XWord Muggles Forum

Holy cow! I didn't have a lot of time to work on this one, but I think I just figured it out! Blind squirrel strikes again!

Still at sea…

On shore, but I’m not quite confident in the answer. I’m pretty sure I got the mechanism, but I’m not sure about the final answer.

Ashore but like others I'm a little confused about the three-letter answer. Yes, a three-letter answer is apparent. But there is something extra there that I don't know what to do with. Still, a very nice puzzle, and once again I am amazed by the skill of our constructors.

I am on shore (or at least as far as the sandbar) thanks to someone who helped clear out the excess flotsam that I was entangled in. I won't be submitting but I am glad to have an answer! And this construction, as is so often the case, is quite impressive.

Didn’t want the deadline to pass before declaring myself firmly on the boat. Isaac is getting annoyed at my frustrated rants!

I know the answer, but don't count me on shore. I needed a nudge to decipher the mechanism, and even then needed a kick to see the obvious.

On shore! Just in time!

On shore with time to spare. Waiting to the last seems to be working for me. Started about 30 minutes ago and solved the meta before finishing the grid. Maybe a personal best for me though not even close to @Al Sisti’s time from last week.

Some muggles have reported to me that they cannot see the image of my reveal. I am uploading it to this post, also, so you may see it twice.

" But there is something extra there that I don't know what to do with."

I know what you mean. But I think you just have to ignore it. In a way it fits with my first several attempts at the them answers to get 16A in 23B I had to consistently and incorrectly go 1 letter too short ("NAME, ARCO, PANY, TTEN, CROS, VIFO....? I don't get it? ANd that's just 9 to just up to but not including 5" .... Can't tell you how long I insisted I had to go up to be not include the 5 all because ARCO in 23 A was 9 to .... up to but not including the 5... It took me a LONG time before I relented and said to myself "Okay, I'll try including the last letter just to see what will happen but then it will be ARCO-m and not ARCO so I know it won't work but I'll try it anyway". I really resisted.) . This time... I have one letter too long I just needed to ignore it. (At 10 we have a three letter word up to but not including 10).

Now that Joe Ross has posted the official WSJ answer, I'll explain the tiny 5-minute detour I took. I got all the way to NAME CAR COMPANY AT TEN ACROSS, looked at 10A, and saw HAIK. Now, where I live, there is a car dealership called MAC HAIK, presumably named after a man named Mac Haik (pronounced to rhyme with Eisenhower's nickname). And MAC has three letters... I knew that was too localized to be the answer, but it jolted me out of a straightforward solve to spend 5 minutes Googling for a different car company called HAIK. Fortunately I came to my senses and saw KIA hiding there.

woozy wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2021 12:11 am " But there is something extra there that I don't know what to do with."

I know what you mean. But I think you just have to ignore it. In a way it fits with my first several attempts at the them answers to get 16A in 23B I had to consistently and incorrectly go 1 letter too short ("NAME, ARCO, PANY, CROS, VIFO....? I don't get it? ANd that's just 9 to just up to but not including 5" .... Can't tell you how long I insisted I had to go up to be not include the 5 all because ARCO in 23 A was 9 to .... up to but not including the 5) . This time... I have one letter too long I just needed to ignore it. (At 10 we have a three letter word up to but not including 10).

Yes, I had same problem at first...was briefly thrown off by seeing ARCO (16a) that turned up in 23a when I applied the mechanism ( incorrectly) because I was counting letters 9 to 5 ( not including 5)! But soon I realized my error and saw the correct sentence to solve. We were told that the answer was “3 letters” , so KIA it had to be!

OK - that is not the answer I came up with at all.

I got: CEO

These 3 letters were nine letter spaces from the three "V" (five in Roman numeral) cells found in the grid - 9 to 5

*shrugs*

can't win them all...

This week there was naught to console
Since my answer was ready to roll
So I think luckily
I’m in good company
And the meta god’s blessing my Soul

It will be interesting to see the number of IBM submissions. After initially making no progress with the long answers, I looked at the ‘A’ in grid box 9 and the ‘T’ in 5 and saw ambit in 1-across with the IBM in reverse. But that seemed too simplistic and I was able to figure out how to navigate the theme answers. Also a nice touch in the last across answer with ‘REI’ backwards in ‘Fiero’.

Getting Kia from ‘haik’ reminded me of the puzzle where the island ‘Sulpa’ was in the grid because it is ‘A Plus’ backwards. I think the puzzle title was Stress Test, and the theme entries hinted at answer, island, and backward. Unusual answers are often part of the meta solution.

Wow. I wasn’t even close but that is a super meta from a tough grid. Congrats to all who solved. I will continue to enjoy my morning coffee from my non WSJ mug.

Jace54 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2021 12:32 am It will be interesting to see the number of IBM submissions. After initially making no progress with the long answers, I looked at the ‘A’ in grid box 9 and the ‘T’ in 5 and saw ambit in 1-across with the IBM in reverse. But that seemed too simplistic and I was able to figure out how to navigate the theme answers. Also a nice touch in the last across answer with ‘REI’ backwards in ‘Fiero’.

Getting Kia from ‘haik’ reminded me of the puzzle where the island ‘Sulpa’ was in the grid because it is ‘A Plus’ backwards. I think the puzzle title was Stress Test, and the theme entries hinted at answer, island, and backward. Unusual answers are often part of the meta solution.

It will be interesting to see how many IBMs. That was my guess from just looking at the title before starting the grid. The key that opened the meta for me was seeing “cross” backward in the theme answers.

Well, I got the answer, but I totally disliked the puzzle. Why were the 9 to 5 letters from Nine to Five (VIFOT) not included in the solution? Also, in all my years of working, I've never known anyone to work such hours. I worked at a Fortune 100 company in St. Paul, MN. People worked basically 9 hours. I had some friends that worked 9 to 3; I generally worked from 8:30 to 5:30. No one worked 9 to 5, and I don't know anyone who had such short working hours.