#668 - "Asked and Answered"

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
Big Mac
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:01 pm
Location: Vienna, VA

#61

Post by Big Mac »

In desperate need of post enlightenment. Really struggling this week.
User avatar
BrianMac
Site Admin
Posts: 787
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:45 pm
Location: Connecticut

#62

Post by BrianMac »

BarbaraK wrote: โ†‘Sat Mar 20, 2021 6:32 pm Something I was absolutely sure was important turned out not to be (unless there's a connection I'm not getting.)
(Redacted until noon, ET)

Spent a lot of time in that rabbit hole myself. :)
User avatar
MikeM000
Posts: 579
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:31 am
Location: Metro Detroit

#63

Post by MikeM000 »

Beamed up after a friendly nudge from someone who disabused me of a few rabbit hole notions of mine. I think this is the first nudge I've gotten where I've felt strongly enough about my (in)ability to get it otherwise that I didn't register solo when I submitted.

Oh - semi related aside. My wife and I are on Season 3 of The Crown. (Being 80s kids, we watched the new season first and enjoyed it so much we went back to the beginning. But anyway...) So the first episode deals with issues in the royal family's art collection. In one scene, Queen Elizabeth is talking to a group in public about the art collection and makes a reference to an art concept that ties in with the theme of the episode.

My brain: Wait, is she talking about...?

QE2: In fact, they even have a word for it.

My brain: Omigod is she about to say it?

QE2: Palimpset

My brain: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Royal art expert guy: Well actually, your majesty, palimpset refers to manuscripts. In the art world, we use....
User avatar
Bob cruise director
Cruise Director
Posts: 4511
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:38 pm
Location: Any golf course within 500 miles of Littleton MA

#64

Post by Bob cruise director »

The team of MaineMarge and myself are on the board. MaineMarge did all the heavy lifting at the beginning as I was going nowhere. However we were stuck on the final piece. For reasons unknown to all but meta doers, I woke up at 1:30am this morning with the missing piece, fired up the computer confirmed the answer and sent an email to MaineMarge. MaineMarge conifrmed it at 4;30 am. We are a strange group.
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
User avatar
Joe Ross
Moderator
Posts: 4998
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
Location: Cincinnati

#65

Post by Joe Ross »

Bob cruise director wrote: โ†‘Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:32 am MaineMarge conifrmed it at 4:30 am.
Bob,

You misspeeled "conifered." if there is anyone to have conifered it, it's our wonderful, green-thumbed Marge. ๐Ÿ˜

Congratulations!
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ.
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ENORMOUS ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ:
๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ,
๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ,
๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ & ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ. ๐—ฃ๐—Ÿ๐—˜๐—”๐—ฆ๐—˜ ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—”๐—ฅ๐—˜!
MaineMarge
Posts: 1597
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:57 pm

#66

Post by MaineMarge »

Yes, I asked, and Matt answered (conifermed) that we could take the next flight up. Actually I had been awake doing the MMMM (midnight Muggle meta mulling) long before I saw BCDโ€™s message.
And it was all only thanks to Joe Ross, who generously contributes to all KickStarter requests. ๐ŸŒฒ๐Ÿ’š
User avatar
Bird Lives
Posts: 2605
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:43 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

#67

Post by Bird Lives »

Like the Maine Marge - BCD coalition, I am pine-treed thanks to a friendly reminder. OK, a nudge.
Jay
Big Mac
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:01 pm
Location: Vienna, VA

#68

Post by Big Mac »

Big Mac wrote: โ†‘Mon Mar 22, 2021 11:05 pm In desperate need of post enlightenment. Really struggling this week.
Officially requesting last-minute nudge. Help!
Pembroke
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2021 4:25 pm
Location: Broomfield, CO

#69

Post by Pembroke »

Beamed up! So close for a frustratingly long time. Finally found the last little puzzle piece this morning. Hooray :D !
User avatar
BrianMac
Site Admin
Posts: 787
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:45 pm
Location: Connecticut

#70

Post by BrianMac »

BrianMac wrote: โ†‘Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:10 am
BarbaraK wrote: โ†‘Sat Mar 20, 2021 6:32 pm Something I was absolutely sure was important turned out not to be (unless there's a connection I'm not getting.)
(Redacted until noon, ET)

Spent a lot of time in that rabbit hole myself. :)
Sorry everyone. I meant to send Barbara a PM, but I posted it -spoilers and all - as a response to the thread. Then I happily went to sleep for the night. Thanks to Joe for redacting my post.
User avatar
DrTom
Posts: 3763
Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2019 6:46 pm
Location: Jacksonville, FL

#71

Post by DrTom »

Joe Ross wrote: โ†‘Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:41 am
Bob cruise director wrote: โ†‘Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:32 am MaineMarge conifrmed it at 4:30 am.
Bob,

You misspeeled "conifered." if there is anyone to have conifered it, it's our wonderful, green-thumbed Marge. ๐Ÿ˜

Congratulations!
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest he is not pining about it. I mean BCD is no sap and from what I gather he does not have a rough bark. So his sin in minor and we don't have to write him up for moral turpentine. Let's remember that as our cruise director he is one of our main supports, perhaps even our lodge pole. :lol:
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!
User avatar
Bird Lives
Posts: 2605
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:43 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

#72

Post by Bird Lives »

I immediately spotted the 14 x 14 grid, but then dismissed that as merely a function of the four long entries. A helpful nudge told me not to ignore. When I had filled in the missing row and column, I still didnโ€™t know what I was looking for. I thought that maybe the across letters would spell the question asked, and the down letters would spell the answer. Another nudge told me to think of the added words as words, not letters.

