#41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

Published weekly by expert constructor Peter Gordon, the Fireball crossword is famous for being hard. How hard? Well, in the words of Peter Gordon, if you need to ask, too hard for you! It is not regularly a meta crossword, but does feature a contest or meta puzzle several times throughout the year. Available here for a subscription: http://www.fireballcrosswords.com
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Hector
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#41 - "Follow the Bouncing Ball"

#1

Post by Hector »

What eight-letter word is hinted at by this puzzle?
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Hector
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#2

Post by Hector »

Tough one, but 100%.
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oldjudge
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#3

Post by oldjudge »

Got it, but only with plenty of help. This was a week six for me. Hats off to those who got it.
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RPardoe
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#4

Post by RPardoe »

Had the right general idea early.....then everything clicked to get a solid answer.
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Meg
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#5

Post by Meg »

Peter said 13 correct answers so far. Tougher than he intended.
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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RPardoe
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#6

Post by RPardoe »

Mentioned I was #14 when he asked me about the puzzle. Also pointed out something I had missed.
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Cindy
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#7

Post by Cindy »

I am not submitting this one either. There was something I needed to know that I would never have determined without help I don’t think. Also one quirk that I found misleading.
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MikeM000
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#8

Post by MikeM000 »

I have to look at this more tonight but I at minimum have a solid hail mary in my pocket - an 8 letter word that fits in with the general direction of the puzzle. The wording he uses -- I think it's "what word is hinted at by this puzzle?" -- always makes me wonder if I'm not supposed to have the 100% connection where you *know*, like in the Shenk/Gaffney vein....
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RPardoe
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#9

Post by RPardoe »

MikeM000 wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 12:07 pm The wording he uses -- I think it's "what word is hinted at by this puzzle?" -- always makes me wonder if I'm not supposed to have the 100% connection where you *know*, like in the Shenk/Gaffney vein....
That is just Peter's style. Almost every one of his prior puzzles use the same language (hinted at).
For me, the answers always had that 100% connection ala Shenk/Gaffney so didn't think anything of the phrasing.

As trivia, examples of his other wording styles are very different phrasing:

What (noun) is this puzzle's missing theme entry?
What two grid entries can be combined to make another theme entry?
markhr
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#10

Post by markhr »

Got it. Nice puzzle, a definite 100 percenter.
Now back to WSJ, which is so far eluding me.
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ChrisKochmanski
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#11

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Well, I got it, but only with a lot of help. I won't submit.
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Abide
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#12

Post by Abide »

Got there after a strong French press this morning. Nice one!

Now for a refill and the WSJ ....
The site is just a web page, a meeting place, a clubhouse - it's the group that's special.
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MikeM000
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#13

Post by MikeM000 »

Ugh! I fill in the grid, and immediately think "oh, the most obvious 8 letter word is CROUPIER so it won't be that.

So I think about it...

And 1/2 of an ORDERED PAIR is the VERTICAL co-ordinate.
And the first four letters of that 8 letter word are a color in French, like ROUGE.
And the item in France with 37 pockets is different from the American version in the number of green pockets! .

So I submitted my 3/4 baked idea, and the obvious one I dismissed was right... *sigh*

(The answer is published, but using spoilers in case anyone was still trying to solve, as Mr. Fireball himself does in the email.)
madhatter5
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#14

Post by madhatter5 »

I get PTSD from the title.
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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