An excellent puzzle written by one of the innovators of the meta crossword format. It comes out every Friday at noon and increases in difficulty throughout the month. Available for modest subscription (worth every cent) here: www.xwordcontest.com
ky-mike wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 7:57 pm
I'm still working on it, grasping for air. I see most of what I think I need to see, but one item is throwing me off. Haven't a clue how to backsolve for that one item, either.
On the road the next couple of days, so hopefully post enlightenment will kick in (or some bourbon will clear my mind fog) tonight.
Riding in the car, after figuring out the item throwing me off, I caught my breath and saw the light.
Solved with a nudge over the finish. Yes Will has made it to the big time, and he has acquired a sneaky streak in the process. Great puzzle though, must have taken some planning.
Woo Hoo, in at 260! another 100 and I'd have turned myself completely around!
Oh, and this is a question I ask myself often:
Last edited by DrTom on Sun Jul 25, 2021 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
I’ve submitted, awaiting confirmation. Seeing a fair number of wrong answers, I decided to sleep on this one. It still seems solid, so fingers crossed I didn’t miss something.
Beam me up, after a generous nudge. Working on limited time this week (due to visiting friends in Amherst ironically enough), but doubt I would have gotten it sans nudge even with full time.
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Beamed up after having a pique experience when my solving partner again had to push me up to the launch pad.
I thought this was an excellent meta. Well done!
Oh my goodness! I sent a nudge request and then immediately solved. (I hope). I was able to delete my request. So this happened for both the WSJ and MGCC within a half hour. I guess I should type up my requests sooner.
CONFIRMED. Beamed aboard overnight. When does Matt get to sleep between helping to take care of Ada and looking after the leaderboard?
My avatar proves that it is sometimes better to be lucky than good!
I really struggled with this one. With the help of Google, I was able to see Step 1 right away, but from there I ran into several brick walls and filled up lots of paper with notes. Finally this morning I was aimless doodling Step 1 info for the 19th time and suddenly the answer jumped out at me, and I am please to finally see my name on the board.
I've been on both sides of the "this is so easy!" versus "it bums me out when people say it's easy when I'm struggling so much" divide. For this one I'm solidly in the second camp in a way that makes me want to be more diplomatic those times when I am lucky enough to see it right away and get to post on page 1.