#672 - "The Purloined Letters" by Dean Silverberg

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
User avatar
Thurman8er
Posts: 393
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 3:05 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

#61

Post by Thurman8er »

Energize!

Used to really enjoy this detective's antics. May have to delve back in.
User avatar
Janet P
Posts: 553
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:29 pm

#62

Post by Janet P »

Beamed up!
burghman
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:34 pm

#63

Post by burghman »

Hate to ask given the number of people that are already on the board, but something just isn't clicking with me. Fairly certain I have the first step but not sure where to go from there... would love a chance to bounce my current progress off someone to see if they can nudge me in the right direction for the final "aha". Thanks.

EDIT - many thanks to norrin2 for the assistance!
If you see that I’ve completed the MGWCC meta, feel free to DM me and I’ll help you out - nudges, confirmations of paths, etc.
User avatar
802puzzler
Posts: 178
Joined: Fri May 08, 2020 7:21 pm

#64

Post by 802puzzler »

Beamed up, thankfully!
User avatar
mpmanning
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:02 am
Location: Nahant, MA

#65

Post by mpmanning »

Number 489 on the leaderboard, my first week three! Learning more each week. At this rate in about 40 years I think I may be in the running for a POE. Onward and Upward!
User avatar
mpmanning
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:02 am
Location: Nahant, MA

#66

Post by mpmanning »

Number 489 on the leaderboard, my first week three! Learning more each week. At this rate in about 40 years I think I may be in the running for a POE. Onward and Upward!
User avatar
MajordomoTom
Posts: 1401
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:09 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

#67

Post by MajordomoTom »

thanks to MaineMarge, I discovered a few errors in my fill and now know the answer.

And it's not what I'd submitted, so time to restart my streak.

DrTom also gets a shoutout for being a sounding board.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
Big Mac
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:01 pm
Location: Vienna, VA

#68

Post by Big Mac »

Beam me up - fun one. Tough grid!
User avatar
Abide
Moderator
Posts: 1274
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:16 pm
Location: Biloxi
Contact:

#69

Post by Abide »

Like @Schmeel I also had a vague recollection of the rabbi in the library stacks. Reading about the author led me to this short story, which is definitely worth the quick read. Great Aha moment...

http://www.101bananas.com/library2/ninemile.html
The site is just a web page, a meeting place, a clubhouse - it's the group that's special.
—Brian MacDonald
User avatar
Al Sisti
Posts: 2037
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
Location: Whitesboro NY

#70

Post by Al Sisti »

Abide wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:44 pm Like @Schmeel I also had a vague recollection of the rabbi in the library stacks. Reading about the author led me to this short story, which is definitely worth the quick read. Great Aha moment...

http://www.101bananas.com/library2/ninemile.html
That was an excellent story. If that's representative of the Rabbi series, I'm definitely going to have to add them to my library.
Dplass
Posts: 1739
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 10:09 am

#71

Post by Dplass »

I remember my dad reading all the "On XDay, The Rabbi Did Something" books when I was a kid, so as soon as I had "RABBI" I knew it had to be it.
User avatar
MikeM000
Posts: 579
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:31 am
Location: Metro Detroit

#72

Post by MikeM000 »

Dplass wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:33 pm I remember my dad reading all the "On XDay, The Rabbi Did Something" books when I was a kid, so as soon as I had "RABBI" I knew it had to be it.
My mom similarly read those when I was a kid but I had forgotten all about them before I googled the rabbi's name. The author's photos that came up screamed "I'm a literary dude of the 1970s" like few others.
Schmeel
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 2:38 pm

#73

Post by Schmeel »

Abide wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:44 pm Like @Schmeel I also had a vague recollection of the rabbi in the library stacks. Reading about the author led me to this short story, which is definitely worth the quick read. Great Aha moment...

http://www.101bananas.com/library2/ninemile.html
Truth be told, I first saw one of the books in the series on my grandfather's shelf. He moved to Israel with my grandmother when I was in my early teens. He didn't bring many books from the States, but he, like me, used to scour the second-hand book shops in Jerusalem looking for good books to read. After I borrowed the book from him, I found the rest of the series in my local library. A trip down memory lane...

After re-reading 'The Nine-Mile Walk' now, I realize I probably didn't understand a lot of it when I read it at the time. I guess It's time to visit my library again to see if they still have any of the books there.
Tina
Posts: 391
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:56 pm

#74

Post by Tina »

At first, I missed the initial "R" and thought the fictional detective was Abbi Small, who I concluded must be a little girl detective from children's fiction like Encyclopedia Brown or Nate the Great that Matt's kid was reading, but then I remembered it was a guest constructor. Then I realized RAID was meant to be RADAR and I found the right answer. I've heard of the series, but haven't read any of it.
Laura M
Posts: 1384
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am

#75

Post by Laura M »

Abide wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:44 pm Like @Schmeel I also had a vague recollection of the rabbi in the library stacks. Reading about the author led me to this short story, which is definitely worth the quick read. Great Aha moment...

http://www.101bananas.com/library2/ninemile.html
That's a great story, thanks for the link! I really like the Rabbi Small mysteries, I practically memorized the two that I owned (Friday the Rabbi Slept Late and Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry), and I read all of the others that I could get from the library. A few years ago I read or re-read some of them that either my library at the time didn't have or that I didn't remember well. They were already dated in the 80s, and more so now (aren't we all), but still very enjoyable. Heavy on the deductive reasoning, light on the car chases. And quite educational about the Jewish faith, which I found very interesting.
User avatar
Al Sisti
Posts: 2037
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
Location: Whitesboro NY

#76

Post by Al Sisti »

Laura M wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 4:50 pm
Abide wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:44 pm Like @Schmeel I also had a vague recollection of the rabbi in the library stacks. Reading about the author led me to this short story, which is definitely worth the quick read. Great Aha moment...

http://www.101bananas.com/library2/ninemile.html
That's a great story, thanks for the link! I really like the Rabbi Small mysteries, I practically memorized the two that I owned (Friday the Rabbi Slept Late and Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry), and I read all of the others that I could get from the library. A few years ago I read or re-read some of them that either my library at the time didn't have or that I didn't remember well. They were already dated in the 80s, and more so now (aren't we all), but still very enjoyable. Heavy on the deductive reasoning, light on the car chases. And quite educational about the Jewish faith, which I found very interesting.
I went to the Kindle library and found that, because I have Amazon Prime, something like 6 of them are available to read for free. Started #1 this afternoon.
Locked