MGWCC #815 — "Say Your Lines"

[SJMcK]

Fun aha on this… awaiting beamage!

a-ha is only a three-letter band name

[ChrisKochmanski]

Beamed!

With a slight nudge from a Discorder.

Loved it!

[ReB]

Finally, a solo solve with no rabbit holes. Elegant as usual, but very straightforward.

[DCBilly]

Beamed at #49. Loved the idea and the execution

[Berto]

Solved!!!!! Suddenly saw it. Never heard of the band but 100%-er. Awaiting beam…

[Swain14]

Hey there. New to metas, newer to MGWCC, and even newest to this forum.

Can someone direct me to the Discord forum? I can't find it, and I'd love a nudge for some of these...

Thanks,
Swain14

[HoldThatThought]

Swain: I'll share my response with you here, rather than by Private Message (PM), because I think both the question and answer will be of interest to others.

First of all, welcome aboard, and welcome to the world of meta crosswords, in general. Every one of us, from the most expert to those who are still dreaming of getting there, were new to the challenge at one time, and meta puzzle solving is most definitely a skill that develops through repeated practice. The more puzzles you do, the more you will appreciate the variety of the mechanisms (or, as many of us call them here, the "metanisms").

This whole community exists so that players can share their love for this unique and challenging form of crosswords, and many of our most active members are committed to helping those who are new. The expectation is that you work the puzzles, as best you can, and stick with it, for at least a couple of days. The idea isn't to frustrate you; what this actually encourages is more creative thought. Even the most experienced of us frequently test out quite a few approaches, before we reach the true joy of meta solving, the so-called "aha moment".

I don't mean to dissuade you from seeing what the Discord discussions are about, but honestly, I wouldn't recommend that resource as an effective way to improve your skills. The Discord discussion is the place that experienced solvers go, to brainstorm together. I'll suggest it's like signing up for a karate tournament, before you've taken your first lesson. Grasshopper, there is much learning to be done. Otherwise, you're not really learning, and adding new tools to your solving skills; you're just watching other people solve.

Here's what I would recommend: If you haven't already discovered it, there is a practical and useful tutorial "course" that is available, right here in this forum. You can find that here:

https://xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?t=1157

Another excellent resource hosted here is this https://xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?t=277 , a compilation of a whole lot of previous challenges, accompanied by their solutions - a great way to build your skills.

Finally, once you have spent a little time with any current puzzle, many of your fellow competitors are delighted to give "nudges". When you are first getting acquainted, it's perfectly all right to post "Can someone please help out with a nudge?", but there's some etiquette to that. When you get a helpful hint, be sure to take a moment to come back, edit your post, and let everyone else know that you've received assistance. Otherwise, we're left wondering if you still need a hand.

Once you have been nudged a handful of times, you will probably have developed your own list of helpful solvers who "speak your language", so to speak - players whose hints you have found useful. You can reach out to them directly, by PM, and if you're lucky, you will soon find yourself part of a little solving collaborative - people you can bounce ideas off of every week, while you continue to hone your skills. When you reach out for a nudge, be prepared to tell your helpful respondent what you've done so far. We're most generous with fellow Mugglers who have clearly been making a good faith effort to solve, rather than someone who just seems to be looking for the answer.

If you need a nudge for this week's Gaffney, feel free to reach out to me by PM; I would be happy to help!

Best wishes for future solves...

HoldThatThought

[benchen71]

Awaiting the beam... [Yay! Very pleased to have solved that one solo. ]

... and I'm beamed at #94.

[schmidzy]

Beamed up last night, but didn't see it until this morning. I was dreaming last night that after I submitted I realized there was an extra step I missed and extra rows appeared in the grid if you found the hidden secret and then there were all these crazy mind-bending twists and so my answer was all wrong... I think I spend too much time on this hobby

[Joe Ross]

Swain: I'll share my response with you here, rather than by Private Message (PM), because I think both the question and answer will be of interest to others.

...

When you reach out for a nudge, be prepared to tell your helpful respondent what you've done so far. We're most generous with fellow Mugglers who have clearly been making a good faith effort to solve, rather than someone who just seems to be looking for the answer.

If you need a nudge for this week's Gaffney, feel free to reach out to me by PM; I would be happy to help!

Best wishes for future solves...

HoldThatThought

In addition to ALL of @HoldThatThought's excellent advice & resources noted, one of the very best solving tools is to be exhaustive in listing all you have tried, seen, & thought, when writing to someone for a nudge.

You'll find yourself, more often than not, arriving at the solution as you do. Doing so forces you to "make sense" to others of what you've tried, thus rethinking it for yourself as you do.

There are many muggles who persevere in solving solo.

• They have my respect.

• I recommend to them that they compose "nudge requests" as noted, here. The request doesn't have to be sent, but composing it is a powerful tool in solving.

[MarkWoychick]

Beamed up @ 101

[woozy]

Okay. I have indeed heard of this group. (But I wonder, does anyone who have ever heard of them remember anything about their music or would ever recognize it).

Thanks to Joe, and SJMcK for this. I was on track but scattered.

But I'm never good at this mechanism and wouldn't mind if I never saw this mechanism ever again.

[HoldThatThought]

Okay. I have indeed heard of this group. (But I wonder, does anyone who have ever heard of them remember anything about their music or would ever recognize it).

Thanks to Joe, and SJMcK for this. I was on track but scattered.

But I'm never good at this mechanism and wouldn't mind if I never saw this mechanism ever again.

Actually, yes, this band has a particular signature that makes them distinctive.

[Brainbow]

I’ve been staring at this Week 2 puzzle for hours. Small nudge please?

Edit: Thank you! Got it.

[SamKat9]

Thanks to a small nudge from @benchen71 I was able to figure it out. Awaiting beamage.

I've definitely heard of the band but I'm not great at all with this mechanism. I guess I need more practice.

[Streroto]

Still LAS on this one. Thought maybe after the "week 1 not week 1" we'd get a break.

Still a couple days including a holiday

Stay well all

[woozy]

Still LAS on this one. Thought maybe after the "week 1 not week 1" we'd get a break.

Still a couple days including a holiday

Stay well all

This is one of the ones in hindsight seem like I should have got it solo. But I didnt

I think I was frustrated and faithless. (Faithlessness is probably an unadmitted number one cause of missing metas). In hindsight I think this was a perfect week 2.

[HoldThatThought]

As opposed to Faith, which was an admitted Number one for George Michael.

Trust me, all of my Spotify playlists are Faithless.

[Laura M]

I should have seen this one way earlier. It was all there! But I did get it eventually, solo, so I'll count that as a win :-)

[hcbirker]

Needed a nudge but got there. Hard to concentrate when you're babysitting a three year old.