MGWCC #763 - "Not for Nothing"

[BrennerTJ]

[rayyandroid]

Wow, I was way off. I did start off with the numbered clues and noticed the clue that had "Numeral that resembles a letter" but didn't put the two together. I was off on a tangent thinking it was leetspeak or something. Still have a lot to learn!

[MikeM000]

Is it odd that he used a clue-based metanism on a week 2? I never even looked there until I got a nudge as that just seemed uncharacteristic for a puzzle this early in the month.

[Andrew Bradburn]

My experience has been that clues usually don't factor in until after week 3, so yeah, it is unusual. I didn't get either of Gaffney's puzzles this weekend, and it is unfortunately seeming more and more like my brain is just aging very fast. Three to five years ago I might have gotten one or both of these, but these days, most meta puzzles just seem to be too tough for me. I will keep trying to solve them, but I find I am spending much less time and effort on them than I used to. Kudos to those much older than I am, who are able to find solutions to these week in and week out.

[ajk]

Figured out the need to convert those 7 to xOO right away. Then I tried...something I don't remember (maybe the letters in those grid numbers?). Then the 26 of 2600 jumped out and the rest was straightforward.

Crazy how sometimes it all just falls into place and other times puzzles of objectively similar difficulty are just totally opaque.

[Streroto]

OMG. I had the first step and I had the alphabet thing figured out as well but then did not make the OO connection. I even looked for a way to make that happen. I was 100% convinced that the clue at 29D was important and it was! Sooo close. Yet so far. 0/2 on MG this week.

Ah well tomorrow is another day!

Stay well all

[woozy]

8 hours of thinking WOO would refer to "Go Me" and not considering grid order as more likely than any other order got me nowhere until I thought "I really wish there was something about courtship; I really don't like 'Go Me'" and I actively looked elsewhere.

[MikeM000]

8 hours of thinking WOO would refer to "Go Me" and not considering grid order as more likely than any other order got me nowhere until I thought "I really wish there was something about courtship; I really don't like 'Go Me'" and I actively looked elsewhere.

I was all "what is TOOGOOE?" because woo would be the next step if you accompany/ESCORT someone and you hit it off. Tenuous at best, I know. 10 minutes later I realized why he went with Red Rock West rather than James & The Giant Peach in cluing DAHL and it was actually "W"oo.

And I accept ORDONEZ and LIONS as personal apologies for the White Lotus thing a few weeks back.

OH WEE OH....MAGGGGGLIIIO!

[woozy]

I was all "what is TOOGOOE?" because woo would be the next step if you accompany/ESCORT someone and you hit it off. Tenuous at best, I know.

I briefly considered that but it was so tenuous I and I knew he could do better that I couldn't accept it.

10 minutes later I realized why he went with Red Rock West rather than James & The Giant Peach in cluing DAHL and it was actually "W"oo.

I have never heard of director John Dahl. I have heard of John Woo but he's not as high on me radar as John Sayles or John Hughes. I thought Rould Dahl would have been a more well known clue. In hindsight, I really shouldn't have been stuck for the 8 hours I was.

[donutrobot]

did anybody else spend a lot of time on the 'zero' synonyms in the puzzle? ZIP and NIL were pretty obvious; PALIN has NIL backwards, and ORDONEZ has ZERO in it backwards (first two and last two letters). Then the next morning I finally noticed there were seven clues with 00s in them and abandoned my rabbihole.