"Three by Three" - November 5, 2021

[Franklin.Bluth]

Wow. Brutal. Ingenious construction. I truly thought I was lost at sea, but plugged away with just...one...more attempt and finally straggled to shore. Need a stiff drink to forget that harrowing swim.

[GTIJohnny]

Ashore with a nudge! It still took a decent amount of brainpower even so.

[DrTom]

I've read the discussion--what's the final consensus?
Do "nudged" solvers get to submit?

Of course you can submit. Why do you think no one reveals their real name here? It's because when they announce the winner, people won't be able to identify the beneficiary of a nudge!!!!!

Oh golly I hope you are wrong, and I believe you are. I have never met a nicer, more honest group and honorable group of people in my life. NOBODY I know who asks for a nudge, if it is anything except a teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy, miniscule nudge, would even think of submitting. If that were the case I might rethink my propensity to unrestrainedly send out help. I assume that, like me, at that point people just want to know the way home and are not focused on "winning".

Trust me, you "won" the minute you started to post on this forum and got the assistance and community of the board. Truthfully the Muggle have made me a better person.

[ship4u]

I've read the discussion--what's the final consensus?
Do "nudged" solvers get to submit?

Of course you can submit. Why do you think no one reveals their real name here? It's because when they announce the winner, people won't be able to identify the beneficiary of a nudge!!!!!

Oh golly I hope you are wrong, and I believe you are. I have never met a nicer, more honest group and honorable group of people in my life. NOBODY I know who asks for a nudge, if it is anything except a teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy, miniscule nudge, would even think of submitting. If that were the case I might rethink my propensity to unrestrainedly send out help. I assume that, like me, at that point people just want to know the way home and are not focused on "winning".

Trust me, you "won" the minute you started to post on this forum and got the assistance and community of the board. Truthfully the Muggle have made me a better person.

It was a joke!!! I thought that the smiling emoji indicates a joke. Sorry for the misunderstanding!

[Kris Zacharias]

Brain on fire, down to the wire, but on shore!

[Colin]

Of course you can submit. Why do you think no one reveals their real name here? It's because when they announce the winner, people won't be able to identify the beneficiary of a nudge!!!!!

Oh golly I hope you are wrong, and I believe you are. I have never met a nicer, more honest group and honorable group of people in my life. NOBODY I know who asks for a nudge, if it is anything except a teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy, miniscule nudge, would even think of submitting. If that were the case I might rethink my propensity to unrestrainedly send out help. I assume that, like me, at that point people just want to know the way home and are not focused on "winning".

Trust me, you "won" the minute you started to post on this forum and got the assistance and community of the board. Truthfully the Muggle have made me a better person.

It was a joke!!! I thought that the smiling emoji indicates a joke. Sorry for the misunderstanding!

Yeah, right! First question I ask a stranger I happen to get paired up with at the golf course is: “So, do you submit if you get a nudge?” I couldn’t possibly spend 4 hours playing golf (a game of ultimate integrity) and being nice to someone who did that!”
(Note: this is a joke with tongue in cheek!… can’t find an emoji for that )

[LadyBird]

I am ashore. A kind sailor threw me a life buoy and gave a tug or two to get me swimming in the right direction. No mug submission for me but it was fun moving along the solving route. I fear it was another KAS 5 for me--solvable only with that nudge.

[tiagomeunome]

i completed the grid when it came out, but im still lost at sea.. these puzzles back to back have been a real stumper!

[michaelm]

Still on the boat.
Just adding to the supply chain problem.
Have a great week everyone and hope a Muggle gets the coveted email tomorrow.

[KaiS]

Hey everyone!

I'm new here, and after being stuck on the ship last week, I was hoping for a nudge for this week's meta. I'm truly stumped and have nothing to offer as a lead.

Thank you, and I hope to be able to hop ashore more often.

[TeamDoubleTow]

Of course you can submit. Why do you think no one reveals their real name here? It's because when they announce the winner, people won't be able to identify the beneficiary of a nudge!!!!!

