XWord Muggles Forum

I came, I saw, I stormed the castle!

So well suited to my knowledge was this endeavor
That it seeméd very like a birthday gift.

(Yes, today I inexorably increase by one). Brought back fun memories of school days. Thanks!

Fun one! Thanks, Ben!

HeadinHome wrote: Tue May 14, 2024 6:01 pm I came, I saw, I stormed the castle!

So well suited to my knowledge was this endeavor
That it seeméd very like a birthday gift.

(Yes, today I inexorably increase by one). Brought back fun memories of school days. Thanks!

Happy birthday!

We are near the end of the first 24 hours of play, and 48 solvers have found the meta answer!

woozy
Dow Jones
Tom Wilson
Danny K Bernstein
Pair O Ducks
Berto
Ergcat
boharr
DCBilly
edestlin
Cindy Weatherman
JM
LarsCaine
MatthewL
Meg
lbray53
I K Snamhcok
kymike
Dave C
Hector
ajk
Carolyn
DrTom
Darth
rjy
lindaPRmaven
kurtalert
heidi
CPJohnson
Cindy Heisler
Alex Sisti
Tyrpmom
DIS
Steve M
Jaclyn
Philip Chow
BMW
Devoid
An Ephemeral Collation
markhr
KayW
Turtle
Laura M
HeadinHome
Jeremy Smith
Tim
DebbieC
imontoo

Got the first part and correctly assumed where to find the second part...

Crossed.
But perhaps not quite as gentle a crossing as DrTom's --
Very enjoyable (and "classic"?) puzzle, Ben -- Thanks!

Solver update!

BuzzingCow
Emily
Waann
Johnny Luau
hoover
Eric H
atsiricajr111191
rayyandroid
Abide
whimsy

We're at 58 now. Nudges imminent!

Nudges, in order of increasing blatancy:

1. Your only clue is the title but there are asterisks on 7 clues. (By the way, as originally planned there were no asterisks!)

2. The asterisked entries are what's not quite Shakespeare.

3. Think Shakespearean characters. (You may need Google to confirm.)

4. The centre of the puzzle might also help you!

Crossed the MOAT...no nudges needed. Thanks Ben!

Nice job, Ben - (even if I did need a nudge or two).

Solver update:

Mr Tex
omnilynx
Eric H
Adam Simon Levine
Anonymous Crossharer
Qmark
Capn Rick

That's 65. Last update will be Monday morning Aussie time right before the answer reveal.

No new solvers, so here's the solution to "Not Quite Shakespeare":


The seed for this puzzle was encountering CAPLET in someone else's crossword and thinking, "Oh, that's one letter short of CAPULET. That could be a meta puzzle!" But it wasn't until I was on a school camp accompanying 10 high schoolers as we canooed down the Murray River, sleeping in tents on beaches at night, that I started working on the puzzle properly. What was significant about this was that there was absolutely no internet. So I had to dredge my mind for Shakespearean character names that still formed valid words when you drop one letter. Pretty early on I worked out I wanted to spell MUCH ADO with ZIP/NIL in the centre of the grid. Of course I already had the U. PU(C)K came pretty easily, as did VIOL(A) and ROME(O). But I was stuck on M, H and D. Then one restless night (I didn't sleep very well on the wafer-thin semi-inflatable microscopic "mattress" I had been given) I came across (D)UNCAN and its clue involving whoop-ass. I considered (H)ORATIO, but could only think of ORATORIO so dismissed it. It wasn't until I was back in civilisation (somewhere with internet) that I was able to confirm ORATIO as a (Latin) thing and discover that (M)ARIA was a Shakespearean character, albeit somewhat obscure.

Fuzhou Four checking to say: completed it, mate.