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

[tonyrobots]

Wow I picked the Wrong Week to come back to the WSJ meta. Why?????

[Joe Ross]

Please note: SIMPLE does NOT mean EASY.

A long & poorly-written analogy, if I may:

Indiana Jones enters a pyramid in a jungle where there's an impenetrable door with this inscription above it: ƻēɮɟ‬‬₥ ֆջՖ ¥ȸȜþ ɷɝʝʥ

Indy translates this to mean, GOLDEN ARROW HITS BULLSEYE in the local language. This is common knowledge. No biggie. Nothing difficult, so far.

There are pictographs all over the walls of the room in many colors with several bulls and targets among them, but no arrows and nothing in gold.

Using his trusty paper, printer, pens, pencils, highlighters, laptop, desktop, tablet, smart phone, PDFs, PUZ files, google, duckduckgo, image editors, spreadsheets, encyclopedias, & Power Point presentations, he gets to work on the the inscription & what it could mean, working through the rest of the day, overnight, and into the morning. Exhausted, just before midday, he rests staring at the mess he's made, no closer to opening the door. When the exact mid-day hits for that location, a ray of sunshine enters the room through a pinhole, hitting on a pictograph's bulls' eye. Amazed, Indy stands and presses on the door, opening it.

The solution to opening the door was SIMPLE, merely a golden arrow of a sunbeam, at the correct time of day, hitting a bulls' eye, just as the inscription stated. However, it was DIFFICULT to discern from the given inscription, room, & pictographs.

[pjc]

Hopelessly on the ship; I can't even find a toehold!

[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.

I've submitted my answer (still not happy with it), so I'm not on the boat. Not really on shore either. I think I'm being dragged out to sea by the rip current.

[Al Sisti]

Yeah, I'm still on the ship too. And I'm also really proud of those honest people who've said "Got too big a nudge, so I'm not submitting" (you can still be on shore but not submit). The ones who legitimately solved it on their own -- including team solves -- deserve the better odds for getting a mug. And should lightning hit within the next day or so, I might be one of them.

[ajk]

Please note: SIMPLE does NOT mean EASY.

A related example stolen from Tolkien:

The Fellowship arrives at the sealed western gates of Moria. After some fiddling, they uncover an inscription over the door. When Frodo asks Gandalf what it says he replies:
"The words are in the elven-tongue of the West of Middle-Earth in the the Elder days. But they do not say anything of importance to us. They say only: The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter."

When Merry asks what that means, Gimli jumps in: "That is plain enough. If you are a friend, speak the password, and the doors will open and you can enter."

Cue a long series of efforts by an increasingly frustrated Gandalf to speak the proper password "...in every language that had ever been spoken in the West of Middle-earth." Followed by throwing his keyboard, er, staff to the ground in disgust.

Finally, he gets it: "Of course, of course! Absurdly simple, like most riddles when you see the answer...The translation should have been: 'Say "Friend" and enter.' I had only to speak the Elvish word for friend and the doors opened."

[Gman]

I am ashore. Dragged, nudged and humbled. I am not worthy of the MUG OF GLORY.

[mntlblok]

Well, I had a decent amount of this worked out but did rely on a slight nudge to get to shore. To be honest, I found this one pretty unsatisfying/ not very crisp.

Disagree. So simple* it's brilliant.


* "Simple" does not mean "easy."

Fascinating to hear the two different takes.

[mntlblok]

Please note: SIMPLE does NOT mean EASY.

A long & poorly-written analogy, if I may:

Indiana Jones enters a pyramid in a jungle where there's an impenetrable door with this inscription above it: ƻēɮɟ‬‬₥ ֆջՖ ¥ȸȜþ ɷɝʝʥ

Indy translates this to mean, GOLDEN ARROW HITS BULLSEYE in the local language. This is common knowledge. No biggie. Nothing difficult, so far.

There are pictographs all over the walls of the room in many colors with several bulls and targets among them, but no arrows and nothing in gold.

Using his trusty paper, printer, pens, pencils, highlighters, laptop, desktop, tablet, smart phone, PDFs, PUZ files, google, duckduckgo, image editors, spreadsheets, encyclopedias, & Power Point presentations, he gets to work on the the inscription & what it could mean, working through the rest of the day, overnight, and into the morning. Exhausted, just before midday, he rests staring at the mess he's made, no closer to opening the door. When the exact mid-day hits for that location, a ray of sunshine enters the room through a pinhole, hitting on a pictograph's bulls' eye. Amazed, Indy stands and presses on the door, opening it.

The solution to opening the door was SIMPLE, merely a golden arrow of a sunbeam, at the correct time of day, hitting a bulls' eye, just as the inscription stated. However, it was DIFFICULT to discern from the given inscription, room, & pictographs.

They're authorized for such shenanigans??

[DrTom]

Please note: SIMPLE does NOT mean EASY.

A long & poorly-written analogy, if I may:

Indiana Jones enters a pyramid in a jungle where there's an impenetrable door with this inscription above it: ƻēɮɟ‬‬₥ ֆջՖ ¥ȸȜþ ɷɝʝʥ

Indy translates this to mean, GOLDEN ARROW HITS BULLSEYE in the local language. This is common knowledge. No biggie. Nothing difficult, so far.