Oh golly I hope you are wrong, and I believe you are. I have never met a nicer, more honest group and honorable group of people in my life. NOBODY I know who asks for a nudge, if it is anything except a teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy, miniscule nudge, would even think of submitting. If that were the case I might rethink my propensity to unrestrainedly send out help. I assume that, like me, at that point people just want to know the way home and are not focused on "winning".

Trust me, you "won" the minute you started to post on this forum and got the assistance and community of the board. Truthfully the Muggle have made me a better person.

It was a joke!!! I thought that the smiling emoji indicates a joke. Sorry for the misunderstanding!

I totally read it as a joke especially since I think posting that one has won a mug is something we all hope to do and are willing to shed our anonymity for.

[Cap'n Rick]

Well, I needed SeaTow on this one, but I am finally ashore. No mug submission for the Cap'n this week.

[Bob cruise director]

Hi

We seem to get into this discussion about every couple of months about nudges and submitting and winning a $5 mug.

Being a record keeper and a nerd, here is the impact on what we are talking about.

There are about 1000 right answers each week.   And the ratio of muggles on shore to the right answers submitted to the WSJ is about 15%.   And if the number of muggles who are on shore who got a significant nudge is 25% of those claiming to be on shore (the 25% is very high), that means that 37 muggles submitted when you believe that they should not have submitted.

So if you submit, you have a chance of winning on an average week of about .100%.  So if those 37 muggles don't submit, the probability of you winning a mug would increase to .104%. (yes an increase of 4/1000 of 1%)

Which to me is not significant enough to get in an uproar about.

[Inkwisitif]

It's crazy to me that some people are saying this one isn't as hard as CLOWN from last week. I am REALLY struggling with this one, I am super eager to see how the answer is because I am running on empty on ideas here!

[mheberlingx100]

On shore after help from my sister-in-law. Honestly, it took me a few minutes to even understand her hint. Not a chance I would have gotten this on my own, so not submitting this week.

[WSJosh]

At sea

[NDStegs]

I feel bad asking for another nudge. But if anyone can give us a nudge, it would be appreciated.

[woozy]

It's crazy to me that some people are saying this one isn't as hard as CLOWN from last week. I am REALLY struggling with this one, I am super eager to see how the answer is because I am running on empty on ideas here!

well, one thing I notice is that when you don't know the answer and it's impossible and you think there can't be an answer and then.... you figure it out, or you a told what the answer is, at first you are amazed and think there is no way anyone could have gotten but then as time passes you start thinking it is more reasonable and fairer as time goes by.

For the first 24 hours I had nothing. THen I stumbled onto it and was utterly shocked. I posted immediately. I described it a "perverse", "depraved" "beyond the realm of sanity". 24 hours later seeing folk post and saying it seemed impossible and they were giving up. I posted that sure it was hard but it was "doable"; "stick to it" "it can be done. And then we come to today. I'm giving nudges and telling people "I'm sure you'll get it" and "this is a good one but it's all there". It's "straightforward if you keep a cool head and don't get distracted".

Hindsight is 20-20 and memory is a fiction that we write to make ourselves look good.

[auee89]

Hi

We seem to get into this discussion about every couple of months about nudges and submitting and winning a $5 mug.

Being a record keeper and a nerd, here is the impact on what we are talking about.

There are about 1000 right answers each week.   And the ratio of muggles on shore to the right answers submitted to the WSJ is about 15%.   And if the number of muggles who are on shore who got a significant nudge is 25% of those claiming to be on shore (the 25% is very high), that means that 37 muggles submitted when you believe that they should not have submitted.

So if you submit, you have a chance of winning on an average week of about .100%.  So if those 37 muggles don't submit, the probability of you winning a mug would increase to .104%. (yes an increase of 4/1000 of 1%)

Which to me is not significant enough to get in an uproar about.

As a pocket protector lawyer (I.e. double nerd) I concur.

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening

Our final count is 67 on the ship (very high) and 64 on the shore (very low). Congratulations on those who figured this one out. A very clever and creative one from Matt.

And we have a couple of new muggles since our last report - KaiS and Inkwisitif and JerryF - welcome to the group.