"Kangaroo" by Totally the Real and Not Fake Benchen71

Can you storm the castle by getting across the MOAT? A weekly meta crossword constructed by forum member Ben (aka benchen71). These metas range from relatively easy to more challenging, depending on how many Australianisms he puts in them! Puzzles are posted in a new thread every Tuesday, with nudges appearing on Saturdays, and the solution coming out on Mondays. (At least, that's the plan. Given he lives in Australia, and they are so far ahead of the US time-zone-wise, things may get posted early!)
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KayW
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#21

Post by KayW »

Submitted :cat2: :european_castle:
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madhatter5
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#22

Post by madhatter5 »

Gotta say the grid is amazing, absolutely MEOW-esque (except, you know, better) and although I have never read this particular author, he is now second on my reading list.

My cat is still stuck in the dark. Really want to rescue him but don't ask meow.
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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madhatter5
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#23

Post by madhatter5 »

And hahaha guess what now I'm confusing myself which subforum is which
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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Bbaack
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#24

Post by Bbaack »

This was a delightful and clever puzzle by the Not Fake Benchen71! Thanks for the mental exercise that hopefully burned a few calories so I can have an extra piece of pumpkin pie tomorrow guilt-free!
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hoover
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#25

Post by hoover »

I have no clue. I mean, I have a whole bunch of them, but they're not helping. I see a few words of category X and a few other words of category Y but I don't know whether they're just red herrings.
I don't have anything clever to say, but if I did, it would go here.
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lbray53
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#26

Post by lbray53 »

Are any spoilers coming?
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madhatter5
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#27

Post by madhatter5 »

Only because you asked, Larry :)

A kangaroo bounces around from place to place and you need to do likewise

Thats really all I can think of without giving the game away, if anyone has a good nudge or two feel free to post them
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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woozy
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#28

Post by woozy »

It's not "I come from a Land Down Under" nor is it "I C Light" by Crooked Colours (which may or may not be an Australian Band).

Clue 52D although it seems like a meta clue has nothing to do with anything

In fact..... Clue 52D has a rather inadvertent distraction from the actual meta. Although it is a potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks, it's really just a potato.

Um.... "potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks" is a universally well-known metaphor, isn't it? That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? It's not just ol' woozy babbling nonsensically, is it?

Funny when I google "Potato shaped like a duck" I don't get any references to "The Dick Van Dyke Show"


EDITED to fix number
Last edited by woozy on Fri Nov 26, 2021 3:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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hoover
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#29

Post by hoover »

woozy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:46 pm It's not "I come from a Land Down Under" nor is it "I C Light" by Crooked Colours (which may or may not be an Australian Band).

Clue 59D although it seems like a meta clue has nothing to do with anything

In fact..... Clue 59D has a rather inadvertent distraction from the actual meta. Although it is a potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks, it's really just a potato.

Um.... "potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks" is a universally well-known metaphor, isn't it? That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? It's not just ol' woozy babbling nonsensically, is it?

Funny when I google "Potato shaped like a duck" I don't get any references to "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
Um... this puzzle doesn't have a 59D!
I don't have anything clever to say, but if I did, it would go here.
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woozy
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#30

Post by woozy »

hoover wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 2:09 pm
woozy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:46 pm It's not "I come from a Land Down Under" nor is it "I C Light" by Crooked Colours (which may or may not be an Australian Band).

Clue 59D although it seems like a meta clue has nothing to do with anything

In fact..... Clue 59D has a rather inadvertent distraction from the actual meta. Although it is a potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks, it's really just a potato.

Um.... "potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks" is a universally well-known metaphor, isn't it? That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? It's not just ol' woozy babbling nonsensically, is it?

Funny when I google "Potato shaped like a duck" I don't get any references to "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
Um... this puzzle doesn't have a 59D!

Yeah.... you expect me to *not* make typos? Dream on.

I mean What's the difference between 59 and 52? Don't Answer "7"
Latest meta: Surround Sound

"No, this is Thompson with a P, __ __ psychology"
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madhatter5
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#31

Post by madhatter5 »

woozy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 3:48 pm
hoover wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 2:09 pm
woozy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:46 pm It's not "I come from a Land Down Under" nor is it "I C Light" by Crooked Colours (which may or may not be an Australian Band).

Clue 59D although it seems like a meta clue has nothing to do with anything

In fact..... Clue 59D has a rather inadvertent distraction from the actual meta. Although it is a potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks, it's really just a potato.

Um.... "potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks" is a universally well-known metaphor, isn't it? That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? It's not just ol' woozy babbling nonsensically, is it?

Funny when I google "Potato shaped like a duck" I don't get any references to "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
Um... this puzzle doesn't have a 59D!

Yeah.... you expect me to *not* make typos? Dream on.

