Page 2 of 2

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 8:35 pm
by MarkWoychick
Thanks, Cap'n Rick - great puzzle as always, and the cat is out of the bag

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 10:12 pm
by Cap'n Rick
Day 1 - Apparently this mystery hasn't been too difficult to solve, as 34 Muggles' bags have become cat-less:

Abide (TS)
Al Sisti (TS)
Whimsy (TS)
Cinny
benchen71
boharr
hoover
JM
Hector
Schmeel
rjy
HeadinHome
Mr Tex
KayW
ChrisKochmanski
woozy
DIS
Carolyn
oldjudge
Cindy Weatherman
MaineMarge
Meg
Gutman
Bbaack
DebbieC
CPJohnson
Tyrpmom
BrennerTJ
edestlin
Dplass
Darth
SJMcK
MarkWoychick
Dave C

Keep up the good work!

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:31 am
by lbray53
Cat is out! Late start. Missed the list.

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 12:25 pm
by Ergcat
The Cat is Free! Fun little mystery to the end!

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:03 pm
by Cap'n Rick
Day 2 - Five more cats are out of their respective bags:

Laura M
lbray53
andeux
Ergcat
Darrell

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:59 am
by jhseeman
Cat's out of the bag.

Fun one, and one of my favorites.

Thanks Cap'n

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:46 pm
by Cap'n Rick
Day 3 - Three more cats have escaped:

markhr
jhseeman
DrTom

That make 42 so far...

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2022 12:43 pm
by Cap'n Rick
Okay, it's Nudge Saturday here on the MEOW. I think three should be sufficient for this easy read.

The mystery novel was written by Agatha Christie (67-Across).

Per the title, find some lines and read between them.

As an old sea captain, I can tie a good sturdy bowline.

Please feel free to PM me if you're still stuck.

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2022 2:47 pm
by Dow Jones
The cat has been nudged from the bag. Thanks for this excellent challenge, Cap'n Rick.

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2022 10:02 pm
by Cap'n Rick
Day 4 - Three more cats are on the prowl:

Byron
Dow Jones
LindaPRmaven

That makes 45 and counting...

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2022 4:33 pm
by ReB
I'd already figured out the first nudge and the second just nudged me to do what I'd tried before, except that this time the answer leaped out at me. Actually the answer was the novel that had first came to mind, except that I'd remembered the title incorrectly until this fresh look. Now where's that cat gotten to...?

Re: MEOW #93 - Read Between the Lines

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2022 10:00 pm
by Cap'n Rick
Day 5 - Four more Muggles' bags are feline-free:

ReB
Sharkicicles
Snood
BarbaraK

That brings our solver total to 49.

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2022 11:43 pm
by woozy
Cap'n Rick wrote: Sat Sep 03, 2022 12:43 pm

As an old sea captain, I can tie a good sturdy bowline.
But Can you tie a dragon bowline? And can you do it behind your back

Re: Read Between the Lines

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 9:50 am
by Cap'n Rick
woozy wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 11:43 pm
Cap'n Rick wrote: Sat Sep 03, 2022 12:43 pm

As an old sea captain, I can tie a good sturdy bowline.
But Can you tie a dragon bowline? And can you do it behind your back
Haven't tried (or tied) that one yet, @woozy, but I have tied a double BOWLINE.

Re: MEOW #93 - Read Between the Lines

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 11:52 am
by woozy
It's a joke. You talk about a dragon bowline and get people to say "ooh, what's that" and you make a regular bowline with a long bitter end and you drag it behind you and say "That's a draggin' bowline".

Re: MEOW #93 - Read Between the Lines

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 7:21 pm
by Cap'n Rick
woozy wrote: Mon Sep 05, 2022 11:52 am It's a joke. You talk about a dragon bowline and get people to say "ooh, what's that" and you make a regular bowline with a long bitter end and you drag it behind you and say "That's a draggin' bowline".
Ah, you got me, @woozy. I had Googled it earlier to see if there was an instruction video, and I saw some idiot running with a line trailing behind him. I thought it was just some Internet garbage, and I still didn't get the joke. I can be a little naive sometimes... :D

Re: MEOW #93 - Read Between the Lines

Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 8:42 am
by Cap'n Rick
and-then-there-were-none2.jpg

Ahoy Muggles!

The meta answer is "And Then There Were None", a mystery novel by Agatha Christie (see 67A).

To solve this mystery... er meta, solvers first had to figure out what to do with the title - "Read Between the Lines". It turns out I was being very literal with this one by symmetrically placing 10 grid entries that can become different types of "lines" (i.e. 1A - BEE; 10A - SIDE; 17A - BOW; 19A - HARD; 32A - FENCE; 44A - BREAD; 61A OPEN; 65A - HOT; 69A - SNOW; and 71A - SKY). The entries were arranged in parallel pairings between which appeared the mystery title and meta answer - "AND THEN THERE WERE OOO". As you noticed, I had to replace "NONE" with "OOO" to maintain symmetry, and I hinted at this via the clue and answer at 13D - Doesn't END AS expected (has a twist).


Book and Grid.JPG

I would again like to thank @madhatter5 for asking me to fill in for him on MEOW, and I wish him well in all of his future endeavors. Hurry back to the forum, Josh!

Smooth sailing, everyone!
Cap'n Rick

Stats.JPG

Re: MEOW #93 - Read Between the Lines

Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 11:11 am
by hoover
But one of those doesn't rhyme with the others!

Also, I completely missed the lines, but AND THEN THERE WERE NONE jumped right out at me anyway, especially when I saw AGATHA.

Re: MEOW #93 - Read Between the Lines

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2022 12:23 am
by rjy
hoover wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 11:11 am Also, I completely missed the lines, but AND THEN THERE WERE NONE jumped right out at me anyway, especially when I saw AGATHA.
Same, turned out to be a much more clever construction than I realized… really nice, Cap’n!