"Build Your Brand" - May 8, 2020
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Here I am (and thanks for the sympathetic explanation, Bob).
This was one of our toughest contests in a while! An ingenious Matt Gaffney multi-step treasure hunt that wound through some tricky thickets along the way. We had 802 entries, with an unusually low 37% success rate. A big response (144) for COSTCO (because they sell curtains and toasters and cereal? or some other reason?). Plus some other big box stores (same reason?): WALMART (49), HOME DEPOT (13), TARGET (12), and LOWES (5). Also TESLA (8), LEGO (6), GENERAL MOTORS (5), and many many others.
Congrats to this week's winner: Suzanne Condron of Pearland, Tex.! Stay safe, solvers!
This was one of our toughest contests in a while! An ingenious Matt Gaffney multi-step treasure hunt that wound through some tricky thickets along the way. We had 802 entries, with an unusually low 37% success rate. A big response (144) for COSTCO (because they sell curtains and toasters and cereal? or some other reason?). Plus some other big box stores (same reason?): WALMART (49), HOME DEPOT (13), TARGET (12), and LOWES (5). Also TESLA (8), LEGO (6), GENERAL MOTORS (5), and many many others.
Congrats to this week's winner: Suzanne Condron of Pearland, Tex.! Stay safe, solvers!
- Wendy Walker
- Posts: 1963
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Mike, COSTCO was going to be my WAG if I didn't find the meta. 4D, INN, could be converted into a company name, CNN, by adding a C. 18D, UPA --> UPS. 7D, ART --> ATT. 8D, RIA --> RCA. That made CSTC, and believe me I spent hours trying to find the missing "o's!MikeMillerwsj wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 10:50 am A big response (144) for COSTCO (because they sell curtains and toasters and cereal? or some other reason?).
Huge congrats to our winner Suzanne!
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
- TPS
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What I take from this is that for all the hullabaloo about nudges only about 250 people submitted the correct answer and the winner isn’t even someone I recognize from this site. So what that tells me is that the people who are getting nudges and saying they are not submitting - probably aren’t. And even with the low turnout and low % correct your odds of winning the Mug still aren’t very good.MikeMillerwsj wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 10:50 am We had 802 entries, with an unusually low 37% success rate.
Congrats to this week's winner: Suzanne Condron of Pearland, Tex.
So maybe everyone should just have fun with it.
- Bob cruise director
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Congratulations to Suzanne. I do not have her in my muggles list as either a WSJ subscriber or having her name as a blog name, however there are a growing number of muggles who I don't have their real name.TPS wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 11:10 amWhat I take from this is that for all the hullabaloo about nudges only about 250 people submitted the correct answer and the winner isn’t even someone I recognize from this site. So what that tells me is that the people who are getting nudges and saying they are not submitting - probably aren’t. And even with the low turnout and low % correct your odds of winning the Mug still aren’t very good.MikeMillerwsj wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 10:50 am We had 802 entries, with an unusually low 37% success rate.
Congrats to this week's winner: Suzanne Condron of Pearland, Tex.
So maybe everyone should just have fun with it.
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
Cruise Director
- TPS
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Well hopefully someone tells her about the site and she creates an account to at least take a bow!
- BarbaraK
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Last week's results were posted earlier that usual. Here they are:Joepickett wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 10:00 am Did I miss the winner and results for last week? I thought they are posted here by some time on Monday. I searched the posts but could not find anything.
forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=381&p=19816#p19816
(I didn't actually scroll through all of that topic; I took a shortcut by looking up Mike Miller and his post.)
- LadyBird
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I see that the difficulty rating on this puzzle is a 4. If this one is a 4, then I'm not sure that I want to see a 5!
- Wendy Walker
- Posts: 1963
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:44 pm
- Location: Unionville, PA
"5" for me was the one where you had to know that dollar bills had letters on them that indicated at which mint they were printed.
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
- Joe Ross
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FWIW, coins do, too!Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 12:49 pm ...dollar bills had letters on them that indicated at which mint they were printed.
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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
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- TPS
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^^^ I knew this but if this was somehow the key to solving a meta there is no way I would ever get it. The limit of my range when it comes to solving metas extends about as far as knowing state capitals.
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- Cindy
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I know exactly where I was sitting when I solved the dollar bill one. I doubt if I know where I was for any of the others.Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 12:49 pm"5" for me was the one where you had to know that dollar bills had letters on them that indicated at which mint they were printed.
- Bird Lives
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I went back and checked.
Puzzle People (aka Yma Sumac) had 96 correct entries out of 357 -- 27%.
Build Your Brand 297 of 802 -- 36%.
Looks like there are a lot more meta-heads around now than a year and a half ago.
