XWord Muggles Forum

Hello, solvers! There's a new contest crossword on Fill Me In. I think this one is rather average in difficulty, so I'll rate it 2.6 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.)

The puzzle is called "Six Pack." The solution to the puzzle is a 6-letter word.

The crossword can be downloaded from here. You're welcome to solve, you're even welcome to join in the chatter 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 here (via Apple Podcasts), or just search for it wherever you enjoy podcasts.

Thanks for joining us on this relatively new adventure of contest crosswords. Feel free to contact me at brian@bemoresmarter.com if you have any suggestions, questions, comments, or ideas.

Solved! Maybe 1.5 bananas in difficulty. Thanks for doing these, Brian!

Fun one... yes, please keep it up!

Well that took me a while! I think this was the first time the correct strategy came to me while I was in bed for the night, mentally reviewing the puzzle. I had to run downstairs to make sure I had the right path. Nice.

Got it. Guilty of overcomplicating. I kept trying an approach similar to one of Brian’s previous puzzles - should have known he wouldn’t go back to the well that quickly! A fun solve.

Figuring out how to spell the password was another challenge!

LesY wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 8:57 am Got it. Guilty of overcomplicating. I kept trying an approach similar to one of Brian’s previous puzzles - should have known he wouldn’t go back to the well that quickly! A fun solve.

Figuring out how to spell the password was another challenge!

Seriously! Just two seconds ago I was about to pm someone to ask about the spelling, when I decided to switch from google to bing and it came up right away!

My kid figured it out--I was overcomplicating as usual :-)

Just gave it the fifth and finally figured it out.

Solution came quickly, but fun.

Took me a while but I finally saw the light. I was glad to solve a META that was not one of the ones I usually do (or rather try to do) because I was afraid that I was only able to do those I was used to. Thanks for a fun puzzle - Oh, and I like the self-critique in the clues, made me chuckle.

The solution to the Contest of Episode 238 was SCOUTS.

There were six entries in the grid that were two-word phrases, the first half of which could also be the first half of a two-word phrase ending in PACK. (Example: JAM SESSION -> JAM PACK.) The six original second words had initial letters that spelled SCOUTS, which are also a group that operates in packs.

Thanks for playing ... and check out the new post for the Contest of Episode 240!

That's very clever! Sadly, I never did figure it out.

I was stuck on the six seven letter entries, specifically their endings: ON and OFF (switch positions?) TOY and CARD (things you play with?) and AED and UPS (devices for emergencies?). For obvious reasons, I never got anywhere further with that.