#669 - "Easy as A-B-C"

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Al Sisti
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#61

Post by Al Sisti »

My streak is tied with Jangler!!
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SusieG
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#62

Post by SusieG »

I don’t feel too bad about not solving this one. I didn’t even want to ask for a nudge because I didn’t think I had anything. I did have the Australia and China pieces, but no idea where to go with them, and I’m still not sure I completely understand the solution. You who solved are quite clever!
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HeadinHome
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#63

Post by HeadinHome »

Yeah that was my other guess... I was torn between Zaire and Burma. Chose Burma. Dang. I still don’t see the method. (Update - now I do .. see my last sentence, below.)

Doesn’t help that RIZ is a city in Iran... and that Persia BECAME Iran in 1935 (Hepburn movie). If Persia had 5 letters that would have been my answer early on.

I actually worked with Brazil for a while, among others. I see what y’all did, but I don’t think I would ever have gotten there. Changing one letter - is that hinted at anywhere?? (Maybe in “disguising” but that could be anything.)

Speaking of disguiSING - did anyone else try to sing the musical syllables in the grid? As in the Jackson 5 “Do re mi, ABC, 123”... The first 3 in the grid were RE-MI-DO, which is the start of the Close Encounters theme.. Roswell?? Too many letters.

By the way - in the solution picture submitted above, the first A should be circled, not the second. (bAa to bOa)
Last edited by HeadinHome on Tue Mar 30, 2021 2:26 pm, edited 5 times in total.
The other Wendy. :roll:
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jimmyd
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#64

Post by jimmyd »

I made the açaí/a-car connection with ten minutes left, and used the R to validate my initial guess of Burma...

...even though I know açaí berries are from South America. And I knew that RIZ was involved somehow...

Oh well, new streak starts next week! Thanks, Matt!
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joequavis
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#65

Post by joequavis »

I'm 99% sure that even if I had picked up on the Australia and China cues (was stuck on dynasties), there's no way my brain would have seen the items from country "B" with a letter changed.

I do think it's clever that one letter needs to change to go from Brazil to Zaire (and one deletion).

Brilliant puzzle, and no doubt, brilliant minds that figured it out! Nice job!
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joequavis
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#66

Post by joequavis »

Hector wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:00 pm Just found 3 pieces of what I assume will be the first step but had to Hail Mary. Defeated!

Edit:

Hee, hee! Was nowhere close.

Untitled.jpg
He should have an achievement for Buzzer Beater - "Last Correct Answer Submitted"
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Meg
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#67

Post by Meg »

After Australia and China, I initially thought Burma for the B, but no way did Matt hide 5 things related to Burma anywhere in the puzzle. The letter change is a nice week 4 twist and the hardest to find for me was the animal. Am I sure CAPYBARA isn’t in there somewhere? The meta gods were smiling this time.
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MikeyG
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#68

Post by MikeyG »

My Hail Mary also worked - ironic that I thought ZAIRE on Day 1, but it is always that risk, knowing that if you go for it and it's wrong, there's no second chance. I finally realized with about 20 minutes left that it was probably going to involve a letter switch, but I couldn't get all the pieces to fall in time.

So happy to have a Week 1 next week, haha! Grateful for all the camaraderie on these boards, though!!

Bonus note: 133 solvers for this one, exact same for February's TOP HAT!
Less cross words, more crosswords.

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Joe Ross
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#69

Post by Joe Ross »

Image

Brutal puzzle!
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PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
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Bob cruise director
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#70

Post by Bob cruise director »

So is Zaire the answer? That does not qualify as a historic place name in my book. We went through the letters Bees, Emcee, eye, obies ewe, seize and that went nowhere. We went through the countries - Austraila, Britain, China and nada

I expect that one of you smart people who got this are going to be on the zoom call tonight and explain several things including how you got the answer, why Zaire is a historic place (other than meaning that it is a former name) name and a bunch of other things. By the way, Eat, Shoots and Leaves was written by a Brit which is why I had it in my Britain column. and who in their right mind knew that tofu came from China. and why you would ever think of changing five nonBrazilian words to something related to Brazil when you did not have to that for A and C

Matt must have been having a bad week with the newborn to first come up with a meta where you don't use the grid and then this.
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#71

Post by Laura M »

Nope.
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Joe Ross
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#72

Post by Joe Ross »

Bob cruise director wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:59 pm why Zaire is a historic place (other than meaning that it is a former name) name and a bunch of other things.
On Matt's PDF & PUZ file, the meta clue was "This week's contest answer is a bygone place name." Zaire is a bygone place name.

Zaire is also a 5-letter historic place name. It's up to anyone to explain how they think it is not.

Bob cruise director wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:59 pm and who in their right mind knew that tofu came from China.
Anyone with access to a set of encyclopedias, Mr. G, or duckduckgo.com.

Tofu was also the only other food item in the grid, besides VEGEMITE (confirmed by duckduckgo.com to be of Australian origin - I didn't know), so it was worth investigating.

(Side note, not related to this discussion: I tell my kids they have access to 99% of the world in the magic machines ever present in their hands or pockets. However, they have to get off of social media sites to encounter it.)

