XWord Muggles Forum

Nlobb wrote: ↑Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:05 pm Picked several gallons of blackberries today. Any ideas what to do with them besides making jam???

Rustic tart, in a salad, lovely with duck!

Greetings -- a quick report with apologies for the delay!

This one stumped a lot of solvers. We had 754 entries, about 58% correct. The wrong answers offer an eerie snapshot of the mood right now: CORONAVIRUS (34) and QUARANTINED (29), plus INDEPENDENT (9), COLONOSCOPY (6), CONTEMPLATE (5) and many others. Can anyone explain those?

Congrats to this week's winner: Dan Guendelsberger of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

We hope you all continue to solve safely and indoors! We send strength and sanity and completed grids to all!

Nlobb wrote: ↑Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:05 pm Picked several gallons of blackberries today. Any ideas what to do with them besides making jam???

I like to freeze blueberries and raspberries in quart bags, then use them at my leisure. The majority are used on my breakfast cereal (just zap frozen berries about 30 seconds, add cereal and milk). I also like to use them for muffins and upside down cake. https://www.marthastewart.com/355347/bl ... -down-cake
Blackberries should work just as well in those.

Fresh blackberries are great for shortcake or on pepper steaks with blackberry glaze! http://www.dvo.com/recipe_pages/pillsbu ... _Glaze.php

Thanks for the berries-and-cooking diversion!

honey greek yogurt + blackberries = happiness

Regarding blackberries: Recipes to make now...
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slid ... ng-berries
https://www.countryliving.com/food-drin ... y-recipes/
Freeze them for later
https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-fr ... es-1388420

Nlobb wrote: ↑Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:05 pm Picked several gallons of blackberries today. Any ideas what to do with them besides making jam???

Blackberry wine!

Nlobb wrote: ↑Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:05 pm Picked several gallons of blackberries today. Any ideas what to do with them besides making jam???

Can make a great BBQ sauce!

Wow! Thanks for all the great blackberry recipes! I will be busy trying them all!! Mike, I submitted auto-isolate. I saw auto in the grid. The letters to spell isolate are neatly isolated in groups in 4 corners of the grid...

Saw Mike Miller's post and was quite impressed with the difficulty of this puzzle. I wonder how many would not have solved it if not for all of the tips, hints, nudges, and PM's sent off of this forum. What happened to solving it on your own? What happened to not spoiling it for others? BTW, if this post offends you, it may be because you are part of the problem.

jschneider wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 9:12 am Saw Mike Miller's post and was quite impressed with the difficulty of this puzzle. I wonder how many would not have solved it if not for all of the tips, hints, nudges, and PM's sent off of this forum. What happened to solving it on your own? What happened to not spoiling it for others? BTW, if this post offends you, it may be because you are part of the problem.

We are looking at that. The reality is that the past two weeks have been among the hardest metas since they started and because of a combination of the two WSJ articles and that we are all home meant that we have a lot of newcomers to doing metas. And the number who did or might have gotten assistance from, as you put it, hints, nudges and PM's is less than 1% of those who submitted answers.

It is not clear how one person getting a hint or nudge spoils it for others. Please explain.

we are learning how to build a community whilst all separate.

yes, there's a mug, but it's not winning the mug, it's solving the puzzle and getting that satisfaction.

now back to the blackberry recipes. I'm surprised - no recipes for Blackberry ales or ciders?

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:16 am

jschneider wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 9:12 am Saw Mike Miller's post and was quite impressed with the difficulty of this puzzle. I wonder how many would not have solved it if not for all of the tips, hints, nudges, and PM's sent off of this forum. What happened to solving it on your own? What happened to not spoiling it for others? BTW, if this post offends you, it may be because you are part of the problem.

It is not clear how one person getting a hint or nudge spoils it for others. Please explain.

It's not just one person. . . it's looking like several each week. It doesn't change the puzzle, but it changes this forum.

Sports, popular culture, most music, geography, foreign language? I pull a lot of help from the big G filling in the grid on many weeks. What I want to hurry up and get to is the meta puzzle, and I want to solve it on my own. The meta might take me 4 minutes or 4 days, but my favorite give me something to ponder about through the weekend because I find the meta and this forum are good company. Others may want a different experience and they sometimes post about that.

I don't understand why anyone would ask for a nudge/hint because that's not what I would want, but perhaps, temporarily, this is the place to get help for solving the meta. If the trend continues, do we accept that the forum has changed? Do we try to keep the forum as it is, but maybe have a designated spot for hints/nudges (or even spoilers) for those who are looking for them?

On the one hand, I don't think it's quite "the done thing" to ask for hints here on the Forum. On the other hand, I use Google freely, and my brother ("Four Corners" in summer 2017), my nephew (the CHESS APEAK puzzle a few months ago) and my significant other (the Spielberg puzzle) have saved my butt upon occasion. I think if you do end up solving the meta with help from others, it's the ethical thing to do to acknowledge as much.

Maybe we need a new thread in one of the other sections to handle this discussion.

FWIW - generally, I do not provide nudges. BUT this weekend I did so, very late in the weekend, feeling the numbers were going to be low (again) and it was such a diabolical set up.

