"Poets' Corner" - July 26, 2019

[Natalie]

Quick question that has been asked before but whose answer I have forgotten:

is the answer to the meta case-sensitive? As in the case of Poets' Corner: will the algorithm that accepts / rejects answers treat idyll, IDYLL, and Idyll the same? What about answers with more than one word?

[Bob cruise director]

Quick question that has been asked before but whose answer I have forgotten:

is the answer to the meta case-sensitive? As in the case of Poets' Corner: will the algorithm that accepts / rejects answers treat idyll, IDYLL, and Idyll the same? What about answers with more than one word?

It is not case sensitive.

The algorithm is a person looking at the emails.

[Bob cruise director]

Whem comments mention "construction" or especially "clever construction," I know to look beyond the meaning of the words in the long answers and to search the grid for other arrangements of letters related to those answers.

I tend to look for styles from the creators. Mike Shenk's style is generally to solve within the grid. This solution method was more similar to Matt Gaffney's in that the style is outside the grid.

[FrancesY]

Well now I feel really silly. Before I saw IDYLL, I submitted a wrong answer. But it wasn't DILLY, which makes perfect sense, but the far-fetched AMORE, which hugs the corner opposite Shelley.

[Tom Wilson]

Not as silly as I, Frances! I found "idyll" only after I moved from poetry to geometry and more closely inspected those right angles - and only after I submitted the woefully incorrect "enter," which I found in the southeast corner. Surely that had to be right, I thought; what better entry than "enter" itself? Said no one. Ever.

[SewYoung]

Not as silly as I, Frances! I found "idyll" only after I moved from poetry to geometry and more closely inspected those right angles - and only after I submitted the woefully incorrect "enter," which I found in the southeast corner. Surely that had to be right, I thought; what better entry than "enter" itself? Said no one. Ever.

Actually, there was one a while back where that (or something very similar) was the answer. The title had something to do with winnig a contest and asked for the first or most important step. One of the geniuses (nerds?) on this board who keep better records than I, can look back and give you more information on that puzzle.

[Natalie]

Quick question that has been asked before but whose answer I have forgotten:

is the answer to the meta case-sensitive? As in the case of Poets' Corner: will the algorithm that accepts / rejects answers treat idyll, IDYLL, and Idyll the same? What about answers with more than one word?

It is not case sensitive.

The algorithm is a person looking at the emails.

WOW ... the algorithm is a PERSON????? Will wonders never cease? : ) ) ) Thanks!

[juliet]

Maybe a week where two answers are correct! I think all the poets in the puzzle could be considered a great example of a poet....so I am urging for “dilly” to be considered a correct answer. Had the answer been a five letter adjective “ idyll” would have been correct. But had the answer been a 5 letter noun, than “ dilly” would have been correct..

After leaving the ship too early a couple of times already this summer, I searched G for IDYLL to confirm it is a noun. Seeing that an idyll is also a poetic form, provided a solid, satisfying "ah!"

[steveb]

Not as silly as I, Frances! I found "idyll" only after I moved from poetry to geometry and more closely inspected those right angles - and only after I submitted the woefully incorrect "enter," which I found in the southeast corner. Surely that had to be right, I thought; what better entry than "enter" itself? Said no one. Ever.

Actually, there was one a while back where that (or something very similar) was the answer. The title had something to do with winnig a contest and asked for the first or most important step. One of the geniuses (nerds?) on this board who keep better records than I, can look back and give you more information on that puzzle.

I wonder if you're thinking of 3/17/17, where the contest asked for "a seven-letter word that you always see in crosswords." The answer was ERASURE.

[BarbaraK]

Or perhaps 12/21/18 where a “key to success” was ENTER.

[SewYoung]

That's the one. Thanks.

[MaineMarge]

I loved this meta too! The diving into the 5 (Googled) poems, the multi- step method, the turning up at the corners, and especially the sharing of thoughts with the Muggles. Thanks again to Brian Mac and Bob and their understudies and the general participating audience. Audaciously clever.
I spent an idyllic weekend in the garden with a sunny summer breeze helping me recommit Robert Frost’s The Silken Tent to memory.
My maiden name was Frost, and I’m just a country girl, so his poems are among my favorites. I can still picture him reciting his patriotic poem, The Gift Outright, at President Kennedy’s inauguration.
Edna St.Vincent Millay is from my hometown of Camden, Maine.

[Joe Ross]

Has the mug winner been announced?

[Bob cruise director]

Has the mug winner been announced?

Not that I have seen

[MikeMillerwsj]

Greetings and apologies for the delay (after a summer Monday off). A big turnout for this brilliant puzzle: 1620 entries, 86% correct. A large showing for DILLY (92!), which is not a bad guess. And then a smattering of other wrong answers including ELEGY (5), METER (4), TEAMS (4, why?) and myriad others.

Congrats to this week's winner: Debbie Cirulnick of Key Largo, Fla.!

[Hector]

ELLIOT, AUDEN, TENNYSON, SHELLEY, MILLAY can anagram to TEAMS (but also STEAM, MATES, and MEATS, which should have been a tip-off).

[steveb]

ELLIOT, AUDEN, TENNYSON, SHELLEY, MILLAY can anagram to TEAMS (but also STEAM, MATES, and MEATS, which should have been a tip-off).

Or METAS!

[BarbaraK]

Greetings and apologies for the delay (after a summer Monday off). A big turnout for this brilliant puzzle: 1620 entries, 86% correct. A large showing for DILLY (92!), which is not a bad guess. And then a smattering of other wrong answers including ELEGY (5), METER (4), TEAMS (4, why?) and myriad others.

Congrats to this week's winner: Debbie Cirulnick of Key Largo, Fla.!

Thanks, Mike.

And nice seeing your comment featured in Matt’s write-up of last week’s MGWCC!

[BethA]

Quick question that has been asked before but whose answer I have forgotten:

is the answer to the meta case-sensitive? As in the case of Poets' Corner: will the algorithm that accepts / rejects answers treat idyll, IDYLL, and Idyll the same? What about answers with more than one word?

It is not case sensitive.

The algorithm is a person looking at the emails.

WOW ... the algorithm is a PERSON????? Will wonders never cease? : ) ) ) Thanks!

Mike’s new nickname? — The Algorithm.

[Bird Lives]

I loved this meta too! The diving into the 5 (Googled) poems, the multi- step method, the turning up at the corners, and especially the sharing of thoughts with the Muggles. Thanks again to Brian Mac and Bob and their understudies and the general participating audience. Audaciously clever.
I spent an idyllic weekend in the garden with a sunny summer breeze helping me recommit Robert Frost’s The Silken Tent to memory.
My maiden name was Frost, and I’m just a country girl, so his poems are among my favorites. I can still picture him reciting his patriotic poem, The Gift Outright, at President Kennedy’s inauguration.
Edna St.Vincent Millay is from my hometown of Camden, Maine.

I spent a few summers in Camden (my wife was an habituée of the Photo Workshop in Rockport), but I do not recall anyone mentioning that Millay was from there. (I always thought of her as Edna St. Louis Missouri, so even if someone had told me, the information probably didn't register.)