SHINY? That was my wild guess.
I was surprised that HOPE was in the clue and the answer, in a way, this seems to violate general crossword principles.
SHINY? That was my wild guess.
Same (HP) here. Another muggle pointed out the O and E only after I submitted.hoover wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:14 amI found and submitted STONY, but I had only seen the letters as being sandwiched between H and P, and I spent way too much time after submitting trying to figure out what HP (Harry Potter? Hewlett Packard?) had to do with diamonds. It wasn't until the next day that I went back and found the O and E, thus spelling HOPE, which made the click.
As soon as I saw “Jewel Case” I thought of CD cases ( called jewel case) so I immediately looked for the letters CD on the grid to see if they were encased by letters. No! But then I saw H-P in the long clues and googled “ CD cases”. Guess what? Hp ( Hewlett-Packard ) makes CD Cases. So I found the letters STONY “encased” in H-p “jewel cases” and had an answer that I could justify. My mechanism just didn’t feel too Gaffney, hence the not 100%. But I submitted and found out later from Dplass about the “Hope” connection. Funny, I had seen the “o” above and the “e” below the answer letters but never put them with the “h-p” since I was sure the meta related to CD cases!!!hoover wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:14 amI found and submitted STONY, but I had only seen the letters as being sandwiched between H and P, and I spent way too much time after submitting trying to figure out what HP (Harry Potter? Hewlett Packard?) had to do with diamonds. It wasn't until the next day that I went back and found the O and E, thus spelling HOPE, which made the click.
There really isn't anything to explain since there is no "rule" that says the long answers HAVE to be involved in the META answer. There may have been a little bit of constructor "misdirection" here to keep it from being WAY too obvious, but Matt also gave LOTS of hints at the mechanismlittlepigeon wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:46 amI’m similarly interested in hearing about this. While I should obviously have noticed the HOPEs, it’s exactly this^ kind of . . . *inconsistency* isn’t the word I’m looking for, but I’m writing this on my way to bed, so it’s the best I can do for now . . . that has me feeling so frustrated with these metas sometimes. (Also, when the answer only loosely fits with the rest of the meta and/or when the answer’s definition conflicts with the way it’s presented/defined via the meta; I’m still a little bitter over “paragon” from earlier this summer.)rosiegirl wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:13 am I was fixated, also, on the four 2-word answers and needed a helpful push away from them. But 4 of the 5 letters in the puzzle answer were in those 2-word answers. I am hoping that someone can explain the significance (if any) of the last letter not being a part of a 2 word answer.
This whole thing is really a shame. SReh26 is absolutely correct, all the things going on in our world have put many on edge. Trust me I am in healthcare and have some very STRONG opinions that often creep into my personal level of "OH YEAH", BUT there is one place where I can come and be free of those things, and that is here!BrianMac wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 10:15 pmBye.fuggedabowdit wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 8:45 pm After having been a member of the Muggle community for some time now, and occassionally following and laughing along with some of the banter and give and take between members in the form of puns, poems, and other suggestive offerings regarding the current puzzles, I am offended that my use of humor in suggesting that a meta solution was easy in some way as to be construed as a spoiler, and then to have my comments removed as such is redicuious. It was not even a close call and was probably removed for it's completely uncontroversial subject matter that did not quite agree with the staid views of the complainer(s) or moderator??
So I guess it's "Adieu, XWORD MUGGLES FORUM" A little uptight for me.
Don't bother commenting as you will just be talking to yourselves.
Fuggedabowdit
Dang. Are these even any fun for you guys, anymore? I find that level of insight mind boggling!Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 8:27 am My first thought was that "case" in the title indicated that the mechanism would involve some kind of "surrounding" (as in the classic ENVELOPE meta from a few years back). DIAMOND's presence in the middle indicated that the "surround" would be a diamond. I started looking in the grid and -- there it was.
I think he/she showed some peevishness and thin-skin by leaving that way. it was not a big deal, even the removal of the post is not a big deal and Fuggedabowdit decided to make this something about him/herself. God speed FuggedabowditDrTom wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 8:22 amThis whole thing is really a shame. SReh26 is absolutely correct, all the things going on in our world have put many on edge. Trust me I am in healthcare and have some very STRONG opinions that often creep into my personal level of "OH YEAH", BUT there is one place where I can come and be free of those things, and that is here!BrianMac wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 10:15 pmBye.fuggedabowdit wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 8:45 pm After having been a member of the Muggle community for some time now, and occassionally following and laughing along with some of the banter and give and take between members in the form of puns, poems, and other suggestive offerings regarding the current puzzles, I am offended that my use of humor in suggesting that a meta solution was easy in some way as to be construed as a spoiler, and then to have my comments removed as such is redicuious. It was not even a close call and was probably removed for it's completely uncontroversial subject matter that did not quite agree with the staid views of the complainer(s) or moderator??
So I guess it's "Adieu, XWORD MUGGLES FORUM" A little uptight for me.
Don't bother commenting as you will just be talking to yourselves.
Fuggedabowdit
I know of no fairer or tolerant individual than our site administrator BrianMac. I echo the comments of the Muggle that pointed out how Brian has to weed through the posts (and given our loquaciousness that can be VERY time consuming) and probably ends up spoiling many of his own solves. He does this unpaid and unappreciated in many respects. I have also had a post removed at one point, and when I asked why it was explained in calm, reasonable terms. I'm not sure if I agreed or not (and evaluating based on my own critical examination of my need to be correct I'd probably say no) but the argument was compelling enough that I accepted it. There is always time to be clever or funny or even humble in the post mortem, but there is seldom a way to retract venom and anger.
I'm sorry Fuggedabowdit felt compelled to leave, but it would appear that he/she selected animus over amicability (such a shame, amicability comes first in the dictionary!) so it probably was just a matter of time.