XWord Muggles Forum

nayleeoid wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:42 pm I won the mug!

Thanks to everyone on this forum! I started doing the crossword contest about a year ago, and discovered the forum the first time I needed to search for a solution. I come back whenever we've reached Monday and I was unable to solve, and have enjoyed the conversations. Getting my first mug way sooner than expected statistically, I figured I ought to join.

When it comes, I'll raise one up to you all!

HunterX wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:40 pm

anaerobe wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:40 pm BTW, I've only been on this forum a few months but where the heck is the moderator in all this 'punny business'?!!? I mean-I kicked in for the donation to maintain a professional and sophisticated discussion group--and this is what we get?!? This thread should've been flagged and redirected about 9 puns ago!

Dr. Tom is the official mod aerator of puns. (Picture him in a Neru jacket, goatee, and John Lennon glasses.)

anaerobe wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:40 pm PS. I literally sounded out 'O T T A W A' slowly and phonetically in front of my display 3 times.

Yukon sound it out all you'd like. I'm sure Prince Edward would be proud of you.

Ah Hunter, you have no idea how close you have come to a picture I actually have of myself (and no, don't ask, only Jeff Bezos could afford to have me publish that abomination - Jeff if you are lurking/watching/listening, that picture is available for 1/10 the cost of Whole Foods!)

But, let it be said up front that I have never moderated puns, heck if anything I try to accelerate them. However, on a whim I looked up the term "sophisticated":

"Having, revealing, or proceeding from a great deal of worldly experience and knowledge of fashion and culture"

I therefore am here to say that this IS a sophisticated forum because I have a great deal of weirdly experience and I know about cultures after a fashion (particularly anaerobes!). I have even practiced Sophistry at times, though the use of fallacious arguments were not to deceive but to set up a pun.

Speaking as one who is not nearly creative enough to create puns....I love them! Pun on!

DrTom wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:37 pm

HunterX wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:40 pm Dr. Tom is the official mod aerator of puns. (Picture him in a Neru jacket, goatee, and John Lennon glasses.)

But, let it be said up front that I have never moderated puns, heck if anything I try to accelerate them.

Not "moderated" puns, "aerated" them! You'd air any pun you could, I'm sure.

Also, I would never accuse you of moderation! And I haven't even watched you drink yet.

Kas wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 3:29 pm Honestly, I think I enjoy the Monday Morning Quarterpuzzling comments every bit as much as the puzzling itself.

Ditto. Thus my disappointment at "Easy Meta February."

Okay, that and the decreased odds to win the mug due to increased competition! The mug which I STILL haven't won,

Oddly...

HunterX wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:35 pm

DrTom wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:37 pm

HunterX wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:40 pm Dr. Tom is the official mod aerator of puns. (Picture him in a Neru jacket, goatee, and John Lennon glasses.)

But, let it be said up front that I have never moderated puns, heck if anything I try to accelerate them.

Not "moderated" puns, "aerated" them! You'd air any pun you could, I'm sure.

Also, I would never accuse you of moderation! And I haven't even watched you drink yet.

You have to be careful aerating puns, you never know where you will wind up and that can be gust terrible my friend Gale tells me. I'll just leave with a typically Southern adieu, have a great night SQU ALL!

DrTom wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:37 pm ...
But, let it be said up front that I have never moderated puns, heck if anything I try to accelerate them. However, on a whim I looked up the term "sophisticated":

"Having, revealing, or proceeding from a great deal of worldly experience and knowledge of fashion and culture"

I therefore am here to say that this IS a sophisticated forum because I have a great deal of weirdly experience and I know about cultures after a fashion (particularly anaerobes!). I have even practices Sophistry at times, though the use of fallacious arguments were not to deceive but to set up a pun.

Dr. Tom, I know that I may never possess the Sophistrication of pun-did-try that you ex-habit here on a type-iCal day but I have rotten my own epi-Taps in anti-supplication of my own dumb eyes, which may be coming schooner than I had excepted. It is best read in the slurred brogue one might encounter at an Irish wake:

It’s too late for me now to repent
All the years that were clearly misspent
Devoted to punnin’
But now that I’m done-in
Remember my last pun ish meant

boharr wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 11:05 am

Bird Lives wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:29 am

bhamren wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 6:44 am

Did the thing that you should have reminded yourself of have anything to do with the fact that Mike Shenk puzzles have a distinct propensity to involve words in the clues involved in the solving of the meta? I think you know what I mean, but that’s what I think of when I think of a “typical Marie” puzzle.

The answer is yes. I should have a sign on my computer screen that says, "Look at the clues, dummy." But Matt's puzzles also often require searching through the clues. What strikes me as different is that Mike's puzzles are more likely to involve ingenious letter-work. I think there was one where eight-letter automobile names circled the letters that were needed for the meta. Another where the theme entries had only one letter that was not duplicated within the word. That sort of thing. Matt's puzzles sometimes have theme entries that are, on their face, silly or nearly so. Mike is less likely to do silly.

"Look at the clues, dummy" sounds like a good screen saver. And as a corollary: After looking at the clues, go back to the grid. And vice versa. The clues and the grid entries often seem to have a symbiotic relationship.

