" Make A Run For It " November 18, 2022

[boharr]

This puzzle reminded me of the one to which the answer was "Hey Jude," and we had to count all the instances of "na" in the grid. I think there were something like 19 of them, just a couple short of the Ks in this one.

(Okay, if you do a recount and I am wrong, I will yield the point.)

[steveb]

This puzzle reminded me of the one to which the answer was "Hey Jude," and we had to count all the instances of "na" in the grid. I think there were something like 19 of them, just a couple short of the Ks in this one.

(Okay, if you do a recount and I am wrong, I will yield the point.)

I had to go look it up: that puzzle was on 3/13/2020. There were 11 NAs, corresponding to the song's refrain:

na, na na na-na-na na, na-na-na na, hey Jude...

[boharr]

This puzzle reminded me of the one to which the answer was "Hey Jude," and we had to count all the instances of "na" in the grid. I think there were something like 19 of them, just a couple short of the Ks in this one.

(Okay, if you do a recount and I am wrong, I will yield the point.)

I had to go look it up: that puzzle was on 3/13/2020. There were 11 NAs, corresponding to the song's refrain:

na, na na na-na-na na, na-na-na na, hey Jude...

I must have counted the Ns and As separately. LOL

[Commodore]

5k, 21k. Same strategy:
Start slowly. Then, ease up.

Happy Thanksgiving, USS Muggle sailors!

[Bob cruise director]

A quick note for this week's contest.

The posting is supposed to come out at 4 pm on Thanksgiving.
That will be in the middle of our family dinner

Depending on a variety of things, the topic will be opened before or after 4 pm but I suspect that many muggles will be enjoying time with their families.

Either way, have an enjoyable and safe Thanksgiving, especially if you are traveling.

[LadyBird]

the topic will be opened before or after 4 pm but I suspect that many muggles will be enjoying time with their families.

That's a bold assumption! As I recall from Thanksgiving 2020, there were dozens of us milling about waiting--and waiting--for the puzzle to drop.

[hcbirker]

the topic will be opened before or after 4 pm but I suspect that many muggles will be enjoying time with their families.

That's a bold assumption! As I recall from Thanksgiving 2020, there were dozens of us milling about waiting--and waiting--for the puzzle to drop.

It will most likely be delayed by the holiday. Patience Muggles! And Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[MaineMarge]

The pink Friendship peony here between DH Eric and great garden helper Buddy (and father of Dorothy) sends a powerful message of what is important in our lives-

Hoping all you Muggle friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving with those dear to you

[chriscross]

All of the other answers absurdly turn the fact that there are exactly 5 Ks in each themer into an irrelevant, indeed blatantly misleading, coincidence. So compare: is it more likely that a reasonable constructor expects us to ignore THAT glaring fact (5 Ks in each themer), or to ignore the fact that there are, in addition to the by far most common road running race of length 5K, far, far less common races of length 20K and 21K? (Even half marathons are not really 21K, and being *approximately* 21km is neither common knowledge nor particularly interesting, so that in itself would make 21K an odd answer to expect, as others have pointed out.) You have to have a far-fetchedness detector for these things. What would you have expected Matt to explain in defense of an answer of 21K? "Sorry, but the only way I could find of getting 21 Ks in the grid was to have exactly 5 in each themer and a final stray K elsewhere?"

That first sentence is the reason why I and others (or at least I assume others, since nobody could say it outright without spoilers) thought 5K had to be the intended answer. It's not so much far-fetched to think the answer is 20K or 21K (after all you're still counting K's, the same basic mechanism). But an important element in any kind of meta (or puzzle-hunt variety of puzzle) is psychology of the constructor. Technically anything could be an answer when there are no instructions, so you have to work within the confines of "would the constructor do this?" So I have to agree I think it would have been fair to only accept 5K, given the signs it was meant to be 5K, but I'm not unhappy they accepted the other answers.

One thing I wanted to add is I don't think people here truly ignored the clues that the answer should be 5K. I think the meta was too easy for many of the regular posters, and the alternatives felt like they took more work to earn the answer, even if they were slightly less defensible.

[Bill Bovard]

Approaching 500 comments, is that a record?
BTW, I'm in the 5K camp, even though it is too easy, and only one step.
The last five weeks have alternated between quite easy and too hard for me.
Fun group of people.

[Dow Jones]

It looks like 562 comments is the record. The meta was "Build Your Brand" by Matt Gaffney and he was looking for the answer for a "well known" company. "Adobe" was the answer. Since it was 5/8/20, most muggles had no place to go and migrated to this great community. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone !!

[Richard]

Matt created the puzzle and the meta so he gets to determine the right answer.

I am sure he saw 21k and Half Marathon and maybe even 5K relay. It is not like there is an alternative answer that he missed.

In any case I think 5K was poor and this is probably my least favorite meta.

[DaveKennison]

I finally found the time to come back here, read all the comments, and find out why my “5K” answer didn’t net me the object of my heart’s desire … A mug! A WSJ mug! A WSJ crossword mug! And now all I can say is, “Hey, guys, it’s just a lump of fired clay with a few decorative elements applied! Chill out!” … .

[Al Sisti]

I finally found the time to come back here, read all the comments, and find out why my “5K” answer didn’t net me the object of my heart’s desire … A mug! A WSJ mug! A WSJ crossword mug! And now all I can say is, “Hey, guys, it’s just a lump of fired clay with a few decorative elements applied! Chill out!” … .

"Just a mug? Just a mug? I suppose your mother was just a mother!" - Arthur Fonzarelli to Ralph Malph when he dumped Fonz' motorcycle (and then made the mistake of saying "Relax, Fonz; it's just a motorcycle"...)