72. Of Course!

[hcbirker]

Once I figured out what to do, it was a nice aha!

[Berto]

Maybe others found this a breeze but I just didn’t see it until I was about to turn in for the night.
Two aha moments rolled into one solve! Can finally sleep… (or do I stay up and wait for the MOAT?!?! Lol) - thanks Mikey!

[jhseeman]

You nailed this one....took me a bit to see the entry point and then the aha moment.....I was thinking this was where it was going, but wow, impressive.

[Alvibu67]

Got it with a mudge = muggle + nudge.

Thanks for pulling an all-nighter for this one, Mikey! Excellent puzzle!

Allison (Alvibu67)

[Abide]

I needed a few hard nudges from @hcbirker, but echo the praise for this "basic" Graczyk.

[woozy]

Still have no idea. But 102A failed me on the last MGWCC. Jus' saying.

[MikeyG]

Still have no idea. But 102A failed me on the last MGWCC. Jus' saying.

Let me get through my 3 am - 2 am shift, and then I'll post something tomorrow! Slightly extended deadline, yay!

[DrTom]

I really liked this one Mikey, several reasons:
(1) I could solve it
(2) The methodology was novel (like so many of yours)
(3) The many layers
(4) Food references that got me hungry!

As for your "Moon" humor, well I know you try to crater to the Muggle crowd, but your humor, like mine, waxes and wanes. Perhaps it is a phase you are going through?

[rjy]

Mikey, just wow! Needed just the slightest of nudges but that did nothing to diminish the aha. Loved this one, and so impressed with the concept and execution, especially in light of the backstory. Really great!

[MikeyG]

What a wild day of postseason baseball, wow! I'm should've posted the nudges earlier, so you'll have one day and change to figure it out if you still need to!

Up to 36, so I think Level 3 is indeed spot-on.

1. Note the title, which makes an appearance again in the central entry. We also have the fact that the phrase in question is 18 letters long. What does "course" and the number "18" remind you?

2. And, if you need a further clue, try searching AUGUSTA with "course," and you'll pretty much get a central part to the meta!

3. But, even so, how would that get us the 18-letter phrase? Something else must be at play, especially for the size of the grid.

4. By now, you probably know we're talking about a golf course. And there is a certain term related to each hole of an 18-hole golf course.

5. In fact, it's a term that comes up...in the clues. Repeatedly. @Abide always says he needs to remember to look toward my clues; they don't always relate to the meta but can!

6. This term is at the start of precisely 18 clues!

7. Standard initial letters don't seem to be spelling out too much, so how else might we extract the letters?

8. It is possible to do this with trial-and-error, as I think @Hector alluded to on Crosshare. But there's also a very direct way to get the letter in question.

9. And, for that, I need a golf course...and it's the central entry in the grid!

10. Each hole on this particular golf course (and any, but this is the one we need) has a corresponding par.

That should be enough to get some more people over the finish line! Good luck!

Mikey G

[woozy]

Very clever puzzle!


Completely wasted on the likes of me though. Would never have gotten it.

[Katiedid]

Very cool! I only needed the first nudge.

[ReB]

Another intricately constructed puzzle here. Fifth nudge opened the door. Thanks.

[whimsy]

Solved, finally. Pretty close to the wire probably. (All mixed up with the time difference.)
Understood the subject but needed some of the nudges to zero in.
Had been using a totally different "method" and tried to get a fun but completely incorrect answer.

Thanks for this intriCATe puzzle, Mikey!

[hoover]

Mind-blowing construction!

[Cap'n Rick]

Awesome job, Mikey! I needed nearly all the nudges, but it all came together fabulously in the end. Great concept and execution!

[MikeyG]

Puzzle #72 answer: JUST GOING FOR A DRIVE

Correct entries: 51, of which about 35 or so were solo.



Amazing graphics by @BrennerTJ, per usual!

The more I look back on this, especially with the wild creation of the puzzle in about 12 hours or so, the happier I am with it.

Per Crosshare: Per the central entry of AUGUSTA, the repeated references to "course" (serendipitously ARNIE and ATEE also came up - @DrTom caught I used MasterCard in a clue, which was an oblique "Masters" reference), and the fact we're looking for an 18-letter phrase, this is most likely golf-related.

But, more specifically, it's related to the Augusta golf course that has been the centerpiece of the Masters for nearly 100 years!

Also, just as overtly, precisely 18 entries' clues start with PAR (at least two were consecutive). Take the nth letter of each of these entries, where n is the par of each hole in Augusta (for the record, these 18 pars are 454343454443545344, per the picture). For example, the first PAR clue is 1-A's SUBJ, and the 4th letter of the entry is "J." Complete this 18 times for the punningly fitting phrase JUST GOING FOR A DRIVE, the answer to the meta.

See you on Saturday in more ways than one: meta #73 and I hope to pop in for the Gaffneytravaganza as well!

Mikey G