#666 - "Play Me or Trade Me"

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
Dplass
Posts: 1739
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 10:09 am

#21

Post by Dplass »

oldjudge wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:22 pm I was staring at this one for a while thinking “is this really a week 1”? Fun puzzle though and an unusual week 1 “aha” moment
Yeah I'm stuck too. Usually I see the week 1 mechanism by the end of the grid (or earlier). Is he punking us with week 666?

UPDATE: Unstuck. Hoping to be beamed up soon.
Last edited by Dplass on Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
WeThotUWasAToad
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2020 8:04 pm

#22

Post by WeThotUWasAToad »

ChrisKochmanski wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:18 pm
BarbaraK wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 1:20 pm Beam me up. I had to backsolve a couple bits that were outside my wheelhouse.
Ditto. I also back-solved and beamed.
Please define "back-solved".

And since cute kids have been a topic this thread:

https://imgur.com/ZsVew11
User avatar
Hector
Posts: 1297
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:15 pm
Location: San Francisco
Contact:

#23

Post by Hector »

Please define "back-solved".
When the meta mechanism has mutiple steps or pieces, sometimes, while you don't have all of the preliminary material, you have enough to prompt a reasonable guess about the final answer, and that guess helps you to see what you had been missing, which in turn confirms your guess.
Last edited by Hector on Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MaineMarge
Posts: 1598
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:57 pm

#24

Post by MaineMarge »

Matt says I’ve played this one right, so beam me up!
stmv
Posts: 296
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 5:12 pm

#25

Post by stmv »

I just beamed up, and read the prior comments. Often I'm embarrassed by my struggles when I read many early comments saying how easy it was, but this time I was heartened by the many comments saying that it was harder than expected for a Week 1. I also found it surprisingly difficult, and had to so some backsolving to get some things that are not in my wheelhouse.

(WeThotUWasAToad: "backsolving" is when you can figure out the answer from a partial understanding of the mechanism, and then you fill in the rest of the mechanism via seeing what it must have been in order to produce your answer.)
User avatar
BarbaraK
Posts: 2592
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
Location: Virginia

#26

Post by BarbaraK »

WeThotUWasAToad wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:43 pm
ChrisKochmanski wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:18 pm
BarbaraK wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 1:20 pm Beam me up. I had to backsolve a couple bits that were outside my wheelhouse.
Ditto. I also back-solved and beamed.
Please define "back-solved".

And since cute kids have been a topic this thread:

https://imgur.com/ZsVew11
Wow, cute indeed!!!

An example of backsolving using last week’s MGWCC would be finding the languages and recognizing 4 of the 5 native speakers. If that gave you L_NGO, you could feel pretty confident that the Somali speaker was someone whose name started with an I, so you’d just look through the grid at the I names.
User avatar
tonyrobots
Posts: 149
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 1:48 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon
Contact:

#27

Post by tonyrobots »

Stumped so far! Will stare at it intently until either it comes to me or I burn a hole clear through my clipboard.
User avatar
Meg
Posts: 2137
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:41 pm
Location: St. Petersburg, FL

#28

Post by Meg »

I’ve transported successfully. Not immediately obvious. But then it is.
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
User avatar
jhseeman
Posts: 487
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2020 3:33 pm
Location: Charleston, SC

#29

Post by jhseeman »

Queued up waiting for transport.


Beamed up successfully
Last edited by jhseeman on Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bob Kerfuffle
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2020 4:08 pm

#30

Post by Bob Kerfuffle »

I was nowhere, but I couldn't help noticing that a large number of people were already aboard.

So after however many looks, I finally saw the gimmick - no ancient languages or advanced mathematics required - and successfully beamed up!
higgysue
Posts: 334
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:43 pm
Location: Duluth, MN

#31

Post by higgysue »

Beam me up!
User avatar
Jeremy Smith
Posts: 971
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:45 pm
Location: Tampa Bay area

#32

Post by Jeremy Smith »

Beam me up! Played more like a Week 2.5 for me. Or maybe I’m just used to solving easy ones like the last few WSJCC.
User avatar
KDubs
Posts: 68
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 6:44 pm
Location: Stamford, CT

#33

Post by KDubs »

Tougher than I was expecting but so good! It was one of those that you sorta think maybe you’re going down a rabbit hole, and then BAM! You’re on shore.
User avatar
ajk
Posts: 926
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2020 4:22 pm
Location: Colorado

#34

Post by ajk »

Finally got around to this. Beam me up.
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
Laura M
Posts: 1385
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am

#35

Post by Laura M »

Beam up requested! It took me a really long time to get there, even by week 2 standards. The rabbit was well hidden.

Edit: On the board! Also wanted to say that 29A had to be intentional for this puzzle number :-)
Last edited by Laura M on Fri Mar 05, 2021 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
sharkicicles
Posts: 798
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 12:03 pm
Location: Chicago

#36

Post by sharkicicles »

I found this week 1 to be harder than last week's week 4, oddly enough. But I'm on the board.
User avatar
Janet P
Posts: 553
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:29 pm

#37

Post by Janet P »

Beamed up. Weekend free.
Well, except for laundry, shopping, and gardening.
But I shall enjoy every moment of each of them!
Orangecane
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 11:01 am

#38

Post by Orangecane »

Beamed up. If this is a week 1 I don’t hold out much hope for the rest of March!
User avatar
BrennerTJ
Posts: 434
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 2:54 pm
Location: Chicago suburbs

#39

Post by BrennerTJ »

A fun one!
-Tamara
User avatar
Jacksull
Posts: 283
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:23 pm
Location: Scottsdale AZ

#40

Post by Jacksull »

I had my second vaxx (moderna) yesterday and was feeling pretty good this morning.
Before I started the meta, fatigue, chills, fever hit me. Mild symptoms, but it was just impossible to concentrate. Seems pretty typical, so I ‘m just going to wait til tomorrow to look at this one again.
Jack Sullivan
Locked