Jay
- Wendy Walker
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Cindy, I am LOL-ing because I know EXACTLY how you feel! That divine moment when it all comes together!Cindy wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 1:32 pmI know exactly where I was sitting when I solved the dollar bill one. I doubt if I know where I was for any of the others.Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 12:49 pm"5" for me was the one where you had to know that dollar bills had letters on them that indicated at which mint they were printed.
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
- Bob cruise director
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The all time low was our famous Pageant (Play Grounds) in December 2017 at 13% (242 out of 1863)Bird Lives wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 2:14 pmI went back and checked.
Puzzle People (aka Yma Sumac) had 96 correct entries out of 357 -- 27%.
Build Your Brand 297 of 802 -- 36%.
Looks like there are a lot more meta-heads around now than a year and a half ago.
That was followed by
Puzzle People as you mentioned
Mismatch in August 2017 at 33% (337 out of 1022)
Toybox in December 2017 at 33% (98 out of 296)
What Not to Do in March 2020 at 36% (571 out of 1587) lots of hail Mary's there
Go Down For the Count in March 2017 at 37% (334 out of 907)
Marking Time in July 2018 at 37% (130 out of 352)
This week as you mentioned
Sound Investment in February 2017 at 38% (212 out of 558)
And there were 11 more below 50%
That is 21 out of 211 where we scored below 50%. So it is not uncommon for Matt/Mike/Marie to throw a toughie at us about every 10 weeks. They would have to indicate whether it is planned or not.
And yes, there are a lot more of us crazies around. The number of submissions has increased from 700 per week four years ago to 1500 per week now. However the percentage correct has stayed around 75% (long term average) pretty consistently.
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
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- BarbaraK
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And? Do tell. Don’t leave us hanging:)Cindy wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 1:32 pmI know exactly where I was sitting when I solved the dollar bill one. I doubt if I know where I was for any of the others.Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 12:49 pm
"5" for me was the one where you had to know that dollar bills had letters on them that indicated at which mint they were printed.
I actually remember that one too for some reason. I was on an airliner. I made my husband pull out his wallet so I could look at his bills. Still had to wait til I got home and could google to finish it though.
- Bob cruise director
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And also some more useless factoids about the metas
Total submissions to WSJ for 211 weeks
226,049
Total number correct for 211 weeks
177,421
Highest percentages correct (note that we only get percentages to the nearest whole number and not the exact number correct unless the percentage is to a decimal)
September 2016 Title search 98.9% (1380 out of 1395)
February 2019 Just Say the word 98%
February 2018 What's The Difference 98%
October 2018 No Presents, Please 98%
August 2018 Mind the Gap 98%
November 2019 That's A Plus 97%
June 2017 One, Two, Three Four 97%
December 2017 Connect the Dots 97%
And the longest answer was (note, I have as the answer for December 15, 2017 "Sue Grafton, Peril, Wasted" - does anyone remember what that means?)
August 2019 - 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Second place tie
October 2019 Molten Lava Cake (including spaces)
August 2016 Ice Cream Sundae
The shortest answer was
November 2018 - W - a record that won't be broken
Second Place Tie
November 2016 - Ale
January 2019 - QED
June 2016 - BLT
Total submissions to WSJ for 211 weeks
226,049
Total number correct for 211 weeks
177,421
Highest percentages correct (note that we only get percentages to the nearest whole number and not the exact number correct unless the percentage is to a decimal)
September 2016 Title search 98.9% (1380 out of 1395)
February 2019 Just Say the word 98%
February 2018 What's The Difference 98%
October 2018 No Presents, Please 98%
August 2018 Mind the Gap 98%
November 2019 That's A Plus 97%
June 2017 One, Two, Three Four 97%
December 2017 Connect the Dots 97%
And the longest answer was (note, I have as the answer for December 15, 2017 "Sue Grafton, Peril, Wasted" - does anyone remember what that means?)
August 2019 - 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Second place tie
October 2019 Molten Lava Cake (including spaces)
August 2016 Ice Cream Sundae
The shortest answer was
November 2018 - W - a record that won't be broken
Second Place Tie
November 2016 - Ale
January 2019 - QED
June 2016 - BLT
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
Cruise Director
- Cindy
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BarbaraK wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 4:49 pmAnd? Do tell. Don’t leave us hanging:)Cindy wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 1:32 pmI know exactly where I was sitting when I solved the dollar bill one. I doubt if I know where I was for any of the others.Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 12:49 pm
"5" for me was the one where you had to know that dollar bills had letters on them that indicated at which mint they were printed.
I actually remember that one too for some reason. I was on an airliner. I made my husband pull out his wallet so I could look at his bills. Still had to wait til I got home and could google to finish it though.
I was in a restaurant and I made Rick take out his wallet.
- CPJohnson
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Here's the official explanation for the Sue Grafton puzzle. (I didn't solve that one.) Cynthia J
Cynthia
- MajordomoTom
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but why was Humphrey Bogart in that restaurant?
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.