XWord Muggles Forum

Sadly, I never got to shore on this one. Just not enough time and brain power to devote to it this past weekend. Hoping for a more successful Memorial Day crossword cruise. Congrat's to all the solvers!

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2019 11:25 pm

Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2019 7:33 pm

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2019 7:05 pm Haven’t seen Wendy post since Friday. Hope we didn’t scare her off.

So sorry! My nephew won the district 3200m race and then the same evening had his prom, so things were a little hectic yesterday!

OK, that’s a good excuse:)

Congratulations to your nephew!

Thanks! He hung back until 3/4 of the way through the race and then took the lead. The announcer called it "a nice kick"; his family called it nerve-wracking! On to the state meet next weekend.

I was focused on 70A and the starred answers

My answer was Drone - yes I know it had nothing to do with Light Switches but the path was much easier

Each of the 70A letters matched to one letter above one of the starred answers (light switches go up and down generally)

N was above E in Destined
V was above O in Schoolmasters
S was above R in Iterated
R was above N in Diane Chambers
O was above D in Fenced In

Unscrambled they spell Drone

And I got hung up on the number of four letter combinations where they were one letter off from Neon (Reno, OneV as in OneVoice, Eons, Ozen as in Dozen) but that went nowhere

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 8:11 am I was focused on 70A and the starred answers

My answer was Drone - yes I know it had nothing to do with Light Switches but the path was much easier

Each of the 70A letters matched to one letter above one of the starred answers (light switches go up and down generally)

N was above E in Destined
V was above O in Schoolmasters
S was above R in Iterated
R was above N in Diane Chambers
O was above D in Fenced In

Unscrambled they spell Drone

That was my first path too. But I knew the arbitrary anagram and unrelated answer were not Mike’s usual elegant style. So I kept looking and eventually noticed the clues.

billkatz wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 12:15 am

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2019 9:10 pm

billkatz wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2019 8:43 pm I had a really tough time with this one - I finally got a nudge in the right direction and a solution popped out. In hindsight, it's a 100-percenter, everything lines up, and I'm on the beach just in time for dinner. I'm on the board over at MGWCC completing my 2 year streak. During that time the only WSJ I missed was the infamous pageant puzzle. Next week I'll be travelling and ave another logistical challenge, I hope the hotel has a printer!

Bill
I resorted to hand drawing the grid when I was in a similar position. Not elegant but any port in a storm

I've done that once or twice myself. I've also used the .puz file and solved on the screen.

Another port for upcoming storms:

The WSJ online solver works well. Once grid is completed, copy snippet of grid & clues to MS Excel or other (free) spreadsheet, in which you can highlight grids, build word lists & anagrams, compare clues to answers (useful this week), & more. Everything can be visible onscreen.

Below is a snippet of a solution for Light Switches, such as It is.

(You'd be bored further with an attempt at Creature Features, but it wouldn't do to embarrass *someone* who committed to ENABLE where 99%+ of others reaching that place committed to BALEEN.)

It isn't paper, but it may be easier than utilizing a .puz file.


Hoping this may help,

Another County Heard From
(aka *someone*)

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 8:21 am

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 8:11 am I was focused on 70A and the starred answers

My answer was Drone - yes I know it had nothing to do with Light Switches but the path was much easier

Each of the 70A letters matched to one letter above one of the starred answers (light switches go up and down generally)

N was above E in Destined
V was above O in Schoolmasters
S was above R in Iterated
R was above N in Diane Chambers
O was above D in Fenced In

Unscrambled they spell Drone

That was my first path too. But I knew the arbitrary anagram and unrelated answer were not Mike’s usual elegant style. So I kept looking and eventually noticed the clues.

This would be a great mechanism for a future meta.

For some reason I saw the relationship between clues and answers right off. When I found the clue at 70A I also thought it seemed redundant. So I questioned myself thinking the answer had come too easily. Thankfully I had a wedding this weekend so I didn't have time to torture myself with thinking that I submitted too soon/there must be another level. Phew!
And Happy Monday!!

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 8:11 am I was focused on 70A and the starred answers

My answer was Drone - yes I know it had nothing to do with Light Switches but the path was much easier

Each of the 70A letters matched to one letter above one of the starred answers (light switches go up and down generally)

N was above E in Destined
V was above O in Schoolmasters
S was above R in Iterated
R was above N in Diane Chambers
O was above D in Fenced In

Unscrambled they spell Drone

And I got hung up on the number of four letter combinations where they were one letter off from Neon (Reno, OneV as in OneVoice, Eons, Ozen as in Dozen) but that went nowhere

Me too, Bob - you're not alone! I submitted DRONE pretty much knowing it wasn't correct. I'm fairly new at the meta game, but have yet to find one where the revealed letters are an anagram of the correct answer. Lesson learned. I'm hoping these mistakes enhance my solving quiver for future metas.

