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Re: "That's Messed Up!" by benchen71
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 12:18 am
by Abide
Got the idea with 20% complete, so I guess being messed up is in my wheelhouse!
Re: "That's Messed Up!" by benchen71
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 1:56 am
by benchen71
After another 24 hours, the tally stands at 37:
DCBilly
dannyvee
frostyjhammer
LarsCaine
Darrell
Bird Lives
whimsy
Abide
Re: "That's Messed Up!" by benchen71
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 10:05 am
by MatthewL
Moat has finally been crossed, and the castle stormed, and the mess cleaned up. Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!
Re: "That's Messed Up!" by benchen71
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 11:32 am
by CPJohnson
Needed the nudges, but crossed the moat! Loved the end!
Re: "That's Messed Up!" by benchen71
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 6:52 pm
by Cinny
Late getting to metas. Peeked at the nudges and crossed the moat. Loved it! Thanks, Ben!
Re: "That's Messed Up!" by benchen71
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 9:17 am
by Dave C
Crossed the moat needing all the nudges.
Re: "That's Messed Up!" by benchen71
Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 5:59 pm
by benchen71
Here's the final solver update before the answer reveal:
MatthewL
CPJohnson
kurtalert
Cindy Heisler
Streroto
SJMcK
Dave C
DrTom
We reached a grand total of 45!
Re: "That's Messed Up!" by benchen71
Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 6:01 pm
by benchen71
Here's the solution to "That's Messed Up!":
The impetus for this puzzle was making solvers anagram at the very end to get the meta answer. Normally, if you have to anagram to get the answer it means you haven't understood the meta mechanism completely. There is usually a logical reason for the order of the letters, whether it be grid order, clue order, or some other order.
So I knew I wanted solvers to form a word using regular grid order. But that word would somehow imply they
still needed to anagram those letters to get the final answer. When I stumbled on the TRAGEDY/GYRATED pair I knew I was off to the races. The puzzle title also has a similar double-meaning: "That's messed up!" is something you might say when someone has shared a sad story. It also suggests anagrams.
I had all my theme entries relatively quickly. I was hoping for some longer ones so I just had to use REDUCTION/INTRODUCE when I came across it, and ECHIDNA/CHAINED was also too good to pass up. (Was that the entry that clued you into anagrams? I mean who would chain up an echidna!) Then, DOERR/ORDER made for a suitable final entry hint, since "order" is also a cryptic crossword anagram marker. Then, when I was putting the grid together, the grid I had chosen had space for an additional hint in the central entry. TROUBLE fits with the "messed up"/"tragedy" angle as well as being yet another anagram marker.
So, fess up: who submitted GYRATED first?