"Countdown" - July 8, 2022

[Abide]

Since we're counting down owl stories, as I was turning off the lights last night there were three successive bangs on the back window. I turned on my phone flashlight and saw this:

The little demon posed menacingly for a few minutes before moving on.

The weird thing is I have never seen an owl in our neighborhood other than the plastic one the squirrels make fun of.

[michaelm]

On shore.
No longer barred from Al’s beach party?

[jimmyd]

On shore after a lot of detours… learned a lot about Manet at least lol

[Joe Ross]

On shore.
No longer barred from Al’s beach party?

Barred

Owls

Have one on me...

[SusieG]

Checking in to say I’m with Isaac. Actually on a train from Glasgow to Inverness. I brought graph paper with me, but it seems such a shame to look at a grid instead of enjoying the scenery.

Yesterday’s visit to Stirling Castle.

[Berto]

Sometimes you just have to sleep on it.
I’ve been hunting high and low all weekend and then first new thought this morning and I got my A-ha moment, count me A-shore!

[Bob cruise director]

With Isaac at the bar. Watching the Yankees continue their abuse of Bob's Red Sox.

I'll take the occasional upper hand.

Well, except with the meta...

@Tom Shea The Sox are not dead yet - on life support definitely but they stole one from the hated Yanquis last night

[mlvilv]

So lost at sea. Really lost. My wake up in the morning and see it out of nowhere trick is not working this week.

[ajk]

Just remembered about this fun owl photo I took at the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka back in 2014. Note that the one in the frame on the wall is not the only one in the photo

[Bob cruise director]

Good Sunday morning muggles

A couple of things before we get to the status.

There has been some offline discussion about spoilers on this or any of the other many forum meta pages. In the upper right hand corner of each posting, there is an exclamation point. If you think that a posting is a spoiler, click that exclamation point and a notification will be sent to the moderators to alert them. The moderators can then assess the status and either 1) send a PM to the poster to change the post or 2) delete the posting. The moderators get notified immediately which is faster than sending an email or a PM.

If you post an inadvertent spoiler, and it happens to all of us even when we don't have the answer, and the moderators take action, don't take it personally. It happens, we learn from it and we move on.

Next thing on asking for a nudge (aka a push in the right direction). Under Come Aboard/FAQ-solving resource/guidance on hints, viewtopic.php?t=390 there is a protocol which has evolved on the best way to ask for nudges. A quick summary - don't make a posting asking for a nudge but send a PM to someone or a couple of someones who has the solution (make sure you are set up to receive an email if you get a PM), tell them what you have done and where you are stuck and keep plugging.

Final thing, there will be a "last call" zoom at 8 pm tonight EDT for those who are still floundering.

Now on to our status. We have had a continuous if not spectacular progression to shore and now have 129 on the shore and 27 on the ship.

New to the ship's bar since yesterday are KaiS, mlvilv and Tom S

While making their way to the shore both by jet skiing themselves, using the ship's tender or needing help from the Coast Guard are:

Steveb
benchen71
Cindy N
Grover
Fred
OliviaL
czeemuggle
Richard
michaelm
Lacangah
SusieG
D B Miller
Berto
Jackie88
JRS51
jimmyd
THE Thurman8er


As always let me know if I have missed anyone, that you are cheering for the Red Sox or anything else.

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

I am still drinking with Isaac. I haven't spent much time paddling yet, but I imagine I will be there at Isaac's last call this afternoon/evening.

[sjm]

Ashore with A LOT of help from ship4u!

[HunterX]

Checking in to say I’m with Isaac. Actually on a train from Glasgow to Inverness. I brought graph paper with me, but it seems such a shame to look at a grid instead of enjoying the scenery.

Yesterday’s visit to Stirling Castle.

Ah, I remember Stirling Castle. Or at least where I stayed in Stirling when I was 14 on a bicycle trip through the British Isles. Our youth hostel was very close to the castle, or perhaps even right across from it. (It's been over 40 years, so my memory is selective, and may be in error.) It felt very castle like as it was an old stone building, and the boys' bunk room was at the top of an old stone spiral staircase. The one small window had a great view from Castle Hill over the countryside.

Trivia: The spiral staircases in castles were always built going clockwise upward. This was so the defenders at the top had their right hand, which was usually used to hold a sword, on the outside wall, giving them more room to maneuver and strike, while the attacker, if right handed, was constrained by having their right had against the center pillar/wall.

Hope you saw The Kelpies on your trip between Glasgow and Inverness! I met Andy Scott at a talk he gave in Philly back in 2016 or so.

[Wendy Walker]

SusieG's photo brought back fond memories of Scotland for me, too. I took the train from Lancaster north to Stranrauer to catch the ferry over to Northern Ireland and -- oh my gosh, the green hills, the stone walls, and all the sheep!

[MatthewL]

Forgot to post on Friday evening, but I made my way to shore shortly after logging on to the Friday Zoom. There was a comment made very early on that triggered me to look at something differently, and there it was. And yes, as many others have said, I was very much overthinking it.

[burak]

Classic Mike Shenk puzzle. It provides a slightly obscure nudge as to what to do, but If you don't see the simple mechanism you could easily end up like Charlie.



One approach I've started using more and more -not specifically for this puzzle but in general- is to put myself in the constructor's shoes. What's unusual about this puzzle? Why would the constructor choose this grid/clue/answer when they could easily have chosen X instead? These are seasoned constructors so why did they make it so hard on themselves?

[Ben B]

Alas. We are with Isaac this week. I’m sure we will be kicking ourselves tomorrow.

[Penny_Keatley]

Whew, made it to the beach! I had just about given up hope and decided to take one more hard swim at it. Next thing I knew, I was feeling the warm sand between my toes.

[SusieG]

Ah, I remember Stirling Castle. Or at least where I stayed in Stirling when I was 14 on a bicycle trip through the British Isles. Our youth hostel was very close to the castle, or perhaps even right across from it. (It's been over 40 years, so my memory is selective, and may be in error.) It felt very castle like as it was an old stone building, and the boys' bunk room was at the top of an old stone spiral staircase. The one small window had a great view from Castle Hill over the countryside.

The hostel is just down the hill a block or two from the castle! We passed it and remarked that it looked very stately for a hostel. Stirling must have been a workout on bikes.

We haven’t seen the kelpies yet, but have some open days in our itinerary. The weather is so perfect we are trying to do as much outside as possible, so will put it on our list.

[CAe39]

Ashore. As always, no fun until the aha.