-Matt

Probably heresy to suggest this, but I personally thought 70A was too much of a clue. I think all of us who 'shined' would have got there eventually without 70A.

No winner yet? Or, did I miss it?

tim1217 wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 12:54 pm Probably heresy to suggest this, but I personally thought 70A was too much of a clue. I think all of us who 'shined' would have got there eventually without 70A.

I think I would have got there faster without 70A. I looked at those letters in the grid for far too long before noticing the clues.

tim1217 wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 12:54 pm Probably heresy to suggest this, but I personally thought 70A was too much of a clue. I think all of us who 'shined' would have got there eventually without 70A.

I'm not sure. I'd like to think so. But, I'm glad it was there for instant confirmation...and also, I think it is a good thing to remember that there are all levels of solvers who should be able to enjoy the puzzle.

Inca wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 3:40 pm No winner yet? Or, did I miss it?

Maybe Mike was off today. (Hopefully vacation, not illness.) Maybe there’s still hope for a muggle win.

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 6:04 pm

Inca wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 3:40 pm No winner yet? Or, did I miss it?

Maybe Mike was off today. (Hopefully vacation, not illness.) Maybe there’s still hope for a muggle win.

Maybe there's a mug meta in the puzzle that answers who won and when it will be posted...

"AHOY" - That's Mike calling from the sea, getting the attention of us MORTALs.

An entrant named EDWIN, perhaps... EDWIN RUMP. One of the RUMP brothers...

Hello--a brief report (on a busy week of travel). First: Can we agree this was one of the cleverest contests ever. Breathtaking!

We had 1126 entries, about 85% correct. A big showing (54) for DRONE: someone will need to explain that one. A grab-bag of other guesses includine DEATH, TOTED, LASER, many others.

Congrats to this week's winner, Victoria Musante of Clayton, CA!

MikeMillerwsj wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 7:08 pm Hello--a brief report (on a busy week of travel). First: Can we agree this was one of the cleverest contests ever. Breathtaking!

We had 1126 entries, about 85% correct. A big showing (54) for DRONE: someone will need to explain that one. A grab-bag of other guesses includine DEATH, TOTED, LASER, many others.

Congrats to this week's winner, Victoria Musante of Clayton, CA!

Thanks for finding time for us! Really appreciate how you take care of our craving for this info.

Bob was one of the DRONE submitters (and I got stuck there a while before finding the correct path). Here's his explanation:

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 8:11 am I was focused on 70A and the starred answers

My answer was Drone - yes I know it had nothing to do with Light Switches but the path was much easier

Each of the 70A letters matched to one letter above one of the starred answers (light switches go up and down generally)

N was above E in Destined
V was above O in Schoolmasters
S was above R in Iterated
R was above N in Diane Chambers
O was above D in Fenced In

Unscrambled they spell Drone

I saw the “drone” anagram also, but couldn’t make any connection to the title. It did shine a light on anagram though, and led to the answer.

Would I have gotten there without the nvsro clue? Think so, but glad to get the nudge.

tim1217 wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 12:54 pm Probably heresy to suggest this, but I personally thought 70A was too much of a clue. I think all of us who 'shined' would have got there eventually without 70A.

I had no idea that that was a clue to solving the meta - I must have solved that corner with the down clues and didn’t even notice until my son (who was too tired from travel to try to solve) mentioned this grid answer. I had long since solved the meta without it.

My take on the 70a gift horse nudge is that it also provided the discard pile for the extra letters switched. 1/2 of the switched letters became our answer SHINE. It provided closure to have a place for the other switched letters to land. Otherwise they would have been hanging chads in my mind.
Loved this meta!

I was one of the fortunate ones this week - noticed the clues and answers had mostly the same letters pretty quickly! Phew!

Just chiming in to say that I took note of all the cryptic crossword fan accolades. I’ve done a handful over many years. But decided to try this week’s WSJ - https://blogs.wsj.com/puzzle/2019/05/17 ... le-may-18/

It reminds me of when I first started trying to solve the Sunday NYT. I would work on it all week with the goal of trying to solve it before the next one appeared! Now I average about 30 minutes for that - practice!! But this cryptic, I have maybe a third of it. But I see the attraction now. Each clue is like a mini-meta! Lots of opportunity for AHA! Not sure I’ve really graduated to them yet, but I’ll keep trying!