I mean What's the difference between 59 and 52? Don't Answer "7"
BAHAHAHAHAHA
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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benchen71
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#32

Post by benchen71 »

And with the nudges I have finally stormed the castle! Thanks, Josh, for an entertaining, brilliantly constructed puzzle.
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta! :D
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lbray53
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#33

Post by lbray53 »

madhatter5 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 11:20 am Only because you asked, Larry :)

A kangaroo bounces around from place to place and you need to do likewise

Thats really all I can think of without giving the game away, if anyone has a good nudge or two feel free to post them
Thanks! I needed the spoilers to get myself out of a deep, deep rabbit hole and to rekindle my interest in solving. It was fun once I figured out how to string the "hops" together.
My avatar proves that it is sometimes better to be lucky than good!
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whimsy
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#34

Post by whimsy »

woozy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:46 pm

Although it is a potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks, it's really just a potato.

Um.... "potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks" is a universally well-known metaphor, isn't it? That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? It's not just ol' woozy babbling nonsensically, is it?

Funny when I google "Potato shaped like a duck" I don't get any references to "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
Turns out you're not babbling after all, @woozy ! :)
I found this --

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0559791/qu ... =tt_trv_qu

Be sure to read down to that last quote.
Leads me to believe that a potato shaped duck was one of the items in the contest featured in the "Odd But True" episode!
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whimsy
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#35

Post by whimsy »

I think I probably have the answer, but I'm lacking the explicit meta path to get there.
Don't want to waste a great picture though, so I'll describe myself as very civilly at the castle gate, ringing the doorbell and waiting to be let in tomorrow at the reveal --
Capturekittystorms.PNG
(I believe the kitty's got Amway products in his saddlebag.)
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benchen71
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#36

Post by benchen71 »

I would normally have revealed the solution by now in any normal MOAT week. We'll just have to wait and see when Totally the Real and Not Fake Benchen71 will upload the solution... ;)
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta! :D
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Dplass
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#37

Post by Dplass »

madhatter5 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 3:57 pm
woozy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 3:48 pm
hoover wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 2:09 pm

Um... this puzzle doesn't have a 59D!

Yeah.... you expect me to *not* make typos? Dream on.

I mean What's the difference between 59 and 52? Don't Answer "7"
BAHAHAHAHAHA
Didn't you mean MWAHAHA?
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madhatter5
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#38

Post by madhatter5 »

No that would be an evil laugh. Australians aren't evil. And Socrates was not Australian. Therefore I am immortal.
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woozy
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#39

Post by woozy »

whimsy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 7:00 pm
woozy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:46 pm

Although it is a potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks, it's really just a potato.

Um.... "potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks" is a universally well-known metaphor, isn't it? That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? It's not just ol' woozy babbling nonsensically, is it?

Funny when I google "Potato shaped like a duck" I don't get any references to "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
Turns out you're not babbling after all, @woozy ! :)
I found this --

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0559791/qu ... =tt_trv_qu

Be sure to read down to that last quote.
Leads me to believe that a potato shaped duck was one of the items in the contest featured in the "Odd But True" episode!
Oh, I knew I wasn't babbling. I remember the episode *very* well ("The dog that hasn't eaten in eight year just ate my potato that looks like a duck!") I just figured if I referred to "a potato that looks like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks" without context that even in this party of kindred loonies not everyone would know what I was talking about.

But still I expected that if one googled "Potato that looks like a duck that the majority of hits would be to the Dick Van Dyke episode but to my shock none of the hits in the first two pages featured it.

Of course if you google "Potato that looks like a duck Dick Van Dyke" you get..... well, you get this forum!
Leads me to believe that a potato shaped duck was one of the items in the contest featured in the "Odd But True" episode!
There was Rob Petrie that had Freckles in the shape of the Liberty Bell, a man with a potato shaped like a duck, a dog that hadn't eaten in eight years, and a man who walked from Buffalo on his hands. It turned out the crack of the liberty bell wasn't shaped by freckles but chicken pox scars and so he was ineligible. In leaving, he knocks over the guy walking on his hands off onto his feet, which startles the dog that hadn't eaten in eight years into eating the potato shaped like a duck.

.....

Now, that's a tangent....

But isn't "A potato shaped like a duck in a puzzle full of ducks" a great metaphor for going down a rabbit hole? (Or would a better metaphor be "going down a rabbit hole"?)
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madhatter5
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#40

Post by madhatter5 »

Solution:

There was a long chain of clues which referenced other entries in the grid. If you hopped like a kangaroo along the chain of referenced entries you spell out JUMP (by) VAN HALEN, which is the answer.

Thanks to the "Real" Ben for playing along and hope you guys enjoyed the little switcha-(kanga)roo

(I don't remember the potato shaped like a duck but I do remember the closet full of walnuts).
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
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