"The Five W's" - November 12, 2021

[CPJohnson]

Tired of trying to read the minds of meta creators. Still Lost At Sea.

[Darth]

On Naboo. Longer landing journey than I wanted.... after attempting "warp speed" and entertaining too many "worm holes" (I even considered changing my named to Darth "Wader" ), I realized I needed to slow down and just ride the "waves"... Finally here, with my light saber in the sand!

[Pardon my "wacky weird ways"... my madness isn't intended to lead or mislead. haha]

[Scott M]

I felt like I was pretty good at these. Now, after three straight weeks of utter cluelessness, my confidence is shot. I'm hoping these past few are an anomaly in terms of difficulty, and that we haven't permanently moved on to PhD level metas.

[TeaJenny]

I've got nothing. The dog's got nothing. Even the rabbits are like WT[H]??? I'd grab a drink from Isaac, but I can't even see the bar from this vantage point.

[ChrisKochmanski]

Ashore!

Finally!

I had plenty of help, so I won’t enter for the mug.

Close to solving but not quite yet there, my wife, who rarely gets involved in my puzzling, took a look and suggested … well, I don’t want to give anything away. Lesson learned: Ask her sooner!

Terrific puzzle!

Mike should know that anything inspiring so much amusing forum chatter deserves a place in the meta pantheon!

[Bob cruise director]

Friends, this afternoon's Zoom Group Solve, although great fun, proved pretty much fruitless in terms of meta solving. We decided to break for supper and much-needed brain rest and will reconvene at 1 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow (Saturday). Please join us! Just click on the Muggle Zoom Room icon at the top of this page. And if you are one of the elite who have already solved, you can still be on the call as a silent observer. See you then!

Or a silent laugher chuckling at our foibles.

I hope I wasn’t either too much of a hinter or too much of a gloater Fridays just usually work better than Tuesdays for me.

When you are in a leaky lifeboat and someone comes along with a pump, you don't care if they go overboard with hints or gloats - which you did not do.

[krf]

Thought I was going to fail yet another week, but now I have one-in-a-row.

[Georgeall]

I have an answer that I'm not very happy about, but it definitely fits the clueing. When the metas are as difficult and obtuse as this one, I think there will be many justifiable solutions from the many rabbit holes that have been pursued.

[mheberlingx100]

I may have an answer, but it feels iffy. Not sure if I’m pounding a round peg into a square hole in order to get an answer.

[Kris Zacharias]

On the ship still. Last night I had a dream about how to solve the puzzle, but when I woke up, it made no sense.

[CPJohnson]

Solved, thanks to a Professional Nudger, who kept saying, "Nope, that's not the right path. Try something else." Which, IMO, is worth a great deal. I usually try the same rabbit holes over and over again, thinking i might have missed something. But I finally did find the right one, after being assured that the ones I had been in were worth only abandoning.

[woozy]

I feel the last three puzzles (this one included) haven't really given enough hints to give us feedback our attempts are on the right track and not rabbit holes. There's a dozen ways to interpret "the five W's" and to muck about with but unless you trip on the right one and the actual answers falls on your head you'll never know if you are close. These hints don't have to be easy and can be hidden but there should be something other than the answer itself that suggest a trail is better than another.

I agree with Joe Ross the is so simple it is brilliant, but I agree more with Abide that it is unsatisfying. I'm not sure I'd say it isn't crisp. Walking on a sidewalk and having it collapse like balsa wood under your foot is "crisp" but not in the way a satisfying BLT is crisp.

[Deb F]

Man. Three weeks in a row holding down a barstool with Isaac. But, I must say, it's nice to be in so much good company. Only on pg. 6 on Saturday morning???? Yikes. Good luck, Muggles.

[Bob cruise director]

Good morning muggles. A lot of battering and bruising happening. I am assured that the next few will be more solvable.

We have one new muggle - krf who we welcome

So far we have 43 on the ship and 19 on the shore - many of who won't be submitting because the life savers have been very busy

On the ship are

Zach
mrmd
MatthewL
barney
HeadinHome
dplass
Tina
hunkra
Josh
C=64
SReh26
JeanneC
Jace54
Ergcat
streroto
JaneGummy
RobM
Homer
auee89
benchen71
ship4u
Joepickett
lbray
minimuggle
Gman
Powers2020
ladybird
hoover
femullen
kfahey
EVJ
Toby
mattythewsjpuzzler
John M
katnahat
technohumanisteach
TeaJenny
Scott M
Kris Zacharias
Mike H
Georgeall
meowmiao71
Moi


And very spread out on the shore are

BEACHEDWHALE
Joe R
Kay
Wendy
whimsy
Meg
Cindy
oldjudge
boharr
Eric P
Dannyvee
sharkicicles
Peter
darth
Bill
krf
Chris
woozy
CPJohnson

[Dannyvee]

I may have an answer, but it feels iffy. Not sure if I’m pounding a round peg into a square hole in order to get an answer.

I’d say the answer is a 100%er

[minou1808]

I need a hint for this one. I'm seeing waves everywhere but I don't think those are the Ws I'm looking for.

[ajk]

So far we have 43 on the ship and 19 on the shore - many of who won't be submitting because the life savers have been very busy

Just to add one to the wrong count, the bar referenced below is on the ship.

Firmly ensconced at the bar, spending down my vast stash of loyalty points acquired over the past several weeks.

[Barney]

Good morning muggles. A lot of battering and bruising happening. I am assured that the next few will be more solvable.

We have one new muggle - krf who we welcome

So far we have 43 on the ship and 19 on the shore - many of who won't be submitting because the life savers have been very busy

On the ship are

Zach
mrmd
MatthewL
barney
HeadinHome
dplass
Tina
hunkra
Josh
C=64
SReh26
JeanneC
Jace54
Ergcat
streroto
JaneGummy
RobM
Homer
auee89
benchen71
ship4u
Joepickett
lbray
minimuggle
Gman
Powers2020
ladybird
hoover
femullen
kfahey
EVJ
Toby
mattythewsjpuzzler
John M
katnahat
technohumanisteach
TeaJenny
Scott M
Kris Zacharias
Mike H
Georgeall
meowmiao71
Moi


And very spread out on the shore are

BEACHEDWHALE
Joe R
Kay
Wendy
whimsy
Meg
Cindy
oldjudge
boharr
Eric P
Dannyvee
sharkicicles
Peter
darth
Bill
krf
Chris
woozy
CPJohnson

#4 on the ship! I’ll count that as a score.

[TheCatt]

We are at the bar. Found a couple of rabbit holes, but couldn't find a path to anything.

Will grovel for a nudge.

[Wendy Walker]

Oh, Bob, I am most definitely still at sea. My first answer was premature and oh so very wrong!