Can you storm the castle by getting across the MOAT? A weekly meta crossword constructed by forum member Ben (aka benchen71). These metas range from relatively easy to more challenging, depending on how many Australianisms he puts in them! Puzzles are posted in a new thread every Tuesday, with nudges appearing on Saturdays, and the solution coming out on Mondays. (At least, that's the plan. Given he lives in Australia, and they are so far ahead of the US time-zone-wise, things may get posted early!)
Can you storm the castle by getting across the MOAT? Apparently, Fantales are an Australian invention! These chocolate-coated caramel sweets come wrapped in paper with trivia questions on them, originally movie-related. Growing up, we would use these questions to play "guess the movie star" with someone reading it out loud and everyone else hoping to be the first to answer correctly. The fun was that the questions were worded in such a way that the details would start out sort of vague, or really obscure, and get more and more obvious. By the end of the question, though, it should be absolutely clear what the answer is. In this puzzle, I've written four clues as "WHO AM I?" Fantales questions. The answer to the meta is two six letter words.
PM me with your submissions or submit on Crosshare. Either way, I'll compile a list of those who successfully solve the meta.
Last edited by benchen71 on Sun Oct 02, 2022 5:25 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
I’m quite sure the lack of traffic here doesn’t correlate to lack of interest. I filled the grid at 2am EDT and have bupkis to report… may be time to try something easier like the MGWCC
Crosshare stats tell me that there have been sixty grid completions but only one successful solver.
The above sentence is your first nudge.
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
I was remiss not to have posted an end-of-first-day solvers list. Here it is now:
Darth
Darrell
ChrisKochmanski
Cindy Weatherman
Meg
boharr
Yes, indeedy, it's playing like a "week 4". I might bring the nudges forward by a day so look for them round about when the WSJ meta is posted!
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
This boat remains other side of the MOAT. Was sure I knew what to do but obviously not.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges IF ASKED; metas should be about fun, not frustration. PM me what you have done so far, because often you are closer than you think, and I will try to help you move along.
Two more, which brings us to eight solvers. (That was another hint, by the way!)
Carolyn
CPJohnson
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
1. The meta hint is in 10 A and 65 A: in combination with the clue, you must be at your wits ends in order to solve the meta.
2. Did you notice that the four theme entries (the ones with WHO AM I? clues) are all comedians? Comedians are wits!
3. There has to be a reason for those long WHO AM I? clues, right? Yes, there is.
4. What is common across the four WHO AM I? clues, something that is also true of the meta prompt?
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
KayW wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 6:11 pm
And I was curious enough about these FANTALES to order a bag online. For the questions, of course. The candy has nothing to do with it
If you enjoy chewy caramels covered in milk chocolate, then you will be in heaven. If not, there's always the wrappers to read and enjoy!
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
It took all of the nudges to get me across the moat. Thanks, Ben!
