Actually? No.HeadinHome wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:57 am Wow - you people and your statistics. I am completely oblivious to all that. Is EVERYONE on this forum an actuary?
#709 - “Permutation Situation”
- Joe Ross
- Moderator
- Posts: 5184
- Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
- Location: Cincinnati
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024
PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:42 pm
Hi everyone! Could any friendly solvers offer a nudge? I appreciate it!
- DrTom
- Posts: 3945
- Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2019 6:46 pm
- Location: Jacksonville, FL
I can hardly say I solved since it took too big nudges to (1) bring to my consciousness what I had been noticing for days (2) correct my inability to count. So the AHA was muted by my own stupidity, but at least I can now stop looking at this darn grid. Once again, I cannot believe anyone can actually make something like that without the use of alien technology or magic.
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!
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:42 pm
Huge thank you to the nudges, that was my first solve of a fifth week!
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- Posts: 72
- Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:22 am
Thanks to the nudges of others, I gained confidence in my answer and submitted correctly. For whatever reason, I didn't find the solution to be very conclusive at all. Perhaps because the mechanism jumped out at me so quickly (for once), I was expecting more. Another possibility is that I am not terribly familiar with this particular "well-known American University". Hopefully there were some clues I missed that would have made me more certain. I'm looking forward to the official explanation.
A big thank you to those who reached out!
- MikeM000
- Posts: 579
- Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:31 am
- Location: Metro Detroit
Submitted and awaiting the update. (Yay! 209.) Thanks to someone who sent me a clever trick for finding the one square I had wrong (hate it when I misspell Swedish women's names!).
- Jeremy Smith
- Posts: 1027
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:45 pm
- Location: Tampa Bay area
- Dannyvee
- Posts: 518
- Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2020 11:39 am
- Location: Jamaica Plain, MA
Pretty sure I had the exact same mistake
I can be found in Sheridan, NY, veejaying. (8)
- Thurman8er
- Posts: 393
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 3:05 pm
- Location: Fresno, CA
Maybe it's because I'm into my third week of vacation, but I had such a wonderful time being able to relax and find my way to the answer to this amazing puzzle.
Energize! (And I actually am energized!)
Energize! (And I actually am energized!)
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- Posts: 1417
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am
Submitted! Board has yet to update. Took me a long time to zero in on the right method for this one.
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- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:46 pm
- Location: New York
- Contact:
I think I (vaguely) know the first step, but that's about it. Never solved a Week 5 before. Could a kind soul nudge me? Thank you!
- dk letter
- Posts: 159
- Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2020 10:12 am
Beam me up! Thanks to a fellow muggle for verifying my solution, of which I was terribly unsure. I was convinced there must be another step to verify the answer, but I never found it.
- MikeM000
- Posts: 579
- Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:31 am
- Location: Metro Detroit
- MikeM000
- Posts: 579
- Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:31 am
- Location: Metro Detroit
2 notes -
Joon's commenters let the cat out of the bag at the Fiend, in case this was open until 3pm.
If I was doing this for the WSJ this week, I would not have been able to use the red bold/italic gimmick for the puzzle title.
Joon's commenters let the cat out of the bag at the Fiend, in case this was open until 3pm.
If I was doing this for the WSJ this week, I would not have been able to use the red bold/italic gimmick for the puzzle title.
- Joe Ross
- Moderator
- Posts: 5184
- Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
- Location: Cincinnati
Matt hadn't mentioned an extension & closed down submissions at noon, ET.
Meta entry for puzzle # 709
dated: Friday, December 31
Sorry, submissions are now closed.
- BarbaraK
- Posts: 2654
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
- Location: Virginia
As I was filling out my list of permutations, I put BLACKFOOTSIOUX in the otsi slot. Then when I got to POTSIE, I briefly wondered what was up before realizing BLACKFOOTSIOUX could (and should) also be the tsio
- MikeM000
- Posts: 579
- Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:31 am
- Location: Metro Detroit
I did not, but I wonder if any other Michiganians sent in "That School Down South" for their answer.
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- Posts: 66
- Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2021 9:49 pm
- Location: Bay Area, CA
Cool puzzle. I got to I-O-S-T, and thought of OHIO STATE, but it seemed like too much of a leap since I couldn't find anything in the grid to support it. Oh well! I'm honing my meta skills, and will be ready for the next week 5 puzzle in April!
Thank you ColinM for the nudges!
Thank you ColinM for the nudges!
- boharr
- Moderator
- Posts: 3252
- Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 8:57 am
- Location: Westchester, NY
So no math wonder boy here, I spent the first half hour googling and trying to determine how many permutations were possible with the four letters. Factorials, huh? Then my daughter showed me I could solve that problem with one click on my phone's calculator. Who knew?
Then I spent the next year in Excel tediously recoding each permutation I found. When I got to 23, I knew I was almost there.
As for that daughter showing an interest, I gave her an easy-ish Gaffney WSJ -- Seeking Answers. She did use me as her personal Google for a couple of grid answers, but got the meta right away. And then asked if there were any harder metas. Watch out you Page One denizens. It seems there might be a new kid in town.
Then I spent the next year in Excel tediously recoding each permutation I found. When I got to 23, I knew I was almost there.
As for that daughter showing an interest, I gave her an easy-ish Gaffney WSJ -- Seeking Answers. She did use me as her personal Google for a couple of grid answers, but got the meta right away. And then asked if there were any harder metas. Watch out you Page One denizens. It seems there might be a new kid in town.
- MMe
- Posts: 303
- Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:27 am
Damn.
[image redacted - giving a Trojan Horse warning to malware protection]
[image redacted - giving a Trojan Horse warning to malware protection]