There are pictographs all over the walls of the room in many colors with several bulls and targets among them, but no arrows and nothing in gold.

Using his trusty paper, printer, pens, pencils, highlighters, laptop, desktop, tablet, smart phone, PDFs, PUZ files, google, duckduckgo, image editors, spreadsheets, encyclopedias, & Power Point presentations, he gets to work on the the inscription & what it could mean, working through the rest of the day, overnight, and into the morning. Exhausted, just before midday, he rests staring at the mess he's made, no closer to opening the door. When the exact mid-day hits for that location, a ray of sunshine enters the room through a pinhole, hitting on a pictograph's bulls' eye. Amazed, Indy stands and presses on the door, opening it.

The solution to opening the door was SIMPLE, merely a golden arrow of a sunbeam, at the correct time of day, hitting a bulls' eye, just as the inscription stated. However, it was DIFFICULT to discern from the given inscription, room, & pictographs.

OMG - PLEASE do not suggest that as a mechanism!!!!

[Andrew Bradburn]

I sat in on the group solve today, but left before an answer was discovered/determined, although I did see my share of hints. Was planning to just wait to see the answer on Monday, but I looked again just now and got it. My reaction is -- "meh". I do not think this was a very good meta. Seems to me there were an enormous amount of chance occurences here, things that looked meaningful but didn't have anything to do with the solve. A ton of those, really.
I have hardly been able to solve any of these in the last three to four months, which makes me doubly glad i already won a mug a few years ago. After having a stretch of 51 solves in a row a while back, and now barely being able to get one in a month, it is like my brain has almost completely lost the ability to solve metas. Good luck to those few who send in a correct solution!

[Susan Goldberg]

Our brief Friday report

It took us until Friday at 9:27 to get to Page 2 and there we sit.

We have 10 on the ship and only 5 on the shore.

This is getting painful.

What happened to trying to recruit new solvers - with the tutorial and all - these last few weeks have been hellish! I’m at he bar, obvi.

[whimsy]

Please note: SIMPLE does NOT mean EASY.
A long & poorly-written analogy, if I may:

Indiana Jones enters a pyramid in a jungle where there's an impenetrable door with this inscription above it: ƻēɮɟ‬‬₥ ֆջՖ ¥ȸȜþ ɷɝʝʥ

Indy translates this to mean, GOLDEN ARROW HITS BULLSEYE in the local language. This is common knowledge. No biggie. Nothing difficult, so far.

Etc. etc.

A related example stolen from Tolkien:

The Fellowship arrives at the sealed western gates of Moria. After some fiddling, they uncover an inscription over the door. When Frodo asks Gandalf what it says he replies:
"The words are in the elven-tongue of the West of Middle-Earth in the the Elder days. But they do not say anything of importance to us. They say only: The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter."

When Merry asks what that means, Gimli jumps in: "That is plain enough. If you are a friend, speak the password, and the doors will open and you can enter."

Cue a long series of efforts by an increasingly frustrated Gandalf to speak the proper password "...in every language that had ever been spoken in the West of Middle-earth." Followed by throwing his keyboard, er, staff to the ground in disgust.

Finally, he gets it: "Of course, of course! Absurdly simple, like most riddles when you see the answer...The translation should have been: 'Say "Friend" and enter.' I had only to speak the Elvish word for friend and the doors opened."

Well, I was kinda saving this for one of @benchen71's MOAT puzzles, but ----

[Cindy N]

And...ashore. The only bright spot in an otherwise sucky day in which the outer glass on my oven door shattered into a shower of little black bits all over the kitchen floor

[SewYoung]

I am ashore. Dragged, nudged and humbled. I am not worthy of the MUG OF GLORY.

Me, too. Dragged ashore by the group solve ZOOM this afternoon. Obviously will not submit, but enjoyed seeing the gang after several weeks away. May make the meeting Thanksgiving week, then out until after Dec. 4th. See y'all soon.

[Barney]

And...ashore. The only bright spot in an otherwise sucky day in which the outer glass on my oven door shattered into a shower of little black bits all over the kitchen floor

How the heck?????

[SewYoung]

And...ashore. The only bright spot in an otherwise sucky day in which the outer glass on my oven door shattered into a shower of little black bits all over the kitchen floor

Ouch! That's not good. Hope nobody was standing close by when it happened.

[Bob cruise director]

And...ashore. The only bright spot in an otherwise sucky day in which the outer glass on my oven door shattered into a shower of little black bits all over the kitchen floor

I think that the manufacturer owes you a new oven

[FrankieHeck]

And...ashore. The only bright spot in an otherwise sucky day in which the outer glass on my oven door shattered into a shower of little black bits all over the kitchen floor

Ugh. That happened to us two years ago over the holidays! Except it was the middle piece of glass. Still ended up with glass bits all over our floor.

As a side note, I liked this puzzle and the past two as well. I try never to complain about hot weather or a difficult meta.

[Colin]

Got my deck shoes on,
I ain’t gonna try no more.
Drink gone - and no shore.