A monthly, music-themed meta crossword published at noon on the first Tuesday of every month. The puzzles increase in difficulty each month, and at year end there is a 13th puzzle (the "Mega-Meta") that invokes each of the 12 monthly puzzles. Currently available at https://pmxwords.com/, as well as through the Washington Post website here: MMMM at WaPo
Beth Tyrpin wrote: ↑Wed Jun 08, 2022 1:20 am
I was sure I submitted the red herring guess already and gotten a message that it was incorrect. Last month I was wondering where I went wrong, but you can only guess once. This month I was really wondering what else it could be so I thought what would happen if I tried to resubmit. Not really breaking any rules if I submit the same answer. It was right. I tried to find the email that said I was wrong, but no luck. I just wanted to post in case anyone else had the same situation. I probably put it under the mega meta or something silly, but since I can’t find the email I’ll never know.
Has anyone heard that COVID causes cognitive difficulties that would make solving metapuzzles much harder? I may not be the best solver, but I had a WSJ puzzle streak (the only one I keep stats on) of 43 weeks, followed by another streak of 22 weeks. Then I went to Europe at the end of April, came back with COVID, and now I've started racking up streaks of misses. It's extremely frustrating to go from "Well that was easy!" each week to "I've been staring at this damn thing for hours and don't see anything but shallow rabbit holes!"
Got the grid, which, similar to @BarbaraK is often difficult for me with Pete's MMMM. Found step 1 quite easily. Got what I thought was step 2, though it kinda fell apart (so to speak), and I'm now stuck. And the COVID-cognitive-difficulty fear raises its ugly head again...
HunterX wrote: ↑Wed Jun 08, 2022 10:10 am
Okay, I have to ask...
Has anyone heard that COVID causes cognitive difficulties that would make solving metapuzzles much harder? I may not be the best solver, but I had a WSJ puzzle streak (the only one I keep stats on) of 43 weeks, followed by another streak of 22 weeks. Then I went to Europe at the end of April, came back with COVID, and now I've started racking up streaks of misses. It's extremely frustrating to go from "Well that was easy!" each week to "I've been staring at this damn thing for hours and don't see anything but shallow rabbit holes!"
Got the grid, which, similar to @BarbaraK is often difficult for me with Pete's MMMM. Found step 1 quite easily. Got what I thought was step 2, though it kinda fell apart (so to speak), and I'm now stuck. And the COVID-cognitive-difficulty fear raises its ugly head again...
"Brain fog" is absolutely a COVID symptom. Long COVID, in particular- it seems fairly common for people who contracted COVID, even mild cases, to suffer like this. And, unfortunately, in many cases it continues for quite some time even after you're deemed "cured" by whatever standard we've landed on to denote that you're no longer a risk to transmit it to others. The strange and sometimes long-lasting effects of this disease are going to be a real headache for many folks going forward- I fully expect insurers to attempt to classify all sorts of things as "pre-existing condition" due to COVID in an effort to get out of paying for treatments. Very sorry that you're going through this
HunterX wrote: ↑Wed Jun 08, 2022 10:10 am
Has anyone heard that COVID causes cognitive difficulties that would make solving metapuzzles much harder? ....
"Brain fog" is absolutely a COVID symptom. Long COVID, in particular- it seems fairly common for people who contracted COVID, even mild cases, to suffer like this. And, unfortunately, in many cases it continues for quite some time even after you're deemed "cured" by whatever standard we've landed on to denote that you're no longer a risk to transmit it to others. The strange and sometimes long-lasting effects of this disease are going to be a real headache for many folks going forward- I fully expect insurers to attempt to classify all sorts of things as "pre-existing condition" due to COVID in an effort to get out of paying for treatments. Very sorry that you're going through this
Thanks for the explanation. Oddly, and fortunately (so far), metapuzzles are the only things I've noticed this on. I was able to finish up work pre my retirement date just fine. And I'm navigating post-retirement medical/dental/vision insurance issues fine (so far), as far as I know. So maybe, (maybe) it's just a slump with the puzzles.
But yes, I can imagine that figuring out all the long-term effects of this disease is going to be quite a job, given how varied and odd they are.
Okay. I believe I have it. My first thought for step 2 was completely wrong, but was quite... tantalizing, if a little convoluted. Glad it fell apart and I found the correct, and much more obvious, step 2.
And why didn't I see it earlier? I'm blaming COVID for my mental density from now on!
On the board... and to @HunterX , don't you think all that freshly vacated room in your brain is just brain cells still unsure of how to function now?? Give it some time and you'll be Page One'ing all of us!
Huzzah - eventually made it on the board! Much like @HunterX, the first half came easy but the second half took some time to hit with blinding clarity.. and I can also relate to having a bunch of rusty/lazy neurons post-COVID.
