A weekly meta crossword on the forum started by member Josh (aka madhatter5). These puzzles are often very creative with solving mechanisms out of the norm and skewing towards the more challenging. Puzzles are posted every Wednesday, and the solution appears the following Tuesday.
benchen71 here with another marching band meta for your solving delight! Marching band puzzles involve placing answers into rows and bands, but when you add a meta into the mix, the end result is even more fun! The answer to the meta is a TV show. (And if you enjoy this puzzle, don't forget the MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands: 7 puzzles for US$5, with a mega meta to boot. None of those metas suffer from the problem of the current one!)
Because there is no Crosshare link for this puzzle, you will have to PM me with your submission and I'll compile a list of those who successfully solve the meta. Note that JPZ files can be played online here.
Kitten
Calico - this is what I thought the difficulty would be
Persian Puma - this is probably where it ended up, difficulty-wise, pre nudges
Lion
Nudges (and a mea culpa!) are here.
The solution (and an apology meta puzzle!) is here.
The solution to the apology meta is here.
Attachments
(720.04 KiB) Downloaded 156 times
Last edited by benchen71 on Tue Feb 04, 2025 4:36 am, edited 7 times in total.
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
Grid filled, and enjoyed the challenge, but can’t figure out what to do with the meta answer, which is close to something that works, but frustratingly not quite there.
UPDATE .. got some pointers from @rjy and tweaked it to finish!
Last edited by HeadinHome on Wed Jan 22, 2025 8:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
We start with 13 valiant solvers who managed to penetrate the enigma of this puzzle!
Last edited by benchen71 on Thu Jan 23, 2025 12:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
It turns out there is a reason no one has tried to make a meta puzzle like this one: because it doesn't work, at least in a way that's fair to solvers! I thought I had it worked out, but I clearly didn't think things through as thoroughly as I should have. Mea culpa! For those of you struggling with this beast of a puzzle, here are some nudges:
1. There's a hint in the grid: D. Someone along for the ride (and what 5 squares contain) = PASSENGER
2. That said, you might have had trouble fitting that 9-letter word into an 8-letter space.
3. 5 squares contain a rebus of 2 letters. But this is where I messed up: it turns out that there are quite a few squares where each rebus could reasonably go. I *thought* that putting them in a band corner would alleviate that problem, so that's where you will need to focus your attention. But that still gives you two options per rebus!
4. You will need to use more than just the passengers to get the meta answer!
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
markhr wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 5:49 pm
Submitted and confirmed. That was much tougher than it looked.
Great challenge, Ben!
... and much tougher than I had intended. Sorry!
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
edestlin wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 4:34 pm
Phew that was a brutally tough grid to crack. Nice work, Ben!
You are too kind. It wasn't supposed to be that brutal!
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
I had the trouble you mention in the nudges… but your idea at nudge #3 does make it a bit more do-able! I really enjoyed the grid challenge, and nearly got the meta even with the extra unintended complexities. Keep doing these!
Haven’t gotten the meta yet, but I didn’t find the grid to be all that hard once I figured out the gimmick. I will say this, though: I’d rather have one of your “failures” than 10 of the same old same old. So keep trying new stuff because no matter what, it’ll be interesting!
If you like Rows Gardens check out my mini ones here: viewforum.php?f=41. Nudges are free on the off chance I’ve solved the meta.
Got it, but admit that I gave up on the grid. My brain just doesn't work well enough for the added complication. Cool idea though, thanks.
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
We're up to 18 now. By the way, I'm working on an apology meta that will come out when the answer to this puzzle is revealed.
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
The apology meta puzzle has been constructed. Coming soon!
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
There have been no further solvers, so here's the answer to "Along For The Ride":
As I said in an earlier post, this puzzle was far harder than I had intended. It turns out that each rebus could potentially be located in any one of the squares in the overlap between the row and the horizontal part of the relevant band. For example, in band B you could have had UN E S C O B R, U NE S C O B R, U N ES C O B R, U N E S CO B R, U N E S C OB R, or, as I had intended, U N E S C O BR. While it is possible for people to work through all of the available options to find the one combination that gave an intelligible string of letters (and some people clearly did do this), that was not my intention.
So, as an expression of my deepest contrition for having foisted such an unfair puzzle onto an unsuspecting MEOW-solving audience, here's an apology meta for you. It's entitled "Two's Company", partly because it's a companion to "Along For The Ride".
1. There's a hint in the grid: D. Me squished under the weight of your opprobrium whilst still remaining your Aussie friend, and what 3 squares have = FLATMATE
2. That's right, more rebuses!
3. Again, you will need to use more than just the flatmates to get the meta answer.
4. And once again in order to get the full title you will need to include another word related to "two".
Attachments
(759.23 KiB) Downloaded 74 times
Last edited by benchen71 on Tue Feb 04, 2025 4:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta!
Love these!
Cool idea though, thanks. 