XWord Muggles Forum

Dino me as well. Just a stellar puzzle.

I’m really starting to look forward to these each week.

Dplass wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:09 am

Hector wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:49 pm I think the idea of Sunday as the start of the week was rendered obsolete by the advent of the weekend (thank you, labor movement!).

ChrisKochmanski wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 4:22 pm Also ...

I can't decide whether to view Will's Weekly Meta as the lovely start to my meta puzzling week, or the very satisfying end.

Thoughts?

But...most calendars sold in the U.S. start on Sunday.

I think of Thursday and the WSJ as the start of my meta week, probably because that was my first, so Will’s is in the middle.

It took me much longer than it should have to see what the theme was. Even then, there was a red herring (well, maybe not red, but at leask dark pink) leading me down the wrong inlet. I'm impressed with Will's ingenuity.

Was it fun? Yes, but for me, these multi-step puzzles are fun only when I know I'm heading in the right direction towards the solution and can see the cleverness of the construction. Before that, they're just frustrating.

Got it, after a couple of hints. I'm impressed by the construction.

Will's puzzle has rapidly become one I look forward to. The ingenuity of this puzzle is quite remarkable and the construction really rivals a Gaffney of Shenk. It also seems like Will is trying to make sure his style is that he has no recognizable style except surprise. Granted I have not done enough of them yet to be able to say, "oh it is probably this", but each of his puzzles has been very different. His grids are also a challenge and I find I have to look something up almost every time. I thought of the answer but discarded it early because I saw no "mechanism"; when I finally saw (after some nudging) it I said WOW! Good job Will.

oldjudge wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 6:04 pm Finally-Dino Me . Great puzzle, but I have to admit that I prefer puzzles with specific metas. In puzzles with vague metas, like “6-word letter”, you can sometimes come up with reasonable answers but not realize that there is a better answer. Minor point-I enjoyed the puzzle a lot.

I just posted a question for next week's WSJ Q&A about how they decide on a meta prompt. I think the # of letters type can make it easier or harder depending. In the infamous PAGEANT puzzle, if the prompt were 'a 7-letter word' instead of 'a kind of competition' I daresay most everyone would have kept going instead of stopping at bowl games. On the other hand, if last week's MGWCC had asked simply for a 5-letter word instead of, 'sounds like something you’ll want to do after solving this meta' people would not have been as likely to guess without actually solving the meta,

I'm a few metas behind because I'm traveling, but I finally got to this one. On the dino train, loved it!

Thank you all for the kind words and helpful feedback! I really loved reading these comments!

I will usually opt for the "# of letters" style prompt when there are X number of items in the puzzle that each lend a letter to the answer. For example, last week with Leonard's puzzle, I recommended this type of prompt because there were 4 "subthemers" that each provided a letter of the answer. Same sort of situation this week. However, I never considered "a 3-letter word" for Geography Quiz since there were not 3 theme entries that each lent a letter - you had to complete the group of terms with letters outside of the puzzle. I have no clue if Shenk or Gaffney use these guidelines, but I suspect they might, given last week's WSJ prompt. Please let me know what they say if they answer that question! I unfortunately cannot attend either webinar.

Cheers!

I'm late to this party. Where did "dino train" come from? Whatever it is, I'm on it!

hcbirker wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2020 6:47 pm I'm late to this party. Where did "dino train" come from? Whatever it is, I'm on it!

C=64 wrote above" "It's a combination of being "on the Will train" and the anagram of "I'm done" -- "Dino Me". And Dinosaur Train is a kids' show on PBS."

It's a weird combo, but it looks like it's going to stick.

Got it after one small(?) nudge from Will. Thank you sir! Nicely crafted.

I was a DNF on this one....I honestly never noticed the mountains were in there until I got a nudge from Will. I took the title literally when I noticed there were 4 clues with one or won in them, and 2 grid entries denoting it (UNO & ONESIE). But the best I could do going up one from them was SALUSP. Oh well.