Have a great rest of the week, folks! (and see some of you for the WSJ puzzle on Friday)
Not sure. Had 2 weeks at home after my second booster before going to Europe. Two weeks after that... bam! Head cold? Allergies? They seemed kinda bad, though I tested negative. Then, 3 days later... Positive.
rjy wrote: ↑Wed Jun 08, 2022 3:03 pm
On the board... and to @HunterX , don't you think all that freshly vacated room in your brain is just brain cells still unsure of how to function now?? Give it some time and you'll be Page One'ing all of us!
HunterX wrote: ↑Wed Jun 08, 2022 10:10 am
Has anyone heard that COVID causes cognitive difficulties that would make solving metapuzzles much harder?
Don't want to minimize COVID, but metas lend themselves to dispiriting (apparent) slumps, because they are easy to misinterpret as tests of smarts and yet there's a lot of luck involved. If you get 7 heads or tails in a row you tend to be sure something is wrong with the coin. But you're likely to get a streak that long in any 100 tosses. It's worse when the "tails" present as your failure to figure something out, because then the analog of the loaded coin is you being not as clever as you'd assumed.
Remarkably, however, *solving* 7 metas in a row *is* a true sign of genius.
Solved! I thought this was fun and compared to many MMMM fairly gettable. This is a 100%. No Googling for the contest answer should be required. Other than for confirmation.
Happy to give nudges. If you notice I've solved, please tell me about avenues you've explored so I can nudge you in the right direction and not off a cliff.
mattythewsjpuzzler wrote: ↑Thu Jun 09, 2022 8:40 am
Solved! I thought this was fun and compared to many MMMM fairly gettable. This is a 100%. No Googling for the contest answer should be required. Other than for confirmation.
Yes, A 100%-er, eventually. When I got it, I had to ask my 26 year old son, who was visiting, "Have you heard of a song named ThusAndSuch?" And he said, "Haven't you?" Then I DuckDuckGo'ed it. (So much harder to say/write than "Googled.") Only then was I 100%.
I sent Pete my alternate answer. There was no way justify it given the puzzle, of course. But it was the title/artist I was really hoping it would be, given the meta clue.
HunterX wrote: ↑Wed Jun 08, 2022 10:10 am
Has anyone heard that COVID causes cognitive difficulties that would make solving metapuzzles much harder?
Don't want to minimize COVID, but metas lend themselves to dispiriting (apparent) slumps, because they are easy to misinterpret as tests of smarts and yet there's a lot of luck involved.
Yeah, I couldn't decide whether I preferred having my meta-difficulties be caused by COVID (thus temporary, hopefully) or because of being dense for a month. It's like when my wife sneezes and has a runny nose and I say, "Sounds like your allergies are acting up," and she snaps back, "I don't have allergies! It's probably just a little cold that will go away." Though the prospect of COVID has changed her tune on that a little.
MMe wrote: ↑Wed Jun 08, 2022 10:06 pm
Remarkably, however, *solving* 7 metas in a row *is* a true sign of genius.
Took me a little while to catch on, but it finally clicked. (Totally whiffed last week’s WSJ and of course it was a head-slapper upon seeing the solution.)
This was fun. Like HunterX, I had a promising rabbit hole for step 2 that started leading somewhere and was hard to shake it off. Nice click when the rabbit jumped in my arms from the other direction.
I didn't have any rabbit holes but I did have a few "it'd really work better this way... if one we didn't have that pesky requirement that the answer be consistent and in english... and shouldn't it be a net gain when one corner is missing a few letters but the other corner has so extra letters in abundance... and they are mostly only vowels; they hardly have phonemes at all."
Funny story. I was all set to enter Par for the course for the CrossHare midi contest for April but I mistakenly thought midi meant 7x 7 and not 11 x 11. Oops. Well.... Here's a complex but **small** meta on the subject of golf.
HunterX wrote: ↑Thu Jun 09, 2022 11:23 am
had to ask my 26 year old son, who was visiting, "Have you heard of a song named ThusAndSuch?" And he said, "Haven't you?"
At this point I've gotten to the point that I just respond with a point to myself and say "Um... I'm woozy, remember".
It's no longer even degrading.
Funny story. I was all set to enter Par for the course for the CrossHare midi contest for April but I mistakenly thought midi meant 7x 7 and not 11 x 11. Oops. Well.... Here's a complex but **small** meta on the subject of golf.
Submitted and confirmed. Disappointed by one entry in the grid which fit with everything else but apparently wasn't part of the solution - which threw me off as I looked for the rest of what I needed. I did add it in the comments to Pete. I guess we'll see if he acknowledges it when he posts the solution. Other than that a nice puzzle (once I got out of a silly rabbit hole).
