MGWCC #806 — “That’s an Order!”

An excellent puzzle written by one of the innovators of the meta crossword format. It comes out every Friday at noon and increases in difficulty throughout the month. Available for modest subscription (worth every cent) here: www.xwordcontest.com
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woozy
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#41

Post by woozy »

Joe Ross wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 12:16 pm

The only two-word brand of cookie that follows that rule is CHIPS AHOY![/size]
Are you willing to bet the farm that that is the only one? I imagine a lot of people maybe entered "Chips Ahoy" as it's the only cookie brand with two names ... that's significantly well-known.

I got it, and I got it entirely, and I got it entirely with no nudges. But words in alphabetical order doesn't seem that amazing or uncommon. Maybe of there were eight such entries and none of them with double letters. But as is, this seemed ... okay... but missing the sense of a wow, aha, solid lock that one would like.

Than again I've been in a slump lately and I'll take a solo solve when it comes.
Funny story. I was all set to enter Par for the course for the CrossHare midi contest for April but I mistakenly thought midi meant 7x 7 and not 11 x 11. Oops. Well.... Here's a complex but **small** meta on the subject of golf.
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Conrad
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#42

Post by Conrad »

Joe Ross wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 12:05 pm Doing the opposite of @BarbaraK, I WAGged CHIPS AHOY! last minute, which joon seems to think is correct. Waiting on final update for beamage, or not.


301. Joe Ross 11/14 - 12:00
Is there a "buzzer beater" badge on MGWCC? If not there should be. Last on the board with 0:00 to go is highly impressive, @Joe Ross !
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Check out my meta crossword writeups on Crossword Fiend: https://crosswordfiend.com/author/conrad/
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Joe Ross
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#43

Post by Joe Ross »

I entered info as clocked ticked to 11:59, then watched seconds tick away until 11:59:50, entered getting an immediate verification.

My computer's clock is set by time.windows.com.🤷🏻‍♂️

MGWCC508-PCclock-JR.png
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Joe Ross
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#44

Post by Joe Ross »

woozy wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 12:59 pm
Joe Ross wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 12:16 pm

The only two-word brand of cookie that follows that rule is CHIPS AHOY![/size]
Are you willing to bet the farm that that is the only one?
I'm willing to bet the farm that it's the answer to MGWCC 806 & that @MattGaffney gives that as the mechanism.

With my poor performance, this year, the stakes are much lower than any farm.

I like it when WAGs hit. I'll bet the farm on that, too. 🙂
Laura M
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#45

Post by Laura M »

My Hail Mary guess would definitely have been Famous Amos. 10 letters, 1 for each of the theme words; the initial letters also start most of the themers; and Amos is contained in ALMOST. I just couldn't figure out how to turn that into a real mechanism (for good reason, it turns out).

I realized that I left out the "!" in Chips Ahoy! when I submitted, but fortunately Matt accepted it anyway :-)
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ZooAnimalsOnWheels
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#46

Post by ZooAnimalsOnWheels »

I got this one eventually, but the first thing I noticed was that the theme answers all started with early alphabet letters. But then I noticed that the neighboring answers in the theme rows also started with early letters: AROD, ELISE, FREON, CART. And as those weren't in alphabetical order, it distracted me for a while with a solving sheet that looked like: FF A; E BB; AE; AA F; C FB
Joe Ross wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 12:16 pm I'm willing to bet the farm that it's the answer to MGWCC 806
Always bet the farm on Chips Ahoy::
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOFeaedv3Uc
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Trish
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#47

Post by Trish »

Chips Ahoy and Famous Amos were my guesses after trying an endless number of methods to get to anything resembling an answer!
Asked for help and my clue was that the theme answers had a trait in common with the meta answer. Well, being a portrait artist, trait took me right to physical attributes! I drew a picture of a first floor wafer with a rounded belly top filled with marshmallow (almost empty because of it’s airy quality) and then “all” covered with a chocolate icing (ice/forty below). Looked like a Snack Well marshmallow cookie to me!

I did not submit this week because I knew that couldn’t possibly be the way to solve!!!
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BarbaraK
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#48

Post by BarbaraK »

Trish wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 2:31 pm Chips Ahoy and Famous Amos were my guesses after trying an endless number of methods to get to anything resembling an answer!
Asked for help and my clue was that the theme answers had a trait in common with the meta answer. Well, being a portrait artist, trait took me right to physical attributes! I drew a picture of a first floor wafer with a rounded belly top filled with marshmallow (almost empty because of it’s airy quality) and then “all” covered with a chocolate icing (ice/forty below). Looked like a Snack Well marshmallow cookie to me!

I did not submit this week because I knew that couldn’t possibly be the way to solve!!!
If there were a rabbit hole award for MGWCC, this would definitely be a winner!
If you want help with a meta, feel free to PM me. The more specific you are about what you have and what you want, the more likely I can help without spoiling.

(And if I help you win a mug, I’ll be especially delighted.)
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