Memory Lane

A weekly meta crossword created by members of the forum. Difficulty levels will vary. Hints are usually available starting Wednesday, and solutions are posted on Sunday.
madhatter5
Posts: 673
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2020 1:48 pm

#41

Post by madhatter5 »

Some additions to the leaderboard:


7) Map's cut off - maybe West?

8) One after game that isn't fixed for mathematicians

9) Water's quite endless

10) Deceived by the print
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
markhr
Posts: 342
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:56 pm

#42

Post by markhr »

Got step 1 fairly quickly. Since then--nothing. Even with the spoilers I get nothing but gibberish.
It may be time to punt on this one.
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Darth
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Joined: Sat May 15, 2021 6:51 pm
Location: Champaign, IL

#43

Post by Darth »

What is this "technological terror you've constructed"...? The Force keeps leading me into black holes, and I've got nothing but a mess for the Jawa scavengers to clean up. ~Darth
Schmeel
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Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 2:38 pm

#44

Post by Schmeel »

Off the couch.
I needed the nudges and a bit of trial and error, but I figured it out.
Luckily my fifteen-year-old son was looking over my shoulder as I realized how to solve it and he was more than happy to continue the slog. He came to me a few minutes later with the answer. Cheap labor, but I guess it was educational.
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KayW
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#45

Post by KayW »

:couch_and_lamp: I needed the nudges, but I got it. Memory Lane, indeed. Thanks, Josh!
CatPokedOffCouch.gif
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.
hoover
Posts: 1220
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2021 7:26 pm

#46

Post by hoover »

madhatter5 wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:37 am Some additions to the leaderboard:


7) Map's cut off - maybe West?

8) One after game that isn't fixed for mathematicians

9) Water's quite endless

10) Deceived by the print
Hey, wait, did "Deceived by the print" post a completion message here?

-- Water's quite endless
madhatter5
Posts: 673
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2020 1:48 pm

#47

Post by madhatter5 »

hoover wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:06 pm
madhatter5 wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:37 am Some additions to the leaderboard:


7) Map's cut off - maybe West?

8) One after game that isn't fixed for mathematicians

9) Water's quite endless

10) Deceived by the print
Hey, wait, did "Deceived by the print" post a completion message here?

-- Water's quite endless
No
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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whimsy
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Location: Hopkinton MA

#48

Post by whimsy »

Sorry, but you kind of un-had me at spreadsheets --
Because my tech abilities concerning solving are on a par with his --
Capturechewie.PNG
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joequavis
Posts: 500
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:29 pm
Location: Windsor, Colorado

#49

Post by joequavis »

off the couch - great concept, well executed.
markhr
Posts: 342
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:56 pm

#50

Post by markhr »

Made one last attempt and finally got the right combination. Quite the slog, but I am finally off the couch.
I guess I will make it to the leaderboard, but I don't speak cryptic very well, so who knows?
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woozy
Posts: 2148
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2020 12:40 am

#51

Post by woozy »

I need a nudge. Is there anything more to how to try all combinations rather than just guess every possible combination?

I think the puzzle would be good enough if you just *did* the numbers but obviously you must do something with an extra twist.
Latest meta: Never forget... and never mind (A WSJ retaliation)
madhatter5
Posts: 673
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2020 1:48 pm

#52

Post by madhatter5 »

Some more leaders:


11) Blind kiwi

12) Dirty scheme at Lithuania's capital

13) Biden functioning as central advisor

14) Butter recalled last week by workforce
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
madhatter5
Posts: 673
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2020 1:48 pm

#53

Post by madhatter5 »

Solution:

As hinted by 1A and the title (and perhaps also 48A) the key was to look at past WSJ meta solutions. They have all been generously curated here on the forum at viewtopic.php?f=18&t=277.

