MGWCC #755 - “What a Character” by Mike Graczyk
- edestlin
- Posts: 244
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In classic fashion, I drafted a plea for a nudge and before I hit send I looked back at the puzzle and saw what I needed. Such a fun puzzle and meta. Great work, @MikeyG !
- Joe
- Posts: 571
- Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 12:45 pm
- Location: New Hampshire
I've got the first bit, but don't know where to go from there. Here's hoping that posting this will clear some cobwebs. I've been so bad at these lately that finding step 1 feels like a win.
Happy to give nudges. If you notice I've solved, please tell me about avenues you've explored so I can nudge you in the right direction and not off a cliff.
- woozy
- Posts: 2320
- Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2020 12:40 am
I don't know if my inability to solve it is that I really can't, or that I just feel there is no point as I already submitted a wrong answer (that's actually kind of clever). I'll take any nudges.
.... or I'll wait till Tues.
.... or I'll wait till Tues.
So I just plain couldn't get my meta based on "Up the Down Staircase" to work.
My challenge it to constructors is to make a meta where the meta, theme or metanism is "Up the Down Staircase".
My challenge it to constructors is to make a meta where the meta, theme or metanism is "Up the Down Staircase".
- SJMcK
- Posts: 226
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- Location: Stockbridge, GA
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I was getting ready to post about how stumped I was, and was composing a nudge request in my head, when a loose thread of an idea appeared in my mind which, when pulled, unraveled the solution fairly quickly.
—
Steven McKinney
Steven McKinney
- DrTom
- Posts: 3957
- Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2019 6:46 pm
- Location: Jacksonville, FL
OMG, that was such a slog, made all the more difficult by my inability to see what was right in front of me. I'm going to chalk it up to abject frustration and surrender after too many wounds. Of course what I eventually saw I had to arrive at the very hardest way possible and only after some substantial nudges. Still, I'm back on the Enterprise having had my molecules badly rearranged during the transport.
EDIT: In at 180, whew apparently I was able to turn that one around
(admittedly with help that gave me a couple of right angles)
EDIT: In at 180, whew apparently I was able to turn that one around
(admittedly with help that gave me a couple of right angles)
Last edited by DrTom on Mon Nov 21, 2022 12:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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!
- HeadinHome
- Posts: 1149
- Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:06 am
- Location: Charlotte, NC
she is a master not only of metas, but of subtle and perfect meta nudging!!MarkWoychick wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 6:57 pm Great puzzle, @MikeyG! Very satisfying solve with an assist from @Wendy Walker following the Zoom call yesterday. Thank you for not answering my question, Wendy, which would have given away too much. I had a big smile on my face as I realized I was on the right track as I worked out the answer.
The other Wendy.
- KayW
- Moderator
- Posts: 3533
- Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:10 am
- Location: Chicago
I would love to hear about the question, non-answer, and these brilliant nudges... post-deadline of course. I often find it's harder to give a good nudge on a puzzle than it is to solve it in the first place!HeadinHome wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 3:29 pmshe is a master not only of metas, but of subtle and perfect meta nudging!!MarkWoychick wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 6:57 pm Great puzzle, @MikeyG! Very satisfying solve with an assist from @Wendy Walker following the Zoom call yesterday. Thank you for not answering my question, Wendy, which would have given away too much. I had a big smile on my face as I realized I was on the right track as I worked out the answer.
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.
- Abide
- Moderator
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Finally got to this one today. Brilliant idea, execution, and one heckuva construction!
The site is just a web page, a meeting place, a clubhouse - it's the group that's special.
—Brian MacDonald
—Brian MacDonald
- DrTom
- Posts: 3957
- Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2019 6:46 pm
- Location: Jacksonville, FL
To MikeyG, a Muggle we all know and love. You have now joined the Muggle Meta Royalty Plaque along with Benchen71. All of us schleppers can at least say - Oh, Mike and Ben...yeah we hang out with those guys, we knew them before they were writing MGWCC puzzles.
Great work and I can only imagine the time it took to build.
Great work and I can only imagine the time it took to build.
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!
- Joe
- Posts: 571
- Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 12:45 pm
- Location: New Hampshire
Omg. I got it. MikeyG, so good.
Happy to give nudges. If you notice I've solved, please tell me about avenues you've explored so I can nudge you in the right direction and not off a cliff.
