MEOW #225 OK, Are We Even?

[Meg]

The cat hissed at me and told me to be more careful when following the path.

[hcbirker]

Cat's out! Nice one Tom!

[Berto]

The cat finally unraveled the entire ball of string and looks mighty pleased with himself. Unlike my wife who wonders what on earth took me so long…

[rjy]

I was a tester for this, across the pond on vacation right now, so I’m anxious to get a chance to re-solve it, but am so happy to see the great comments for this one. It was impressive to see first-hand the work and re-work and re-re-work that went into this one, and while DrTom is quick to credit the testers, we’re just on the sidelines while he works his magic, sometimes having to prune away some really terrific clues.

If you’re sitting on the fence, do give this one a spin!

[benchen71]

Cat's out. I'm in the bus driving back to school at the end of my canoeing camp. Fun puzzle, DrTom.

[DrTom]

MUCH better than my last attempt:

1 eleanor48 
2 Pair O Ducks 
3 Moreo5 
4 Hector 
5 imontoo 
6 Darth 
7 Dave C 
8 kymike 
9 I K Snamhcok 
10 boharr 
11 LarsCaine 
12 Jaclyn 
13 hoover 
14 woozy 
15 Cindy Heisler 
16 MatthewL 
17 Meg 
18 Cindy Weatherman 
19 markhr 
20 Tyrpmom 
21 Tim 
22 heidi 
23 Berto 
24 SJMcK 
25 Gutman 

That first day total is more than all week for Slight Changes and it is getting some very nice comments from the Muggle community. Thanks folks!

[DrTom]

Whoops a PM solve, almost missed it since I usually find them on Crosshare, but this was from our vacationing Aussie so ....

26 benchen71

[HeadinHome]

another fairly easy one I tried to make too hard. But there was a big flashing something that just made so much sense with the title! Dr. Tom had to guide me to the right path, and the rest, as my calculus teacher used to say, was algebra.

[DrTom]

another fairly easy one I tried to make too hard. But there was a big flashing something that just made so much sense with the title! Dr. Tom had to guide me to the right path, and the rest, as my calculus teacher used to say, was algebra.

Too much humility...essentially what I did was to say, "ignore the glaring herring and now read the title again"

I'm glad you got even! It kind of tied into your WAG on Crosshare didn't it!

T

[lbray53]

Wow! Great mechanism. The cat’s MEOW.

[DCBilly]

another fairly easy one I tried to make too hard. But there was a big flashing something that just made so much sense with the title! Dr. Tom had to guide me to the right path, and the rest, as my calculus teacher used to say, was algebra.

Too much humility...essentially what I did was to say, "ignore the glaring herring and now read the title again"

I'm glad you got even! It kind of tied into your WAG on Crosshare didn't it!

T

Thanks! Once I ignored the glaring red herring and read the title again, I was able to find the path.

[DrTom]

Wow! Great mechanism. The cat’s MEOW.

I appreciate the comments and also your help as a tester on so many puzzles (not this one, but certainly lots you will see!)

T

[DrTom]

The cat hissed at me and told me to be more careful when following the path.

Hiss back...then you'll be even!

Thanks Meg

[DrTom]

The cat finally unraveled the entire ball of string and looks mighty pleased with himself. Unlike my wife who wonders what on earth took me so long…

Isn't it amazing that you can look at something forever and finally see it, then show it to someone who says, "well there it is, you didn't see that?"

Matters not, you are on the board and have my thanks.

T

[DrTom]

I was a tester for this, across the pond on vacation right now, so I’m anxious to get a chance to re-solve it, but am so happy to see the great comments for this one. It was impressive to see first-hand the work and re-work and re-re-work that went into this one, and while DrTom is quick to credit the testers, we’re just on the sidelines while he works his magic, sometimes having to prune away some really terrific clues.

If you’re sitting on the fence, do give this one a spin!

Well, believe me it was you who gave me the biggest kick in the pants towards doing it the way it was done. I was going to settle for OK, but you insisted on GOOD! Thanks, and Muggles, listen to the man, give it a try!!!!!

T

[DrTom]

another fairly easy one I tried to make too hard. But there was a big flashing something that just made so much sense with the title! Dr. Tom had to guide me to the right path, and the rest, as my calculus teacher used to say, was algebra.

Too much humility...essentially what I did was to say, "ignore the glaring herring and now read the title again"

I'm glad you got even! It kind of tied into your WAG on Crosshare didn't it!

T

Thanks! Once I ignored the glaring red herring and read the title again, I was able to find the path.

There once was a man who’s daring
Involved tracking down a red herring
That way was too stinky
The path far too kinky
But then he found the right bearing


T

[Cinny]

Solved this morning, but forgot to comment. This was an even better meta than I remembered. Just as much fun to solve the second time. It seems by the comments that others enjoyed it as much as I did. Great construction. Thanks, Dr Tom!

[DrTom]

Solved this morning, but forgot to comment. This was an even better meta than I remembered. Just as much fun to solve the second time. It seems by the comments that others enjoyed it as much as I did. Great construction. Thanks, Dr Tom!

Well, like most children, it grows over time, sometimes so much so that you hardly recognize it. You saw it in its youth!

Thanks for circling back.

T

[DrTom]

Well sorry to say, only a few more solvers:

28 rjy
29 lbray53
30 Patrick P
31 DCBilly
32 CPJohnson
33 Cinny

I don't usually get the 70+ that SSS and MMM do, but that is kind of a low number for what is a much less difficult one than my last tragic attempt. Maybe it's just that nudges are needed?

Nudges:

OK, I got busy and missed the Friday AM nudge deadline, but better late than never:

With a title like that there are one of two places you probably should have started

With a bunch of numbered boxes, what might even mean?

If you follow that line of thinking you may get to the next step!

Length, what can be even in length? I mean you don’t have an answer yet, just the clue and I’d never make you count letters.

Use that information and see if you can spell anything out.

[whimsy]

She liked the look of nudge #2 --

Thanks for an impressive puzzle, DrTom!