Each entry with a parenthetical tuple was a past WSJ meta solution. Successful solvers realized that the first element of the tuple was the year of that puzzle's release, while the last two were (X, Y) coordinates - starting from the bottom-left of the grid - indicating a specific letter from that grid:

Code: Select all


***ACROSS***


ARGO              L         

HONE              O           

SCRAP             O           

TAPES             K           

YALE              B           

OSTRICH           A            

ALLURE            C          
 
ACHE              K         

BLT               A           

TEAL              N          

PAGEANT           D          

TOFU              S         

TANG              M        

STING             I           

PINE              L          
 
MONET             E          


***DOWN***


WASTE             O           

JUMPS             N          
 
BRONTE            P          

BICKER            E         

LURE              R           

SEAR              I     

DASH              L         

ALE               S         

CLUE              P       

HAIL              A          

LIMA              S         

EAGLES            T          

TENNIS            W        

MAINE             S        

MIAMI             C          

ENTER             O         

AGENT             T           

ATOM              T

This leads us to our answer, "Look back and smile on perils past" - W. Scott


Many solvers were tripped up because they started counting from the top left of the grids. It was not my intention to be tricky - for me it is so natural to have coordinates reference offsets from the bottom-left that I never realized it might be an issue. I am really sorry for any time lost trying to figure out the coordinates.


Finally, I'd like to express my thanks to the curator of this amazing meta archive!
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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Hector
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#54

Post by Hector »

Exactly; row-column (and column-row, too) were clearly possibilities. And given that "memory" is in the title, I didn't rule out backwards coordinate systems either. What mainly held me up, though, was that I didn't have across and down separated in the spreadsheet in an easily-sortable way. So even though I sorted up and down every which way -- grid order, date order of past puzzles, alphabetical order of entries, of clues, etc., etc., it all looked like gibberish. That's why I was gently nudging people to scribble on a pdf instead, where acrosses and downs are already separate, and x,y from bottom-left would be one of the first few things you'd try. Sometimes it pays to be a troglodyte.
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RPardoe
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Location: Houston, TX

#55

Post by RPardoe »

Hector wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 12:21 pm Exactly; row-column (and column-row, too) were clearly possibilities. .....
And going R,C did start out U - N - T - I ... initially, so had to track both until only C,R (X,Y) made sense which was only a few letters later.

And having come to this forum later in the game - was NOT even aware of the archive until it was pointed out to me.
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woozy
Posts: 2148
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#56

Post by woozy »

Well, I certainly never got that the first of the triplet was supposed to be a year. I did get that numbers tended be be less than 20. Had they been pairs I might have gotten coordinate pairs but I don't think even if I got year i'd be able to figure how they'd reference a letter.
Latest meta: Never forget... and never mind (A WSJ retaliation)
michaelm
Posts: 487
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2020 3:21 pm

#57

Post by michaelm »

Completed the grid and figured out solution involved older puzzles.
Did not want to attempt solve because I started WSJ metas only in late 2019, and as time permits, many before that are still on my bucket list.
With deep Muggle admiration, thanks for the puzzle and a novel (to me) meta concept!
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MikeyG
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#58

Post by MikeyG »

michaelm wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:23 am Completed the grid and figured out solution involved older puzzles.
Did not want to attempt solve because I started WSJ metas only in late 2019, and as time permits, many before that are still on my bucket list.
With deep Muggle admiration, thanks for the puzzle and a novel (to me) meta concept!
I agree - this concept was awesome. Admittedly, once I realized what was going on and that I had to comb through past metas, I was like, "Oooh, I might want to do these someday." So I did take a pass (I haven't done many WSJ's). But the execution was spot-on - great meta and idea!!
Less cross words, more crosswords.

Solve my latest "Pun of a Kind" Meta!: 89. That's Not Right!
Laura M
Posts: 1384
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am

#59

Post by Laura M »

Really cool meta idea! I never quite figured out how to interpret the numbers correctly, and it seemed like too many grids to go through and try different things, so I gave up early. I'm impressed at how many people stuck with it and solved it! (Although I'm cryptic-challenged and can't read the leaderboard...)
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Beth Tyrpin
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Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:11 pm

#60

Post by Beth Tyrpin »

My cryptic name is appropriate all too often.
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