"It Takes Two"
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haydendog
- Posts: 171
- Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2021 1:54 pm
- Location: Tennessee
Got it! I couldn’t have gotten this without Google but the trip down memory lane was quite fun.
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Dplass
- Posts: 1739
- Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 10:09 am
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Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1967
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:44 pm
- Location: Nahant, MA
- Contact:
Oh well, thanks for trying, David. Sorry I couldn't nudge you off the couch.Dplass wrote: Wed Nov 16, 2022 9:38 pm Never gonna happen, even with all the nudges. Thanks for the puzzle, though.
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minimuggle
- Posts: 693
- Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 7:33 am
Thank you Cap'n Rick for pulling me off the couch. What a great puzzle and I'm sorry I couldn't solve it on my own. I continue to be amazed by these metas and how you come up with them.
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woozy
- Posts: 3175
- Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2020 12:40 am
It's a good and straightforward puzzle. Unfortunately it's in a subject area that.... just isn't for me. (Actually, I was a bit startled how little I knew for this one).
GUAVA is not an anagram of VAGUE
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hoover
- Posts: 3159
- Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2021 7:26 pm
- Location: at the intersection of grits and breakfast tacos
I more or less raced through the grid on Monday and immediately saw a Thing. I went looking for other Things but didn't find any, so I set this one aside. This evening I read through the nudges and realized that my Thing was on the right track and is probably one of the meta pieces, but I still don't see any other Things to go with it.
I don't have anything clever to say, but if I did, it would go here.
Eli
Eli
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Dow Jones
- Posts: 493
- Joined: Thu May 09, 2019 11:02 pm
- Location: Yakima, WA
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DavyGravy
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2022 6:32 pm
- Location: Webster, New York
Still completely stuck to the couch. Nudges didn't help. Oh well - on to the WSJ comes at 4:00.
If I’ve solved and you need a nudge, you can PM me. Happy to pay it forward. 
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Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1967
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:44 pm
- Location: Nahant, MA
- Contact:
Leaderboard Update:
Well, we managed to nudge 27 more Muggles off the couch bringing our solver total to 56:
lbray53
BrennerTJ
michaelm
JeanneC
donutrobot
Snood
jbird
Johnny Luau
MatthewL
Dave C
Sharkicicles
hcbirker
david
Cinny
Carolyn
ajk
CPJohnson
Teamdoubletow
Laura M
Jade
haydendog
Bob cruise director
Jim Dean
JM
minimuggle
woozy
Dow Jones
There are still a few more couch-bound solvers out there who could use a little more help, so let me offer up one final "Bonus Nudge":
Please let me know if I've missed anyone, and please PM me if you would like more help.
Good luck!
Well, we managed to nudge 27 more Muggles off the couch bringing our solver total to 56:
lbray53
BrennerTJ
michaelm
JeanneC
donutrobot
Snood
jbird
Johnny Luau
MatthewL
Dave C
Sharkicicles
hcbirker
david
Cinny
Carolyn
ajk
CPJohnson
Teamdoubletow
Laura M
Jade
haydendog
Bob cruise director
Jim Dean
JM
minimuggle
woozy
Dow Jones
There are still a few more couch-bound solvers out there who could use a little more help, so let me offer up one final "Bonus Nudge":
Please let me know if I've missed anyone, and please PM me if you would like more help.
Good luck!
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rjy
- Posts: 1442
- Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2021 12:52 pm
- Location: Gaithersburg, MD
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bhamren
- Posts: 261
- Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:15 pm
- Location: Urbana, Ohio
Needed the bonus nudge also to get off the couch.
I listen to so little music it is the reason I stopped for a while doing the MMMM puzzle also - I don't know many musicians. 70's rock I know quite a bit, but if it is less than 40 years old I know very little.
I listen to so little music it is the reason I stopped for a while doing the MMMM puzzle also - I don't know many musicians. 70's rock I know quite a bit, but if it is less than 40 years old I know very little.
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Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1967
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:44 pm
- Location: Nahant, MA
- Contact:
Leaderboard Update:
Seven more pairs of Muggle feet have hit the living room floor bringing our solver total to 63:
rjy
bhamren
Ergcat
Jaclyn
hoover
Naptown Kid
MaineMarge
Please let me know if I've missed anyone.
Seven more pairs of Muggle feet have hit the living room floor bringing our solver total to 63:
rjy
bhamren
Ergcat
Jaclyn
hoover
Naptown Kid
MaineMarge
Please let me know if I've missed anyone.
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Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1967
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:44 pm
- Location: Nahant, MA
- Contact:
Leaderboard Update:
One more solver brings our total to 64:
Alan Connor
Reveal tomorrow!
One more solver brings our total to 64:
Alan Connor
Reveal tomorrow!
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ReB
- Posts: 772
- Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 9:34 pm
- Location: East Tennessee
Needing every last nudge, I basically had to be dumped off the couch - but I'm on the floor admiring the view...
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Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1967
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:44 pm
- Location: Nahant, MA
- Contact:
Final Leaderboard
How "fitting" that we end with "two" more solvers bringing our final total to 66:
ReB
frostyjhammer
Thanks for solving, everyone!
How "fitting" that we end with "two" more solvers bringing our final total to 66:
ReB
frostyjhammer
Thanks for solving, everyone!
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Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1967
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:44 pm
- Location: Nahant, MA
- Contact:
Ahoy Muggles!
The meta answer is "Hear Us" - a fitting two-word phrase for six pairs of singers carefully positioned around the grid. The title - "It Takes Two" - a hit duet by Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston - was intended to signal that the theme was music-related. The "reuniting" of 70s duo PEACHES and HERB at the top of the grid as well as 33D-DUETS and 51A-TWOSOMES were hints directing solvers to look for other intersecting singing partners including Stevie WONDER/Ariana GRANDE, Peter CETERA/Amy GRANT, Sheryl CROW/Kid ROCK, USHER/YUNA, and Alicia KEYS/Busta RHYMES. The shared letters, in grid order, spell the meta answer.
I think it's safe to say that this was my most challenging meta to date - both to solve and to construct. Like @ReB said in his Crosshare comment, I needed to find 6 pairs of singers who've performed together, who had names that could be easily camouflaged, who had at least one letter in common, and whose common letters spelled something relevant. It's also safe to say that I won't try anything like this again!
Anyway, I hope the solve was enjoyable for most of you - even if it did take "two" of you (and/or Google).
Until next time!
Cap'n Rick
The meta answer is "Hear Us" - a fitting two-word phrase for six pairs of singers carefully positioned around the grid. The title - "It Takes Two" - a hit duet by Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston - was intended to signal that the theme was music-related. The "reuniting" of 70s duo PEACHES and HERB at the top of the grid as well as 33D-DUETS and 51A-TWOSOMES were hints directing solvers to look for other intersecting singing partners including Stevie WONDER/Ariana GRANDE, Peter CETERA/Amy GRANT, Sheryl CROW/Kid ROCK, USHER/YUNA, and Alicia KEYS/Busta RHYMES. The shared letters, in grid order, spell the meta answer.
I think it's safe to say that this was my most challenging meta to date - both to solve and to construct. Like @ReB said in his Crosshare comment, I needed to find 6 pairs of singers who've performed together, who had names that could be easily camouflaged, who had at least one letter in common, and whose common letters spelled something relevant. It's also safe to say that I won't try anything like this again!
Anyway, I hope the solve was enjoyable for most of you - even if it did take "two" of you (and/or Google). Until next time!
Cap'n Rick