Serves me right for taking a shortcut originally
Impressive construction, thanks.
MEOW #225 OK, Are We Even?
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ajk
- Posts: 1719
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- Location: Colorado
Nudge 2 told me to do a thing I hadn't thought of, which led me to a thing I had thought of, but executed poorly apparently.
Serves me right for taking a shortcut originally
Impressive construction, thanks.
Serves me right for taking a shortcut originally
Impressive construction, 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
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MikeyG
- Posts: 1923
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Got it, sans nudges! Of course, I did what Tom thought I would do first, and that took me on home. Well-constructed puzzle!
(Sorry if my jokes don't get a good "reception.")
(Sorry if my jokes don't get a good "reception.")
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KayW
- Moderator
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- Location: Chicago
Cat finally got out. I saw the.... first thing... right away and pre-nudges. But then had an incredible attack of stoopid and failed to apply what I found the right way. Finally got back to this today, and the answer just jumped out and bit me. A very impressive construction, Tom. Thanks!
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Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1964
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Awesome contruction, @DrTom! I may have to "borrow" your idea some day. 
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DrTom
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Feel free Cap, I've borrowed some from almost everyone!Cap'n Rick wrote: Sun Mar 23, 2025 10:27 am Awesome contruction, @DrTom! I may have to "borrow" your idea some day.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges IF ASKED; metas should be about fun, not frustration. PM me what you have done so far, because often you are closer than you think, and I will try to help you move along.
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DrTom
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Two more solvers:
39 Cap' Rick
40 Arty
Since there are still people solving I'll hold off the reveal until either Monday or, should people still be trying to solve it, Tuesday, the normal day for a reveal.
39 Cap' Rick
40 Arty
Since there are still people solving I'll hold off the reveal until either Monday or, should people still be trying to solve it, Tuesday, the normal day for a reveal.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges IF ASKED; metas should be about fun, not frustration. PM me what you have done so far, because often you are closer than you think, and I will try to help you move along.
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DrTom
- Posts: 4906
- Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2019 6:46 pm
- Location: Jacksonville, FL
Well I was hoping for a last minute rush of solvers but alas that did not even happen.
So, on with the reveal (sorry it was not out this AM, I got busy trying to create another meta and lost track of time)
This meta was very simple in that it told you exactly what to do, but being able to see it among everything else made it more difficult.
The title hints towards EVEN numbers, and many of you did exactly that, you started highlighting all the even numbers, but BOY were there a lot of them and initially it looked like gibberish until you had them all highlighted (see green – and sometimes two-toned – squares) and then it spelled out DO NOT LOOK HERE THE SECRET IS IN CLUE LENGTH. Well then what about clue length? Once again use the title, and look at the clues with an even number of words (pink or two-tone squares). They spell THE SCORE IS TIED, the meta answer to OK, Are We Even.
The simplicity of the mechanism, and the fact that many thought I could not pull this off, made it difficult. But 42 of you were able to release the poor trapped kitty and everyone seemed to like the puzzle.
So, on with the reveal (sorry it was not out this AM, I got busy trying to create another meta and lost track of time)
This meta was very simple in that it told you exactly what to do, but being able to see it among everything else made it more difficult.
The title hints towards EVEN numbers, and many of you did exactly that, you started highlighting all the even numbers, but BOY were there a lot of them and initially it looked like gibberish until you had them all highlighted (see green – and sometimes two-toned – squares) and then it spelled out DO NOT LOOK HERE THE SECRET IS IN CLUE LENGTH. Well then what about clue length? Once again use the title, and look at the clues with an even number of words (pink or two-tone squares). They spell THE SCORE IS TIED, the meta answer to OK, Are We Even.
The simplicity of the mechanism, and the fact that many thought I could not pull this off, made it difficult. But 42 of you were able to release the poor trapped kitty and everyone seemed to like the puzzle.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges IF ASKED; metas should be about fun, not frustration. PM me what you have done so far, because often you are closer than you think, and I will try to help you move along.
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benchen71
- Posts: 3399
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- Contact:
The squares playing double-duty would have made this puzzle doubly-difficult to construct. Kudos, @DrTom!!!
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!
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DrTom
- Posts: 4906
- Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2019 6:46 pm
- Location: Jacksonville, FL
You are correct sir, the number of iterations was almost surprising. But in the end it was a fun build.benchen71 wrote: Tue Mar 25, 2025 5:56 pm The squares playing double-duty would have made this puzzle doubly-difficult to construct. Kudos, @DrTom!!!
Thanks for your kind words and for solving.
T
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges IF ASKED; metas should be about fun, not frustration. PM me what you have done so far, because often you are closer than you think, and I will try to help you move along.