Bob cruise director wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:59 pm and why you would ever think of changing five nonBrazilian words to something related to Brazil when you did not have to that for A and C
Welcome to Week 4.

Reason it this way: The same 5 things are in the grid for countries A & C, so they most likely will be there, somehow, for country B. How would Matt hide them? What mechanisms has he used in the past?

Without changing a letter from each of the Brazil items, we'd never get the meta answer. It was an integral part of the puzzle.

Also: Welcome to Week 4.
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
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ky-mike
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#73

Post by ky-mike »

My nit on this is that Rio isn't the full city name, so I was stuck on changing loges to Lages (a real Brazil city name). Then it was a matter of whether to take first letters from changed names, or the letters taken out or the letters added in. Tough one. Am looking forward to a Week 1 again on Friday.
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TMart
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#74

Post by TMart »

From the title, I spent 90% of my time on alphabetical order of all types - clues, grid entries, Jackson 5 songs, etc. I might have noticed the Australia and China items, but never would have thought to extrapolate, much less to Brazil. Fair meta, but the title and (both) prompts didn’t point me in any useful direction as to how to get a toehold. I’ve now started a new streak of missed Week 4s. I’m up to 2!
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mpmanning
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#75

Post by mpmanning »

A learning experience INDEED!
burak
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#76

Post by burak »

Week 10 puzzle for me haha. I took a look at it and said "yeah that's probably not gonna happen". I had an urge to go down the BEES (Bs) and SEIZE (Cs) route since EWE (U) and EYE (I) were also in the grid but just gave up. Best decision of the weekend!

Congrats to those who got it.
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Bob cruise director
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#77

Post by Bob cruise director »

Joe Ross wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:21 pm
Bob cruise director wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:59 pm why Zaire is a historic place (other than meaning that it is a former name) name and a bunch of other things.
On Matt's PDF & PUZ file, the meta clue was "This week's contest answer is a bygone place name." Zaire is a bygone place name.

Zaire is also a 5-letter historic place name. It's up to anyone to explain how they think it is not.

Bob cruise director wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:59 pm and who in their right mind knew that tofu came from China.
Anyone with access to a set of encyclopedias, Mr. G, or duckduckgo.com.

Tofu was also the only other food item in the grid, besides VEGEMITE (confirmed by duckduckgo.com to be of Australian origin - I didn't know), so it was worth investigating.

(Side note, not related to this discussion: I tell my kids they have access to 99% of the world in the magic machines ever present in their hands or pockets. However, they have to get off of social media sites to encounter it.)

Bob cruise director wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:59 pm and why you would ever think of changing five nonBrazilian words to something related to Brazil when you did not have to that for A and C
Welcome to Week 4.

Reason it this way: The same 5 things are in the grid for countries A & C, so they most likely will be there, somehow, for country B. How would Matt hide them? What mechanisms has he used in the past?

Without changing a letter from each of the Brazil items, we'd never get the meta answer. It was an integral part of the puzzle.

Also: Welcome to Week 4.
I think I will stay at AA ball
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#78

Post by Dplass »

burak wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 2:11 pm Week 10 puzzle for me haha. I took a look at it and said "yeah that's probably not gonna happen". I had an urge to go down the BEES (Bs) and SEIZE (Cs) route since EWE (U) and EYE (I) were also in the grid but just gave up. Best decision of the weekend!

Congrats to those who got it.
Same. Never in a squintillion years for me.
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KayW
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#79

Post by KayW »

HeadinHome wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:18 pm Yeah that was my other guess... I was torn between Zaire and Burma. Chose Burma.
So I'm not the only one tempted by BURMA..

I spent the first day or so noticing many things, among them the 5 Australian themed entries. Then I noticed the similar and alliterative GEELONG GREETING/HAINAN HI, and eventually the fact that there were also 5 Chinese themed entries in the same categories. Hmmm.... A(ustralia)-B____-C(hina). On Monday I went to my trusty (and OLD) globe there it was, handily located between Australia and China:
BURMA.jpg
I almost submitted BURMA immediately, but I'm so glad I paused to count to ten and see if I could find 5 Burmese (or other ethnic) entries. Nothing for Burma of course, but I soon started to notice other things. PELE/PILE was first - he's one of the few international sports legends I can name off the top of my head, and RIO/RIZ soon followed. BAA was the last - by then I knew I was looking for an A. I found BAT. There are a LOT of BATs from South America! :bat: But BOA is more better :snake: I hope Matt won't dock me for that last detail.

Oh and earlier in the weekend, BABEL popped into mind as a WAG. It's a historic place, and sort of supported by GEELONG GREETING/HAINAN HI.
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#80

Post by Streroto »

Well wow and wow. I am pretty happy that I saw the Australia/China thing right away, but then was trying to make Britain work because of the Brits named in the grid, thinking maybe ewe since sheep are sort of "brit-ish" but then hit the wall. However, even had I tried Brazil, I don't think I could have conceived of the next step.

Fun to see how it worked out, and my undying admiration to those who got this on their own...as well as to that king of wascally wabbits Matt.

0/2 this weekend hurts a LOT...but Thursday soon come.

Stay well, all
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