#681 - "Crazy Eights"

An excellent puzzle written by one of the innovators of the meta crossword format. It comes out every Friday at noon and increases in difficulty throughout the month. Available for modest subscription (worth every cent) here: www.xwordcontest.com
cisalope
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#21

Post by cisalope »

I'd be happy to give a nudge to anyone wanting one.
LesY
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#22

Post by LesY »

Matt just got me in my blind spot. :) I literally had it written out since yesterday afternoon.

Waiting for a beam up, feeling confident.
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MikeyG
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#23

Post by MikeyG »

Somehow (my time stamp shows when I do most of my work, haha) I managed beaming up. Nice mechanism. This seems like a 3.5, and I conjecture some might say it's a solid 4. But this was a great puzzle in any case!
Less cross words, more crosswords.

Solve my latest "Pun of a Kind" Meta!: 89. That's Not Right!
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lbray53
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Location: Elkhorn, WI

#24

Post by lbray53 »

Beamed up but needed help. Officially a group solve. I will be assigned to quarters until further notice. I am on the sandbar with WSJ. Hoping for a purer result next week.
My avatar proves that it is sometimes better to be lucky than good!
Verisimilitude
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Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2021 11:51 am

#25

Post by Verisimilitude »

Done! Really liked the construction on this one.
Orsys
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#26

Post by Orsys »

Really liked it, but needed a lot of direction support.
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ChrisKochmanski
Posts: 2157
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:51 pm
Location: Saline, Michigan

#27

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Beam me up!

Awaiting confirmation, but confident.

I needed some encouragement from a helpful fellow Muggle, to confirm I was on the right track. (Group solve!) It has been a bit tough to focus on puzzles while on a vacation weekend. Mackinac Island! Many distractions here.

EDIT: On the board! Fun puzzle!
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Cinny
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#28

Post by Cinny »

Solved, but not without help. This was a group solve for sure!
Cindy Heisler
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HeadinHome
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Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:06 am
Location: Charlotte, NC

#29

Post by HeadinHome »

Same here — needed some confirmations of paths I was on to even WANT to keep going. That. Took. Hours. Yeah I’d rate that as a 4.5.

Fortunately I was finding the paths I needed, just needed people to shove me forward and say “you’re sooo close!” because the paths didn’t always seem that slam-dunky. (“Okay well that kinda works, but what the heck does that mean?? Maybe I should just try something else.” ) At the end the “something else” was very nearly wadding up the paper and doing something ELSE.

THANKS, discreet nudgers! Beam me up and then find me a quiet berth to nap on.
The other Wendy. :roll:
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ky-mike
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Location: Near Louisville Ky

#30

Post by ky-mike »

Submitted. Very confident. Just needed the slightest of nudges to get there.
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lbray53
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#31

Post by lbray53 »

On further review this puzzle was very neat and tidy. I thought it was a bit clunky at the end but the awkwardness was mine.
My avatar proves that it is sometimes better to be lucky than good!
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DrTom
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#32

Post by DrTom »

Well with some VERY helpful nudges and course corrections I finally arrived at the answer. This one was so darn complex I am not even sure how I would nudge someone. This puzzle is, IMNSHO. BRILLIANT, scary so but still brilliant.

As a rudimentary constructor I'd view this as discovering that Hydrochloric acid and Sodium Hydroxide, when mixed, gives you warm salt water versus the discovery and proof of radium. I KNOW I will never do one like this and that kind of makes me sad.
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!
dudeski
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#33

Post by dudeski »

Made it with a nudge. Great puzzle.
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twelvetones
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#34

Post by twelvetones »

Same here! I was fumbling around, totally unsure whether I was lost in a rabbit hole, until I got a nudge that confirmed that I was on the right track after all. Things fell into place pretty quickly after that!
- John Berry
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jhseeman
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#35

Post by jhseeman »

Beamed up.....

As usual go flying down the road on the way to the solution and right when I'm there.... go make a wrong turn and dig around in some rabbit holes. A bit of nudge to get me to open my eyes.

Thanks.
Big Mac
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Location: Vienna, VA

#36

Post by Big Mac »

Beam me up! Had to come back to this one after staring fruitlessly over the weekend. Fun puzzle!
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ajk
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#37

Post by ajk »

Seems like I picked a bad week to be off the grid for much of the solving window. :lol:
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
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DrTom
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#38

Post by DrTom »

Before anyone gets a WOW how did he do that from my #6 placement and 12:20 solve, that is a complete artifact I am sad to admit. I mistakenly submitted my answer to the WSJCC to the MGWCC, sending in WATER proudly around 12:20 when I finally got it. I then did a head slap butt kick and proclaimed "NUMBSKULL" and e-mailed Matt who calmed me by saying it happens often (which I translate to, "yeah some blithering idiot does it at least once a week") and that I should just submit it to him when I did get it. So, with much help from generous solvers I got the answer and when I submitted it to Matt he entered it where my name was, voila #6. So, even though I will screen shot it and probably put it on a T-shirt, no the heck with that I'll have it embroidered on my lab coat (not unlike the brave little tailor who "Killed 7 with one blow"), it is not a placement I deserve or ever expect to get in reality.
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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Thurman8er
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#39

Post by Thurman8er »

It was the tiniest of nudges, but I wouldn't have crossed the finish line without it.

Beam me up with a big sigh of relief.
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cbarbee002
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#40

Post by cbarbee002 »

Beamed up after getting a great nudge from Nudge Doctor (you can guess). Sometimes you can say right church, wrong pew . . . . I think in this case I was in right county, wrong state.
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