That said, a nudge should be an indirect or veiled reference to a step to take or option to consider. A push is more 'do this' or an overt reveal.

Even if 20 people got pushed/shoved it doesn't significantly alter the outcomes in most weeks. PM requests seem to have increased as Bob has mentioned/explained - which should be viewed as a good thing: interest in how this all works.

No need to alter the forum as I believe most subscribe to the generally agreed code of honor.

MarkL wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:20 pm Maybe we need a new thread in one of the other sections to handle this discussion.

FWIW - generally, I do not provide nudges. BUT this weekend I did so, very late in the weekend, feeling the numbers were going to be low (again) and it was such a diabolical set up.

That said, a nudge should be an indirect or veiled reference to a step to take or option to consider. A push is more 'do this' or an overt reveal.

Even if 20 people got pushed/shoved it doesn't significantly alter the outcomes in most weeks. PM requests seem to have increased as Bob has mentioned/explained - which should be viewed as a good thing: interest in how this all works.

No need to alter the forum as I believe most subscribe to the generally agreed code of honor.

Every meta already has an "indirect or veiled reference to a step to take or option to consider" in the title, hint, theme answers, patterns in the grid, etc. A request for a nudge is asking for more than what the meta maker chose to provide.

There is a place for nudges/hints/etc. in the Acapulco Room: "Nudge Requests." It could be made more visible, maybe in the opening post for each puzzle? Or pointed out as it comes up, similar to how newcomers are encouraged to visit the Come Aboard "FAQs"?

I am happy to leave and delete my account if I am not wanted. I didn't initially come here to look for help with the meta but when I expressed my frustrations - numerous people were kind enough to offer help which I accepted. In my view, if you are using Google or other cheats to answer the grid then your answer is tainted anyway even if you get the meta on your own. So anyone who is critical of those giving/getting hints with the meta is a hypocrite if they aren't completing the grid without outside help. That's my two cents.

Like I said I'm happy to leave if I'm not wanted and it sounds like there are definitely some people who want that.

TPS wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:16 pm I am happy to leave and delete my account if I am not wanted. I didn't initially come here to look for help with the meta but when I expressed my frustrations - numerous people were kind enough to offer help which I accepted. In my view, if you are using Google or other cheats to answer the grid then your answer is tainted anyway even if you get the meta on your own. So anyone who is critical of those giving/getting hints with the meta is a hypocrite if they aren't completing the grid without outside help. That's my two cents.

Like I said I'm happy to leave if I'm not wanted and it sounds like there are definitely some people who want that.

TPS, everyone is welcome here. I don't see any reason to think that jschneider's post was directed at you.

BrianMac wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 2:23 pm

TPS wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:16 pm I am happy to leave and delete my account if I am not wanted. I didn't initially come here to look for help with the meta but when I expressed my frustrations - numerous people were kind enough to offer help which I accepted. In my view, if you are using Google or other cheats to answer the grid then your answer is tainted anyway even if you get the meta on your own. So anyone who is critical of those giving/getting hints with the meta is a hypocrite if they aren't completing the grid without outside help. That's my two cents.

Like I said I'm happy to leave if I'm not wanted and it sounds like there are definitely some people who want that.

TPS, everyone is welcome here. I don't see any reason to think that jschneider's post was directed at you.

It is good to know that everyone is welcome. I tend to agree with TPS. I'm not sure our time is best spent parsing degrees of hypocrisy. I've both asked for help and given help. I have found people very kind and patient, and I've enjoyed commiserating over our struggles with metas. I think I've actually made friends. No small thing. As for me, when I get help, I always acknowledge it when I post; and I never submit my answer in the contest. Those choices are for individuals to make. But I aways start by assuming people are honorable.

Sheesh!

I went to a look at a crossword solution and a hockey game broke out.

Can we get back to Haiku's and bad jokes?

Small community
Got larger overnight, good
Despite growing pains

juliet wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:42 pm

MarkL wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:20 pm Maybe we need a new thread in one of the other sections to handle this discussion.

FWIW - generally, I do not provide nudges. BUT this weekend I did so, very late in the weekend, feeling the numbers were going to be low (again) and it was such a diabolical set up.

That said, a nudge should be an indirect or veiled reference to a step to take or option to consider. A push is more 'do this' or an overt reveal.

Even if 20 people got pushed/shoved it doesn't significantly alter the outcomes in most weeks. PM requests seem to have increased as Bob has mentioned/explained - which should be viewed as a good thing: interest in how this all works.

No need to alter the forum as I believe most subscribe to the generally agreed code of honor.

Every meta already has an "indirect or veiled reference to a step to take or option to consider" in the title, hint, theme answers, patterns in the grid, etc. A request for a nudge is asking for more than what the meta maker chose to provide.

There is a place for nudges/hints/etc. in the Acapulco Room: "Nudge Requests." It could be made more visible, maybe in the opening post for each puzzle? Or pointed out as it comes up, similar to how newcomers are encouraged to visit the Come Aboard "FAQs"?

Fair enough. I could see 'going to Acapulco' becoming part of the lingo!