MEOW #46: Periodic Solving

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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benchen71
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#21

Post by benchen71 »

rjy wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 4:49 pm Solved... clever meta!

BTW (sorry, new here) what do folks mean by "submitted"?
For confirmation that we have found the right answer, we send a PM to the puzzle creator, and then eagerly await confirmation!

Sometimes, the puzzle is also posted on Crosshare, in which case you can submit your meta answer there and get instant confirmation. See, for example, this week's MOAT: viewtopic.php?f=49&t=1237
Check out "The MOAT MEOW Mashup Pack" here. US$10 for 14 metas that don't always abide by the "rules" of the game: asymmetry, 2-letter words, uncrossed letters, who knows. And this time there's a mega-meta! :shock:
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Cindy
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#22

Post by Cindy »

Solved. If at first you don’t succeed………
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lbray53
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#23

Post by lbray53 »

Solved though not yet submitted. Lots of clever stuff going on here. This must have been a challenge to put together. Thanks, Josh!
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Carolyn
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#24

Post by Carolyn »

Very clever and fun!
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MamaE
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#25

Post by MamaE »

Cat out of the bag! Fun one :)
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- Just puzzling it out here in Delmarva :D
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KayW
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#26

Post by KayW »

:handbag: :smile_cat:
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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Abide
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#27

Post by Abide »

Great construction MadCatter!
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Dow Jones
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#28

Post by Dow Jones »

I liked this one alot. Bravo !!
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DrTom
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#29

Post by DrTom »

Fun puzzle and, relatively easy as advertised....however I know there is a doozy coming!

Anyway, not confirmed but no doubt in my mind. Kitty has scampered.
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NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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Cinny
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#30

Post by Cinny »

This turned out to be a fun and easy solve once I stopped chasing rabbits! Good one, Josh!
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oldjudge
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#31

Post by oldjudge »

I had forgotten about this yesterday. I guess that two cats in one week didn’t compute. Also, I had a birthday party for my one year old granddaughter so I was preoccupied. Anyway, the cat is out of the bag—great job by Josh again.
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ImOnToo
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#32

Post by ImOnToo »

Solved and submitted.

Clever!
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#33

Post by madhatter5 »

Nudge Saturday!

38A is key to the mechanism

38A has nothing to do with chemistry

In addition to its elemental meaning, "periodic" can also just mean "Every so often"
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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Joe
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#34

Post by Joe »

Finally made it, kicking and screaming all the way. Or was that the cat?
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#35

Post by hoover »

OK, for some reason I required all of the nudges even though they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. :/
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sharkicicles
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#36

Post by sharkicicles »

hoover wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:44 pm OK, for some reason I required all of the nudges even though they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. :/
Same here. Clever puzzle!
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woozy
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#37

Post by woozy »

I hope at this late date it's not revealing too much to say: What I liked about this puzzle is you really had to drop the rabbit:

"It's not what you think". Okay, I get that applying it there won't work but if I apply it ... there? "No, really. It's not what you think at all". So I don't apply in that way, so I must apply it in someway I haven't considered. "No. It is not what you think. Don't apply it anywhere. That isn't it." Okay, so it's not what I think ... but then how do I apply it to the puzzle if this isn't it?
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madhatter5
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#38

Post by madhatter5 »

Solution


The key clue was 38A. What it meant was that you needed to "periodically" take every third letter from the theme entries. If you do so you will end up with THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE, which is the answer.
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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DrTom
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#39

Post by DrTom »

Josh's puzzle was fun because it was a genius stroke of misdirection. He used "periodic" and "element" to lull us all into a scientific state of mind, then pulled the Mendeleevian carpet from under us! Clever lad...the one thing with MEOW puzzle that you can always count on is that there is nothing you can always count on.
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NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
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woozy
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#40

Post by woozy »

It was brilliant misdirection because there is so much potential! There are phrases that can be spelled out with atomic symbols. You can look up the letters in squares numbered with atomic numbers of elements. The wacky themes answer are weird enough ("PEPPERONI CASTLE??") That it may have symbols ("pepperoNI ends with nickel which is element #28 and square 28 is: S!") and other weird coincidences ("women's names? N(t)ICHOL? [which sounds like NICKEL???] (v)ERONICA?")

But it's not unfair misdirection. PERIODIC has a much more common meaning then the table of elements. And 38A specifies that "THREE" is an periodically important number, which, sure, we can make clues just for the purposes of the puzzle, but we can't have the clues be lies. And THREE is not important number periodically. So we should at least *try* every third letter....

I really liked this puzzle.
Latest meta: Never forget... and never mind (A WSJ retaliation)
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