One of my favorite generic nudges is to tell people to "rework the grid". Which more often than not, is code for "LOOK AT THE CLUES!" But seriously. Reworking the grid helps you spot ties between clues, entries, anything else you might not have noticed before all those grid entries got burned into your short-term memory.

BrianMac wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:49 pm

anaerobe wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:40 pm PPS. In all seriousness, I need some advice on responding via the quote thing above but doing so w/o copying the previous post(s) word for word. Is there an FAQ about that?

You can read this thread for the most basic instructions on how to quote. Basically, you can edit whatever appears between the [ quote ] and [ / quote ] indicators, so it is helpful to edit out long posts (please don't quote Bob's list of 100+ people on the ship! ) or to just quote a snippet as I did above. Welcome!

Thank you. I will read that thread. And thanks for making me feel welcome. I have enjoyed this group a lot already.

DrTom wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:37 pm
I therefore am here to say that this IS a sophisticated forum because I have a great deal of weirdly experience and I know about cultures after a fashion (particularly anaerobes!). I have even practiced Sophistry at times, though the use of fallacious arguments were not to deceive but to set up a pun.

Well, any forum that would let me participate has set the bar pretty low w/ regard to sophistication....but I am enjoying it nonetheless!

anaerobe wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:41 pm

DrTom wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:37 pm
I therefore am here to say that this IS a sophisticated forum because I have a great deal of weirdly experience and I know about cultures after a fashion (particularly anaerobes!). I have even practiced Sophistry at times, though the use of fallacious arguments were not to deceive but to set up a pun.

Well, any forum that would let me participate has set the bar pretty low w/ regard to sophistication....but I am enjoying it nonetheless!

anaerobe - when you have translated DrTom's comment to English would you help us out who don't speak punese very well.

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:07 pm

DrTom wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:37 pm
I therefore am here to say that this IS a sophisticated forum because I have a great deal of weirdly experience and I know about cultures after a fashion (particularly anaerobes!). I have even practiced Sophistry at times, though the use of fallacious arguments were not to deceive but to set up a pun.

anaerobe - when you have translated DrTom's comment to English would you help us out who don't speak punese very well.

I'm still new to the forum and still on probation. So as long as this stays between us, here goes......

It seems DrTom's position is that this forum is indeed a collection of refined, cosmopolitan individuals (all evidence to the contrary) and his expectation is that we should agree with his truth claim (fantasy). However his attempt to persuade (brainwash), is not based on sound argument or any form of objective validation, but rather on a naive, unquestioning acceptance of his authority on the part of his audience (lackeys). Finally, while he admits (confesses) to occasional logical hanky-panky (lying), he defends (excuses/whitewashes/rationalizes) the activity as serving the purpose of entertaining others.

I gotta admit though, sounds like he really does know what an anaerobe is.

anaerobe wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:51 pm I gotta admit though, sounds like he really does know what an anaerobe is.

I wouldn't hold my breath.

Did anyone else notice the proximity of KEY IN to A MINOR? I spent way too much time looking for Broadway songs in that key.

Wow, you say:

but rather on a naive, unquestioning acceptance of his authority on the part of his audience

as if it were a bad thing.

I admit to no Hanky or Panky just the occasional rearrangement of the actual facts to allow the insertion of a bon mot or two. It may well be the same thing, but my wording makes me feel better about it.

Greetings--we've had a few complaints over recent weeks that the contests were getting too easy, but we didn't hear that this week. We had 1372 entries, with an impressive 80% correct. A large gallery of incorrect guesses, including Picasso (43), Van Gogh (38), Grant Wood (32), Money (12), Warhol (12), and many others, including a cameo appearance by Bob Ross (5).

Congrats to this week's winner, Linnea Shieh of Sunnyvale, Calif.!

MikeMillerwsj wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:58 am Greetings--we've had a few complaints over recent weeks that the contests were getting too easy, but we didn't hear that this week. We had 1372 entries, with an impressive 80% correct. A large gallery of incorrect guesses, including Picasso (43), Van Gogh (38), Grant Wood (32), Money (12), Warhol (12), and many others, including a cameo appearance by Bob Ross (5).

I was going to buy a work of art by Money, but then I found out it was counterfeit.

I was not a happy cloud then...

HunterX wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 11:55 am

MikeMillerwsj wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:58 am Greetings--we've had a few complaints over recent weeks that the contests were getting too easy, but we didn't hear that this week. We had 1372 entries, with an impressive 80% correct. A large gallery of incorrect guesses, including Picasso (43), Van Gogh (38), Grant Wood (32), Money (12), Warhol (12), and many others, including a cameo appearance by Bob Ross (5).

I was going to buy a work of art by Money, but then I found out it was counterfeit.

I was not a happy cloud then...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._G._Boggs

I had no chance with this one, hardly know any of those movies. However, I'm curious if they will accept just MONET. Back in February the answer was MARIE CURIE, but CURIE and other variations, which could be easily guessed, were accepted.

DrTom wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:55 am I admit to no Hanky or Panky just the occasional rearrangement of the actual facts to allow the insertion of a bon mot or two.

Please keep 'em coming...we can use all the bon mot we can get!