Then finally, I remembered what I tell myself regularly: when nothing seems to be leading anywhere, look at the damn clues.
.
Masked 60.jpg
Jay
User avatar
Hector
Posts: 1297
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:15 pm
Location: San Francisco
Contact:

#73

Post by Hector »

This was a fun solve. Started by noticing several things just a bit off, all of which did end up playing into the solve. Not just the grid size and asymmetry, which in retrospect should have been the real tip-offs, but the weird clues for EVEN (Based on fairness, what?) and APPLE, and the strange entries LISE and especially SERAH, where VISE and SYRAH would fit.
Big Mac
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:01 pm
Location: Vienna, VA

#74

Post by Big Mac »

So close! Thanks to everyone who sent me messages - I couldn't quite finish the solve in time. I was way down the wrong rabbit hole prior to the nudges and emerged too late.

On to next week...
User avatar
Janet P
Posts: 553
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:29 pm

#75

Post by Janet P »

Big Mac wrote: โ†‘Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:29 pm So close! Thanks to everyone who sent me messages - I couldn't quite finish the solve in time. I was way down the wrong rabbit hole prior to the nudges and emerged too late.

On to next week...
I stumbled onto the adding letters on the north and west mechanism about 11:10 this morning but didn't make the connection to the clues as I spent too much time trying to decide on what letters were the correct ones. E.g., at 2D, would I need dams, hams, rams, tams, etc.
Congratulations to everyone who got this and to Matt for a fabulous construction!
User avatar
Thurman8er
Posts: 393
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 3:05 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

#76

Post by Thurman8er »

Two things in particular gave me grief.

First was the fact that the two partials in the upper left (also my last two to solve) could fit with the first three letters of two other clues! I had OCEan with DAM for a while, forming ODEA, CAMS, and EMOTIONLESSNESS. Then I had ANGry with DEA, forming ADAM, NEMO, and GASTRONOMICALLY. It took me a while to realize they both needed the H to form words making the grid symmetrical.

The other part that bothered me greatly (and I truly believe that Matt is sinister sometimes) was that I couldnโ€™t get the title to fit. What am I asking and answering? Well, there are a LOT of answers in the grid, including the obvious (I thought) YES and NOS. Throw in I DEFER, I CANโ€™T SAY FOR SURE, and maybe even DO IT, and I felt like there was a Magic 8-Ball somewhere to be found.

It took me a while to find the answer and realize how diabolical (and genius) the title actually was. An excellent puzzle indeed.
User avatar
Joe Ross
Moderator
Posts: 4998
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
Location: Cincinnati

#77

Post by Joe Ross »

MikeyG wrote: โ†‘Mon Mar 22, 2021 6:12 pm I'm projecting this one might cap around 300 or so, maybe a bit over.

I'm a stats nerd, sorry! (He went data way!)
Which horse is your early pick for the Kentucky Derby?

Image
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ.
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ENORMOUS ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ:
๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ,
๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ,
๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ & ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ. ๐—ฃ๐—Ÿ๐—˜๐—”๐—ฆ๐—˜ ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—”๐—ฅ๐—˜!
Laura M
Posts: 1384
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am

#78

Post by Laura M »

Loved this one! I really wanted to do something with the "Is ___ OK?" clue since that was, unusually, the only question mark. (I know Matt has said he doesn't put in red herrings on purpose, but I have a hard time believing this wasn't intentional!)

However. then I noticed the asymmetry due to 14x14, only because I was looking for 6-letter words in the grid ("How can there be 3 of them? Ohhhhhhh.") and it was a short step from there to realizing that it was easily possible to extend the north and west sides with reasonable fill. And then I stalled out. There were 6 completely new words, but multiple words could fit; how could you know which one is intended?

I was busy over the weekend and ended up putting it aside completely until Sunday night, when I redid the grid and noticed Ice-T as the first word in a clue, which was the one new word I'd been pretty sure about! After that it was a snap. Sometimes I feel like all of the really great meta ideas have been done, but something like this comes along and proves me wrong :-)
i1mjm03
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2021 7:13 pm

#79

Post by i1mjm03 »

Dang, started working on the extra top and left rows last night, but forget to come back to it this morning. Not sure I would have made the last leap anyway. Womp womp.
User avatar
KayW
Moderator
Posts: 3124
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:10 am
Location: Chicago

#80

Post by KayW »

The biggest of all red herrings stuck in my brain for over 24 hours. There was only one clue in the entire grid that contained a question mark

24D Is _____ OK? (PEPSI).

IMO having only one question mark in the clues is fairly exceptional, and that was a fairly odd way to clue PEPSI. And that question itself can be a response to a query to waitstaff for a CocaCola. Hence, both "asked" and "answered".

But I also noticed the unusual asymmetry in the grid right off the bat. So after beating my head against 24D for way too long, and then noticing that PEAKING TOO SOON could become a much more common phrase SPEAKING TOO SOON. I eventually found the right path.

This was a fiendishly clever meta - it played more like a week 4 to me. Not that I'm complaining! It was lots of fun to solve - I got to play "constructor" for a bit creating the extra entries.
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
Locked