happen to think of the mechanism quickly and say it was easy. And even the easiest puzzles land in someone’s blind spot.

Despite that, I hope you will continue to provide your difficulty estimates. I find them useful as a starting point when approaching the meta. (I wish WSJ would give us difficulty ratings for theirs.)

Besides, since bananas are your own scale, they don’t have to correspond precisely to any other:)

And I love your clueing style!

And that banana is split and bring smothered in ice cream even as we speak.

May have to wait to listen to the podcast though as I’ve ordered the ACPT puzzles.

[boharr]

@bcimmet Yes, please continue to provide difficulty ratings. They are very useful to many, and they certainly don't have to be perfect.

[Laura M]

The clue for 50A is *chef's kiss* (Not meta-related!)

[BarbaraK]

The clue for 50A is *chef's kiss* (Not meta-related!)

Yes! I loved that too

[dudeski]

Enjoyed it. Liked the meta and clues.

[MikeM000]

I'm pretty sure last night I made Google history by putting Kesha and George Gershwin into a search together.

The sad thing was, all the while Iggy Pop was sitting at a table in the back corner, swinging his arms around and trying to be noticed.

At least I think it was his arms....

[bcimmet]

Hello solvers,

The solution to this contest was PENGUIN.

There are seven clues with asterisks, and the entries for these clues are anagrams of animals, plus one letter.

• 17A NAMETAPE = MANATEE + P
• 20A LOPEARED = LEOPARD + E
• 26A VERBENA = BEAVER + N
• 39A REGIMEN = ERMINE + G
• 48A UNYOKED = DONKEY + U
• 55A LEGALIZE = GAZELLE + I
• 62A TRASHMEN = HAMSTER + N

Those extra letters, top to bottom, spell PENGUIN.

Thanks for playing! There's another contest puzzle and another post in the forum for it. I hope you give it a try!