XWord Muggles Forum

Hello, solvers! There's a new contest crossword on Fill Me In. I'll rate this one 2.3 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 "Social Circles." The solution to the puzzle is a four-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 adventure of contest crosswords. Feel free to contact me at brian@bemoresmarter.com if you have any suggestions, questions, comments, or ideas.

Thanks, Brian. Nicely constructed.

I have what has to be the correct mechanism, and I have four letters, but "word" does not describe these four letters.

Update: figured it out! I haven't actually finished listening to the podcast yet, so I have to wait for the password before I submit...

The last step took some time for me also. Thanks, Brian!

Excellent construction!

In the end everything worked out nicely.

Great puzzle! A fresh take I think.

Nicely done.

Got it.

Sure hope spelling doesn't count on this password. Usually I have no clue but can at least get close enough for google, but it doesn't seem like this week's is googleable.

We need a fun metaphor for "solved" on this board. We've got "ashore" for WSJ, "beaming up" for MGWCC, and "off the couch" for MMM. So where are we when we've solved FMI? Something to do with fruit, to complement the banana difficulty scale? Well wherever it is, I'm there.

Got it! And BarbaraK, I know how to spell the password. If you haven't submitted yet you can message me, but it's spelled how it sounds, and I'm sure they won't care!

FrankieHeck wrote: ↑Tue Jul 14, 2020 7:59 pm Got it! And BarbaraK, I know how to spell the password. If you haven't submitted yet you can message me, but it's spelled how it sounds, and I'm sure they won't care!

Thanks, but I did already submit. I figure it they mispronounce cities, they should forgive me misspelling names

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Tue Jul 14, 2020 7:53 pm
We need a fun metaphor for "solved" on this board. We've got "ashore" for WSJ, "beaming up" for MGWCC, and "off the couch" for MMM. So where are we when we've solved FMI? Something to do with fruit, to complement the banana difficulty scale? Well wherever it is, I'm there.

Good idea. Peeled? I'm sure someone can come up with something creative.

boharr wrote: ↑Tue Jul 14, 2020 8:15 pm

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Tue Jul 14, 2020 7:53 pm
We need a fun metaphor for "solved" on this board. We've got "ashore" for WSJ, "beaming up" for MGWCC, and "off the couch" for MMM. So where are we when we've solved FMI? Something to do with fruit, to complement the banana difficulty scale? Well wherever it is, I'm there.

Good idea. Peeled? I'm sure someone can come up with something creative.

Split!

I think I've peeled the bananas on this one. I have a 4 letter answer, though I'm not using a last step that takes time... Time will tell I suppose!

Puzzle peeled!

This one came fairly easily for me. I got it 15 or 20 minutes after completing the grid. Which was nice -- after the epic battle of this week's PGWCC (hours!), and the somewhat heavy exertion (something like 90 minutes? I wasn't clocking it) of this week's Fireball contest puzzle.

Peeled and split, just need some ice cream and hot fudge :-)

I'm having a tough time with all of this week's metapuzzles... This is the first one that came clear, I hope it's a good sign!

The answer to "Social Circles" was CLAN.

There were four portions of the grid which contained the letters S-O-C-I-A-L going clockwise in a circle(ish) shape. Inside that circle was a single letter. The four letters, also going clockwise, spelled C-L-A-N.

Please join us for the new contest from Episode 254!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f ... 1364379980

I just heard I'm the lucky winner listening to the new episode! What a great surprise!!

spotter wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 10:31 am I just heard I'm the lucky winner listening to the new episode! What a great surprise!!

Yeah, I meant to congratulate you but assumed someone already had. So congrats!