XWord Muggles Forum

Exactly the same, except that I paused right before hitting "Send" on my entry email and looked at the directions again, then took the final step to FOOT. Prompting this posting on Friday:

#130Post by RobM » Fri Dec 16, 2022 9:54 am
There is a wrong answer that I predict a significant number of people will submit, and that they will slap their heads and say "d'oh" when they see the correct answer.

I say this because I came within a click on "Send" of submitting it myself.

My quick diversions were:

ASCOT -> COAST (43a) - Quickly got nowhere

HAT is in MATH - Also a quick dead end

Other articles of clothing off by a letter?

GASH->SASH (Relates to VEST or BELT?)
SNIP->SLIP (Relates to VEST or BELT?)
FOOD->HOOD (Relates to HAT)
TEE->TIE (Relates to ASCOT)

Which gave me one of SLHI, LSHI, GNFE, NGFE, none of which made any sense.

Wait... NOCK->SOCK... Okay... back to my mantra of "title, Title, TITLE!"

Where? ... Remembers WHIST and makes the WAIST connection...

I already had the order written down from the numbers, so HOSE wasn't an option.

Got it. (With FOOD->FOOT as confirmation)

whimsy wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 7:48 am And now it can be told.
It's all about the accessorizing.


Capturebunluckycharm.PNG

I predict not only incorrect guesses of SHOE, but also FEET, not seeing 13D for the confirmation. And possibly LEGS for HOSE. Thank goodness the grid didn't have LESS or BEGS in it.

Yes, I did exactly that. I was so excited about getting on page one (with the correct answer but I did not see FOOD/FOOT-wow oh wow is he good!!) that I accidentally put in SHOE and hit send. A second later I sent a second email with the correct answer FOOT, pleading forgiveness. Needless to say, there was no email from Mike today. I would like to think that had my entry been drawn, I might have been given a hall pass, but no idea. Anyway, this is the type of Matt puzzle that I absolutely adore. So many steps, the first aha is so wonderful and you’re off to the races. A fantastic holiday present from Matt.

Stay well all and happy holidays.

I had one small stumble when trying to determine where you wear a vest. My first thought was Torso. A quick look at the grid showed that was wrong. Landed on Chest then it was a quick swim to shore.

RobM wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 9:43 am If there weren't parenthetical numbers in the theme clues, there would be an alternative answer. The same four letters could make HOSE, making LEGS a correct response.

Didn't think of that but strictly speaking the answer is "part", not parts so maybe no. Solved this week so glad I didn't waist my time!

mheberlingx100 wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 11:24 am I had one small stumble when trying to determine where you wear a vest. My first thought was Torso. A quick look at the grid showed that was wrong. Landed on Chest then it was a quick swim to shore.

Also considered BUST/OUST. That’s where I wear my vest.

RobM wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 9:43 am If there weren't parenthetical numbers in the theme clues, there would be an alternative answer. The same four letters could make HOSE, making LEGS a correct response.

Well, there are no rules but by my personal judgement to myself.... I consider metas that do not have a legitimate method of specifying the order of the letters (assuming it is a spell out meta) aren't valid.

SHIWUTONG wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 5:20 am I saw the four across clues with numbers and found the articles of clothing. I noticed they all ended with a "T". So then I looked at all the four letter answers and changed them all to a four letter word ending in T and the only body part I came up with was FOOD to FOOT. So that was the answer I submitted. I never saw the words that made up SHOE.. Well, if I win the cup, do I have to give it back???

Yes. You absolutely have to give it back. I will send you the address.

What about HEEL (4D HEED, again) as an alternate answer? I chose FOOT as the likely intended answer, but if I had only seen HEEL, I could've convinced myself it was right.

femullen wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 9:29 am Long before I saw the items of clothing in the theme answers, I saw OMAHA in 30A TOMAHAWK. This "where" blinded me for most of a day as I scrounged around for other place names. I think it was not until Saturday night after the Legion Christmas party that my unfocused eyes landed upon VEST, etc.

I also had one heck of a time just solving the grid. Of the four theme personalities, I'd only ever heard of Abel Tasman.

Had I noticed OMAHA, oh my goodness, this would've been yet another rabbit hole for me.

Because I solved online, I only noticed the (2), but that was on a clue where the answer was 2 words. So, I started with 30A T(OMAHA)WK Yes, excellent! Obviously that's what we were meant to do. Hurriedly finished the grid but...where were the other WHEREs? I was very confused when I wasn't finding anything. Another muggle asked if I was solving online and I immediately realized that (2) meant something else. From there it was a quick solve, despite the distraction of seeing a scrambled ITALY in one of the down entries.

BarbaraK wrote: Sun Dec 18, 2022 6:49 pm Don't forget tonight's Zoom for Isaac's Last Call.

I'm curious about the people with a grid error that impeded their solve. Hope to hear about those this evening on Zoom and/or tomorrow on the forum.

This was a great puzzle! As far my grid errors go, the lower right corner was a mess. For guarantees, I had IOUs, which seemed extremely weird since IOU was another entry. I didn't know much about WWII guns and arrow parts, so figured those answers were probably okay. They weren't. Most embarrassing of all, I entered DNKY instead of DKNY and couldn't see what was wrong.
But everything else lined up, and having S H ? E made it obvious that the correct answer is that which "wheres" a shoe, so I submitted FOOT.

One thing I have noticed about Matt Gaffney's puzzles is that he likes to make the solver impute the final answer from the metanism. It's an elegant final step, but always leaves me with a small amount of doubt. I have grown to like it, but more than once I submitted an answer that was one step short of the official answer. It also was why I was convinced that 5K was HALF MARATHON a few weeks back. Glad that the puzzle masters had mercy on us then, but I doubt SHOE will get a pass this week. Anyhow, it makes a lively Monday! So, there is always the plus of a MMQB fun discussion.

FrancesY wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 11:54 am

mheberlingx100 wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 11:24 am I had one small stumble when trying to determine where you wear a vest. My first thought was Torso. A quick look at the grid showed that was wrong. Landed on Chest then it was a quick swim to shore.

Also considered BUST/OUST. That’s where I wear my vest.

I started looking for torso too, but rather than leading me to BUST/OUST, my path's first stop was BACH/BACK...cause a vest is sort of worn over your back. I did eventually make it to CHESS/CHEST, but S came last and a bit circuitous, after I had already seen wHist, nOck, and heEd.

I did learn a valuable lesson along the way though---Don't google: 'body parts that are spelled with H-O-E'

We associated VEST with CHEST right away, since many people mistake the saying "he plays his cards close to the chest" instead of the original, "he plays his cards close to the vest." Also, CHESS was in the center of the grid.

Another mugless Monday for me! I got the right answer, but no mug.
Meanwhile, Boxing Day is still elusive. I have a lot of the answers, but not the 1A and 1D.

Janet wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 4:45 pm Another mugless Monday for me! I got the right answer, but no mug.
Meanwhile, Boxing Day is still elusive. I have a lot of the answers, but not the 1A and 1D.

I had to do Boxing Day backward, starting in the bottom right corner with the last answers

Reading these posts is a big part of the Shared Experience of WSJ-meta world. This calls to mind the enormous thanks owed to the constructors who create the Experience, and even enormouser thanks to the Cruise Director and Joe and Wendy and the others who facilitate this forum and create the Shared. Hats off to you, and very happy holidays!