"That's A Plus" - November 8, 2019

[Bob cruise director]

Done and submitted. Happy to have finally discovered this group, it's been a great help!

Welcome to the group. You can never have too many muggles. Good luck winning the coveted WSJ mug although there will be long odds this week

[gdshort]

Quick swim to shore this morning: nicely constructed meta!

[steveb]

As others have noted, there's something a little ... 41A ... here, but I decided not to 30A and just come ashore to 34A.

[31 Down]

I can only surmise
Unless there's a surprise
After making us look twitty
Mr. Gaffney took pity

[Doug C]

On shore. Cool construction!

[Janet P]

On shore.

Good luck to all on winning the mug!

[Bob cruise director]

Good Friday morning muggles. The father of the limerick, Edward Lear would be proud of all our writers.

We have our two newest muggles on the shore - boharr and anjhinz.

We either have a very simple contest this week or the pageant to beat all pageants.

Currently we have one on the ship with an answer but keeping Isaac company and 81 crowding the shore. We could challenge the record of 137 set on February 1 of this year with Matt Gaffney's Just Say The Word.


Long odds for the mug but maybe a muggle will get lucky

[Alan H]

It's funny how if the puzzle is squeezy, people assume there must be more to it and we have been "Pageanted". By my count, the Pageant puzzle was 98 weeks ago and we have not been Pageanted since. However, the scars from that week are apparently still fresh and emotion trumps logic for us apparently.

[MarkL]

Re: Pageantation

I believe there is a correlation between meta difficulty and occurence before a holiday weekend.

This shouldn't be a spoiler but I am willing to bet this mechanism has been utilized in the past. Muggle historians can confirm or refute on Monday.

IMHO - Pageant chances are very slim. Stay warm & enjoy the weekend!

[FirstMax]

On shore. Easiest Meta to date. I actually spent more time just trying to understand what 17A had to do with tall narrow structures. Brushing my teeth when the light bulb went off .

[DaveKennison]

Oddly enough, all those weeks ago, I got the “PAGEANT” answer correct. I lacked the knowledge one needed to be led astray and, because I spent a lot of time consulting Dr. Google to make up for that, the correct answer sort of fell out at my feet. Sometimes, ignorance can be an asset ... .

[sharkicicles]

Count me in, on shore and suspicious of the difficulty level.

[jamescarter]

I'm ashore after 2 weeks with Isaac. But still trying to figure out 17A.

[Bob cruise director]

I'm ashore after 2 weeks with Isaac. But still trying to figure out 17A.

Think out of the box. More on Monday

[Inca]

Oddly enough, all those weeks ago, I got the “PAGEANT” answer correct. I lacked the knowledge one needed to be led astray and, because I spent a lot of time consulting Dr. Google to make up for that, the correct answer sort of fell out at my feet. Sometimes, ignorance can be an asset ... .

Me too...and for the same reason

[DBMiller]

There was a solver named Dave,
Meta puzzles he did crave.
He said, "If I'm wrong,
Then I will say, 'So long'".
And run off to sulk in my cave.

[bunella]

On shore unless somebody is serving red herrings for lunch.
Having Yuengling beer today from the oldest brewery in America right up the road from us in Pa.

[MarkL]

First Guinness is on me!!

[ArnoldMBrockman]

On The Shore... On To The Vodka !

[howardl]

Quickly ashore.