50. Now Read It Back to Me
- MikeyG
- Posts: 1444
- Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 2:52 pm
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
It looks like Level 3 was right for this. Here are some nudges to dust away some cobwebs!
Main Mechanism:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Easter Egg - or Main, Depending on How You Cracked This!:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Have fun, haha. The next two puzzles are already made, and they're each a Level 1 (I promise).
See you on Tuesday for the reveal!
Mikey G
Main Mechanism:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Easter Egg - or Main, Depending on How You Cracked This!:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Have fun, haha. The next two puzzles are already made, and they're each a Level 1 (I promise).
See you on Tuesday for the reveal!
Mikey G
-
- Posts: 803
- Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2020 11:57 am
- Location: Atlanta, GA
Solved! Needed spoilers 3 and 7 to get this. Oh well -- looking forward to some easier ones (assuming Mikey keeps his promise).
Matthew
- Cap'n Rick
- Posts: 1607
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:44 pm
- Location: Nahant, MA
Great job, @MikeyG! Loved the complexity and, of course, the .
-
- Posts: 1572
- Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2021 7:26 pm
Nudges would be welcomed. Maybe I'm the only straggler, maybe not.
- DrTom
- Posts: 3923
- Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2019 6:46 pm
- Location: Jacksonville, FL
I looked and looked at this one and kept feeling I had seen it before. Well turns out I had, Mikey asked me to test solve/evaluate a while back and I did. I liked it the and I like it now. Fun puzzle Mikey!
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
- Darth
- Posts: 779
- Joined: Sat May 15, 2021 6:51 pm
- Location: Champaign, IL
-
- Posts: 1572
- Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2021 7:26 pm
- MikeyG
- Posts: 1444
- Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 2:52 pm
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
Puzzle #50 recap
Puzzle #50 answer: ELLE
Correct entries: 42 (about right for a Level 3; it seems the formula is roughly 70 - 10x, where x is the level of the puzzle).
I'm not sure which came first: the mechanism or the eggs. Depends on how you want to parse this one, so here was the intended pathway for each:
Mechanism
Admittedly, this mechanism alone would likely get us to at least a Level 3.5 or 4, and by itself, it might be a bit too simple to be a full-fledged puzzle (so SAD).
And, you can state it in two sentences: There are four palindromic entries in the grid. Their clues' initial letters spell ELLE, the contest answer. This is reinforced by the spanner referencing magazines (it's a bit dangling, to be honest, so I would like to have incorporated that in a more meaningful way, in retrospect). This also coalesces with the title, as these are the only four entries that - when read "back" - are the same.
Easter Egg
I actually like the egg a bit more here. There are certainly more inspired ways to clue TWENTY-FIVE than just "XXV," and then there's a seemingly ridiculously unhelpful comparison to "XXVI," which is the oh-so-beautiful 26, signaling letters of the alphabet.
And, indeed, I was able to shoehorn in the "big four" of Scrabbulous wonder: J, Q, X, and Z into the grid, and I don't do that very often (though I certainly could to practice my pangrammatic skills). If we scour the rest of the grid, 25 of the 26 letters make it in...with the exception of the very commonplace "L," so something seems up.
In fact, if we then translate FIFTY-FIFTY into corresponding Roman numerals, we get LL, which is "right down the center" (per the clue for FIFTY-FIFTY) of ELLE, also confirmed by the spanner.
And not only are there no "L"s in the grid, the only two "L"s to appear anywhere in the clues are in the two clues for MAAM ("Ladies' title") and TOOT ("Loud sound from a tugboat"), which are necessary for the main mechanism to occur.
Half-Century Mark
And, indeed, this is a fitting for Meta #50, as the meta answer ELLE is a homonym of the Roman numeral for 50.
See you on Saturday for a Level 1 meta! Thanks, as always, for solving!
Mikey G
Puzzle #50 answer: ELLE
Correct entries: 42 (about right for a Level 3; it seems the formula is roughly 70 - 10x, where x is the level of the puzzle).
I'm not sure which came first: the mechanism or the eggs. Depends on how you want to parse this one, so here was the intended pathway for each:
Mechanism
Admittedly, this mechanism alone would likely get us to at least a Level 3.5 or 4, and by itself, it might be a bit too simple to be a full-fledged puzzle (so SAD).
And, you can state it in two sentences: There are four palindromic entries in the grid. Their clues' initial letters spell ELLE, the contest answer. This is reinforced by the spanner referencing magazines (it's a bit dangling, to be honest, so I would like to have incorporated that in a more meaningful way, in retrospect). This also coalesces with the title, as these are the only four entries that - when read "back" - are the same.
Easter Egg
I actually like the egg a bit more here. There are certainly more inspired ways to clue TWENTY-FIVE than just "XXV," and then there's a seemingly ridiculously unhelpful comparison to "XXVI," which is the oh-so-beautiful 26, signaling letters of the alphabet.
And, indeed, I was able to shoehorn in the "big four" of Scrabbulous wonder: J, Q, X, and Z into the grid, and I don't do that very often (though I certainly could to practice my pangrammatic skills). If we scour the rest of the grid, 25 of the 26 letters make it in...with the exception of the very commonplace "L," so something seems up.
In fact, if we then translate FIFTY-FIFTY into corresponding Roman numerals, we get LL, which is "right down the center" (per the clue for FIFTY-FIFTY) of ELLE, also confirmed by the spanner.
And not only are there no "L"s in the grid, the only two "L"s to appear anywhere in the clues are in the two clues for MAAM ("Ladies' title") and TOOT ("Loud sound from a tugboat"), which are necessary for the main mechanism to occur.
Half-Century Mark
And, indeed, this is a fitting for Meta #50, as the meta answer ELLE is a homonym of the Roman numeral for 50.
See you on Saturday for a Level 1 meta! Thanks, as always, for solving!
Mikey G
- KayW
- Moderator
- Posts: 3482
- Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:10 am
- Location: Chicago
A very clever metanism and love the Easter egg. Congratulations - and many thanks - for reaching your silver metaversary. Looking forward to many more!
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.