-
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Mon May 03, 2021 12:44 pm
- Location: San Francisco
I know it's late in the game, but would love a nudge if anyone would be willing! After a lot of time, I still don't see anything
Edit: I'm beaming up thanks to the shortest ever nudge from @oggy !
Edit: I'm beaming up thanks to the shortest ever nudge from @oggy !
Last edited by MountainManZach on Tue Nov 22, 2022 2:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:10 pm
It's even later in the game and I'm also stuck. Any nudge would be appreciated!
- ricky
- Posts: 459
- Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 3:47 pm
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I need a nudge too. Running short on time. EDIT: thanks to @Joe - one nudge got me there immediately. I had just been barking up the wrong tree for days.
Last edited by ricky on Tue Nov 22, 2022 11:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
Check out the meta challenge at Lexicon Devil
Latest puzzle: "This Place Looks Familiar," March 7, 2024
Deadline: Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 12 PM EST
Latest puzzle: "This Place Looks Familiar," March 7, 2024
Deadline: Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 12 PM EST
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- Posts: 198
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2020 11:09 am
If anyone still needs a nudge, reach out to me, real quick, by PM, and I will try to help.
Remember though, when you ask the community for a nudge, it's helpful to come back and let us know that you've been assisted; most importantly, it increases the likelihood that you will still get offers!
Remember though, when you ask the community for a nudge, it's helpful to come back and let us know that you've been assisted; most importantly, it increases the likelihood that you will still get offers!
- jimmyd
- Posts: 80
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- Location: Yonkers, NY
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- MikeyG
- Posts: 1456
- Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 2:52 pm
- Location: Chicago
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A small note from yours truly, without pontificating too much (I probably still will, haha).
I was completely touched by all of the kind comments from all of you over the past several days. I find the meta sacred; obviously, in fairness, I decided to remain taciturn on this thread until the very end, but I read every one, and they made my heart swell with joy.
I still have a steadfast, wide-eyed enthusiasm about making and solving puzzles (I give some of my enigmas to my students without their asking; they are not as eager!). Moreover, this entire community is filled with such creativity and vivacity - the amount of puzzles that people make out of their own selflessness, and the camaraderie that has been created as a result, is truly something special.
There is a lot of vitriol and difficulty in the world. Just read the headlines, and you'll see it. So some refuge against the perilous waves is necessary sometimes. That is what puzzles often do. I cannot solve the problems of the world, but - as I've said before - solving puzzles somehow becomes a consolation, a form of self-care, a way to relax and even to grow.
So many of you in this thread have posted great puzzles and have helped me become a better constructor (and, more importantly, human being) in the process. But I do need to give a special shout-out to @MattGaffney on this one. In the midst of the health crisis in the summer of 2020, I stumbled upon the concept of the meta, first through MGWCC. I had just rediscovered crosswords during that time, but this special hybrid awoke something in me that I felt was desperately needed during a time in which the world felt pitched in turmoil.
After striking out on trying to solve some metas, and just barely understanding difficulty rankings, I solved my first meta, a Week 1, in early September '20, and I have MARTINA NAVRATILOVA to thank (the answer to the first meta I cracked). Since then, I have been stunned how Matt has continued to make these metas fresh and engaging - even moreso in light of the fact that he had created over 600 of these before I discovered it (and all those through WSJ as well).
After solving metas and wading into the pool to create my own (and still recognizing what works and what doesn't), I took a chance and submitted an idea to MGWCC that I thought could work (the one you solved!); the fact that Matt said he liked it completely floored me. It'd be like sending a demo tape to Taylor Swift and having her say she wants you to open at her next concert (and if her fans can't get tickets, they'll have to shake it off).
Perhaps some of the most hilariously touching moments were from those who started to solve this without noticing the byline and then musing, "This cluing seems Mikeyesque." I am realizing typing this how that could be construed as arrogance, a fear of mine, but it's meant to be the opposite. I am humbled that I get to put my wacky voice out into the world, and I have also guffawed likewise at so many of your cruciverbal creations. I only hope there are many more to come.
So, in short, thank you to all of you who continue to foster a love of puzzles in me and make me a better human. You fellow solvers, after all, are JUST MY TYPE.
A happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
Mikey G
I was completely touched by all of the kind comments from all of you over the past several days. I find the meta sacred; obviously, in fairness, I decided to remain taciturn on this thread until the very end, but I read every one, and they made my heart swell with joy.
