XWord Muggles Forum

MGWCC #679 — Friday, June 4th, 2021 — “More to Read” by Patrick Berry

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a famous work of fiction.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.



(NOTE: No Excel form will be created for this puzzle, unless requested.)

On the board at #14. I found the grid to be not all that easy, but the meta was straightforward.

Agree. The grid took me much longer than the meta.

Woo hoo! Streak of 5!

Energize, Mr. Scott! And thank you to Patrick Berry.

"b" me up. One hull of a puzzle.

What a nice surprise this morning to see Mr Berry at the helm of the good ship MGWCC. Fun puzzle with an unexpectedly challenging grid for a week one. Oh, and glad to see the world is back to normal—EA guessed the answer at exactly noon.

Beam me up. Fun and a tiny bit more than a week 1 I thought.

Stay well all

I'm not sure where Up is, but a lot of people are gong to be beamed there, including me.

Ah, Week 1 time, where the beamin' is easy. Nice one!

Tough grid for a Week 1. Meta fell quickly. Always a nice surprise to see a Patrick Berry meta.

Beamed.

This being a week 1, I expect some of us will have some extra time on our hands this weekend. What better way to spend that time than to do a jaw-dropping Patrick Berry puzzle? (I'm not exaggerating, this is the only puzzle I've ever done that literally caused my jaw to drop after I'd finished).

https://aframegames.com/puzzles/MiddleOfTheRoad.pdf

The grizzled veterans here have probably done this puzzle already, but on the off chance you haven't, I could not recommend it more highly. I was reminded by Matt's writeup this week, in which he links to a video of Patrick accepting his recent Merl Reagle lifetime achievement award. Patrick was asked about his favorite puzzle he's created, and Middle of the Road was his answer. The clues are cryptic style, which may be unfamiliar territory to some, but the payoff is well worth it.

Whew, I was working on my "10" badge and even though I limped in at #107 I still have a streak of 10 (duration unknown but why focus on the negative!). I guess I could have been higher than 107 but my own personal devils insist that I solve the ENTIRE GRID before attempting the META, so I will never hit the first page or top 10 or 50 or 100, heck I'm delighted to be in at 107.

It was a fun META and I must be odd (can you hear all the people yelling their agreement?) but I did not find the GRID particularly challenging, I got it a lot faster than I do some Patrick Berry grids (which I love incidentally).

This is one of my favorite week 1s ever; so clever.

Beam me up! That was a fun and straightforward meta

Started late due to an ill timed morning meeting, but beamed aboard. This is one I solved without the instructions--not on purpose, just because I had the answer before I looked at them (though I of course then looked at them to confirm).

Solved and submitted.

Delay in starting, but the grid would have kept me from the very elite status. Agree: tough grid, easy and fun meta.

51A always cracks me up when I hear it spoken.

Beam me up.
(Hey check out that big ole TEN beside my name! First time... didn’t start doing these until fall 2020 I think.)

Charles Stevens wrote: ↑Fri Jun 04, 2021 1:25 pm Beamed.

This being a week 1, I expect some of us will have some extra time on our hands this weekend. What better way to spend that time than to do a jaw-dropping Patrick Berry puzzle? (I'm not exaggerating, this is the only puzzle I've ever done that literally caused my jaw to drop after I'd finished).

https://aframegames.com/puzzles/MiddleOfTheRoad.pdf

I’m not grizzled yet so this is new to me. I find cryptics difficult .. is there a solution page for this (don’t want to attempt otherwise, lest I have nowhere to go for explanations after!)

Beam me up!