Q&A With Matt Gaffney June 29

This is a place to learn about the Muggles community and some of the terminology we use. It also contains suggested strategies for solving meta crosswords, as well as a repository of all past WSJ crossword contests and solutions.
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BrianMac
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#41

Post by BrianMac »

OK, finally got the grid with lots of Google. Got the meta pretty quickly and for kind of the right reason. I didn't appreciate the full mechanism until reading crosswordfiend.
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KayW
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#42

Post by KayW »

Yes. Not too far into the solve I split my pc screen with Across Lite on the left and a web browser on the right because I knew I'd be googling more entries than not. Meta solve was instantaneous by comparison. I can't wait to hear the discussion on this - and everything else - on the 29th.
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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#43

Post by ajk »

lol I was about to post a joke about whether I'd still be let into the zoom if I hadn't solved the meta when...it just jumped out at me. :lol:

Definitely 3-4 googles required, plus a few more to confirm things I wasn't 100% sure on. It's funny how these things are sometimes like magic eye puzzles (which are apparently officially called autostereograms).
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
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#44

Post by oldjudge »

That was a fun puzzle that I had done about a year ago. It is one of the puzzles in Matt’s book “Mental Floss”. BTW, that book is highly recommended.
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#45

Post by hoover »

Bob cruise director wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 11:50 am Also I am trying to get a handle of how many people plan on going to the zoom Q&A. Could you send me a PM to indicate yes or no so we can take a guess.
How many active muggles are there?
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Bob cruise director
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#46

Post by Bob cruise director »

hoover wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:08 pm
Bob cruise director wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 11:50 am Also I am trying to get a handle of how many people plan on going to the zoom Q&A. Could you send me a PM to indicate yes or no so we can take a guess.
How many active muggles are there?
I am going to give you several numbers

there are1349 members on this site.
There are 964 muggles (those who have declared themselves on the ship or shore at least once over the past 4+ years). There are muggles are not members of the web site and members of the web site who are not muggles
Of the 964 muggles -
about 110 participate over 90% of the time
another 100 participate between 50-90% of the time
another 200 participate randomly (less than 50% of the time)

And Matt is going to announce it on his web site where he has just over 3900 participants of which I would say about 800 are active. Overlap with our group is probably 30%
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#47

Post by Hector »

Bob could you please be more informative. :) (I'll *probably* be there.)
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#48

Post by BarbaraK »

Bob cruise director wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 8:17 pm And Matt is going to announce it on his web site where he has just over 3900 participants of which I would say about 800 are active. Overlap with our group is probably 30%
3900+ is everyone who has ever submitted an answer in the history of the site.

Matt's Patreon page currently has 1130 subscribers. There are also a few people who get the puzzles via email because they had prepaid for subscriptions or are luddites (or both 🙋‍♀️)
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#49

Post by boharr »

1339,964,110,10,200,3900,1130
I hope you all know that these numbers will all soon appear in parens in a puzzle.
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#50

Post by Abide »

Alright time to start the betting pool on number of participants. I say 87.
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#51

Post by Hector »

Abide wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:48 pm Alright time to start the betting pool on number of participants. I say 87.
Does this have Price is Right rules? (BTW Bob Barker is apparently still alive.)

Edit: and is apparently a HUGE animal welfare supporter. Who (not me) knew.
Last edited by Hector on Thu Jun 24, 2021 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#52

Post by boharr »

Abide wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:48 pm Alright time to start the betting pool on number of participants. I say 87.
Is there an over/under?
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#53

Post by Meg »

Abide wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:48 pm Alright time to start the betting pool on number of participants. I say 87.
My bet is 146. What’s the prize?
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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#54

Post by Abide »

Prize TBD

no over/under, just jellybeans in a jar
The site is just a web page, a meeting place, a clubhouse - it's the group that's special.
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Joe Ross
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#55

Post by Joe Ross »

(There's always that one guy, right?)

Are we talking total visits? Most at one time? The number who stay for the entire presentation?

Whatever, I say 163.
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

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#56

Post by madhatter5 »

86
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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#57

Post by Schmeel »

112
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boharr
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#58

Post by boharr »

Are we counting the guests? The moderator? Nudge please.
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Joe Ross
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#59

Post by Joe Ross »

All-in. Count every jellybean. Matt Gaffney, Mike Shenk, Mike Miller, Bob Stevens: your Cruise Director, you... Add'em up & post your guess.
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
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Al Sisti
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#60

Post by Al Sisti »

144.
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