I still have a steadfast, wide-eyed enthusiasm about making and solving puzzles (I give some of my enigmas to my students without their asking; they are not as eager!). Moreover, this entire community is filled with such creativity and vivacity - the amount of puzzles that people make out of their own selflessness, and the camaraderie that has been created as a result, is truly something special.
There is a lot of vitriol and difficulty in the world. Just read the headlines, and you'll see it. So some refuge against the perilous waves is necessary sometimes. That is what puzzles often do. I cannot solve the problems of the world, but - as I've said before - solving puzzles somehow becomes a consolation, a form of self-care, a way to relax and even to grow.
So many of you in this thread have posted great puzzles and have helped me become a better constructor (and, more importantly, human being) in the process. But I do need to give a special shout-out to @MattGaffney on this one. In the midst of the health crisis in the summer of 2020, I stumbled upon the concept of the meta, first through MGWCC. I had just rediscovered crosswords during that time, but this special hybrid awoke something in me that I felt was desperately needed during a time in which the world felt pitched in turmoil.
After striking out on trying to solve some metas, and just barely understanding difficulty rankings, I solved my first meta, a Week 1, in early September '20, and I have MARTINA NAVRATILOVA to thank (the answer to the first meta I cracked). Since then, I have been stunned how Matt has continued to make these metas fresh and engaging - even moreso in light of the fact that he had created over 600 of these before I discovered it (and all those through WSJ as well).
After solving metas and wading into the pool to create my own (and still recognizing what works and what doesn't), I took a chance and submitted an idea to MGWCC that I thought could work (the one you solved!); the fact that Matt said he liked it completely floored me. It'd be like sending a demo tape to Taylor Swift and having her say she wants you to open at her next concert (and if her fans can't get tickets, they'll have to shake it off).
Perhaps some of the most hilariously touching moments were from those who started to solve this without noticing the byline and then musing, "This cluing seems Mikeyesque." I am realizing typing this how that could be construed as arrogance, a fear of mine, but it's meant to be the opposite. I am humbled that I get to put my wacky voice out into the world, and I have also guffawed likewise at so many of your cruciverbal creations. I only hope there are many more to come.
So, in short, thank you to all of you who continue to foster a love of puzzles in me and make me a better human. You fellow solvers, after all, are JUST MY TYPE.
A happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
Mikey G
- rjy
- Posts: 1084
- Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2021 12:52 pm
- Location: Gaithersburg, MD
Thanks for posting such lovely comments, Mikey! It was so very cool to see your name in the MGWCC, and although I didn’t get to the finish line on this one - prepping for week-long house guests and feeding 25 on Thursday - I always look forward to your puzzles and the indelible stamp that’s uniquely yours with both the whimsical clueing and the twisted metas. Hope Matt takes another week off sometime, and that it’s in the dead of winter when things are not quite so hectic here!
Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving, all!
Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving, all!
Ray
- jhseeman
- Posts: 500
- Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2020 3:33 pm
- Location: Charleston, SC
Mikey,
Finally got across the finish line earlier today, didn't get the chance to get on as the four letter word called work got in the way.
Great puzzle....I was writing to ask for a nudge as it was a jumble of letters and part way through it, the last step smacked me right upside the head (which is often required for me)....amazed at the overall puzzle and meta. Always enjoy your puzzles and of course the quirky clues.
Congrats on getting Matt to use one of your puzzles.
Finally got across the finish line earlier today, didn't get the chance to get on as the four letter word called work got in the way.
Great puzzle....I was writing to ask for a nudge as it was a jumble of letters and part way through it, the last step smacked me right upside the head (which is often required for me)....amazed at the overall puzzle and meta. Always enjoy your puzzles and of course the quirky clues.
Congrats on getting Matt to use one of your puzzles.
- ajk
- Posts: 1033
- Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2020 4:22 pm
- Location: Colorado
Too much time spent on travel / winery visiting this weekend to really tackle this, but in retrospect a very cool puzzle. Nice work.
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
- rjy
- Posts: 1084
- Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2021 12:52 pm
- Location: Gaithersburg, MD
Missed the deadline, but got a nudge to still get the AHA, and a pretty great AHA it was too… really very cool and intricate construction, Mikey! Glad I stuck with it…
Ray