MEOW #43: Connect Four

A weekly meta crossword on the forum started by member Josh (aka madhatter5). These puzzles are often very creative with solving mechanisms out of the norm and skewing towards the more challenging. Puzzles are posted every Wednesday, and the solution appears the following Tuesday.
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#21

Post by madhatter5 »

HeadinHome wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 5:46 pm Yup - I do indeed have the grid correct. Awaiting the nudge day. (When is that?)
Tomorrow ;)
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MamaE
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#22

Post by MamaE »

I needed google’s help as well as the 9D clarification to finish the grid. Anxiously awaiting official nudges! Lol
- Just puzzling it out here in Delmarva :D
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Dannyvee
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#23

Post by Dannyvee »

Got it with a little help. Impressive!
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woozy
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#24

Post by woozy »

madhatter has graciously allowed me to give nudges:


.....

What is the title of this puzzle? CONNECT FOUR

So what are we suppose to do? CONNECT FOUR

And what are we suppose to connect?CONNECT FOUR


And how many are we supposed to connect?CONNECT FOUR

.....

Now the following hint should only be read if you are really stuck (.... or if you are just bored--- who am I to judge)

All road lead to Rome but the sights you see on the way may differ.
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whimsy
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#25

Post by whimsy »

Didn't test solve this one, so getting a chance to be left dangling with many of you --
Capturecatrope.PNG
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CPJohnson
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#26

Post by CPJohnson »

I'm dangling with whimsy.....
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#27

Post by madhatter5 »

Solution:

There are four Is and four Vs in the grid. If you connect them to make IV (the Roman numeral four), the intersecting letters spell out the answer, QUADRANT.


quadrant.PNG
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KayW
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#28

Post by KayW »

Very clever! Yet another DNF for me, but I seem to be in a slump of late.

And BTW finally got around to looking up @madhatter5 signature - :lol: guess I needn't have.
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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CPJohnson
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#29

Post by CPJohnson »

I did not get this one. Saw the 4 Vs (and 4 of some other letters), but missed the Is. A good puzzle, though.
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#30

Post by Laura M »

DNF, but cool! I saw the 4 Is and 4Vs, but also there were 4Ls and 4Ns, and I never figured out the right thing to do. My spatial awareness is pretty low so puzzles like this are a challenge :-)

I still don't understand why the puzzle couldn't be in .puz format, and why that was a hint? Just as a test, I put it into AcrossLite myself (there were so few entries it didn't take any time), and it seemed to work fine. So I thought it was something about the blank spaces needed to be white, but having seen the solution I'm not sure why that would matter either.
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#31

Post by boharr »

Laura M wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 5:19 pm DNF, but cool! I saw the 4 Is and 4Vs, but also there were 4Ls and 4Ns, and I never figured out the right thing to do. My spatial awareness is pretty low so puzzles like this are a challenge :-)

I still don't understand why the puzzle couldn't be in .puz format, and why that was a hint? Just as a test, I put it into AcrossLite myself (there were so few entries it didn't take any time), and it seemed to work fine. So I thought it was something about the blank spaces needed to be white, but having seen the solution I'm not sure why that would matter either.
I think he may have left the big squares white so it would be easier draw a physical line between each set of I's and V's. I may be wrong but it made it easier for me to draw across white space.
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#32

Post by madhatter5 »

Exactly :)
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whimsy
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#33

Post by whimsy »

Laura M wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 5:19 pm DNF, but cool! I saw the 4 Is and 4Vs, but also there were 4Ls and 4Ns,
Yup -- but I didn't see trying the Is and the Vs! :D
(Looks like a spider nightmare.)
Captureconnect.PNG
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benchen71
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#34

Post by benchen71 »

Like @whimsy I connected the Vs and I connected the Is, but I didn't think to connect the Is to the Vs. So close and yet so far...
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DrTom
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#35

Post by DrTom »

Clever, novel, and apparently way beyond me. I tried connecting the corners but I was stuck trying to connect only 4 things. When I saw there were 4 of the same letters but that there were 4 sets of those I threw that out. The nudges of CONENCT FOUR only solidified that for me. Not the creators or the nudger's fault. Perhaps if I had made the click with the IV...

Good one Josh. Maybe I'll get there this week.
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#36

Post by HeadinHome »

I had PANAMA or COWBOY for “America’s hat” (is that a common way to refer to Canada? Never heard of that.) and MUTATES for EVOLVES, so I never would have gotten this. I spent time looking for some indication of Ringo, John, Paul, and George (connect an R to S, a J to L, etc.??). Same for the other lists of 4 (ninja turtles, 4 heart chambers, 4 seasons). That was my tactic for a long time because the FOUR entries whose clues contained the word FOUR were in a symmetrical arrangement so that didn’t seem coincidental. Oh well - didn’t labor over it too much and glad i didn’t, since two entries were wrong anyway! : )
The other Wendy. :roll:
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#37

Post by madhatter5 »

HeadinHome wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:32 pm I had PANAMA or COWBOY for “America’s hat” (is that a common way to refer to Canada? Never heard of that.) and MUTATES for EVOLVES, so I never would have gotten this. I spent time looking for some indication of Ringo, John, Paul, and George (connect an R to S, a J to L, etc.??). Same for the other lists of 4 (ninja turtles, 4 heart chambers, 4 seasons). That was my tactic for a long time because the FOUR entries whose clues contained the word FOUR were in a symmetrical arrangement so that didn’t seem coincidental. Oh well - didn’t labor over it too much and glad i didn’t, since two entries were wrong anyway! : )
Oh man I'm so sorry - I thought you had checked your answers? Anyway next time I have unchecked entries I'll make sure there can be absolutely no doubt what the answer is
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HeadinHome
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#38

Post by HeadinHome »

Ah - is this the puzzle where you can check answers online? Totally forgot that… I do them on paper. No worries… fortunately I was distracted by the Gaffney and WSJ before I could spend too much time on this one! ( : It’s a clever puzzle!
The other Wendy. :roll:
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