XWord Muggles Forum

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:12 pm One suggestion I read once upon a time was to ask yourself, if this was going to be the answer, how would I make a meta out of it. And for my answer, I think this puzzle is just how I'd do it.

^^^^^ this ^^^^^

And it looks like I'm in the wrong group. Is there an achievement for my very first ever week 1 miss?

I'm in the same boat and burning the midnight oil. any friendly nudges?

Finally beaming down.

All sorts of dissatisfaction here. But VERY grateful for all the offers of help. MUGGLES ROCK!

Ugh, just… just nudge me. I won’t look… will it hurt? I’ve never done it this early before, so please be gentle.

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 11:18 pm And it looks like I'm in the wrong group. Is there an achievement for my very first ever week 1 miss?

I certainly hope so! Although I haven’t been doing these as long as many of you, I’ve never bombed a week 1. I thought about asking for a nudge but my answer made so much sense [to me].

Joe Ross wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 6:27 am MGWCC 688 Ldrbd 8-9-21-2306 .png

Carnage incarnate. Cincinnati Public Access Channel #3 will go down with PAGEANT in our sordid history.

(KIDDING, DON'T SUBMIT THAT!)

On the board. Definitely helped to take a fresh look this morning and forget about the rabbit holes from the previous day. Fresh eyes are often the key to success in this game.

Matt's offering a 2nd chance. Very fair of him, IMO:

"So with my apologies for this dud of a meta, I’ve just sent out a new one labeled MGWCC #688-B. Deadline for that is Thursday at noon ET, and any solver who gets at least one of these two metas correct will get full credit for #688."

https://crosswordfiend.com/2021/08/10/m ... ore-128078

Huge thanks to @Conrad for the heads up!

MATT DECLARED A MULLIGAN!

MGWCC #688-B — Tuesday, August 10th, 2021 — “Urban Design”
Dear MGWCC Solver:

Welp, that one (MGWCC #688) was kind of a dud. My intended answer was COMEDY CENTRAL since the five movies hidden in the theme entries (ELF, BIG, BORAT, RANGO, DINER) are all comedies and they’re located in the dead center of their entries.

BUT: “Diner” is more of a comedy-drama, and many solvers sent in other logical answers, such as LIFETIME since it conceals “E.T.” in its exact center. So I’m going to officially declare MGWCC #688 a dud.



Which means: if you got my intended answer of COMEDY CENTRAL then you’re good to go. If not, you still have another chance to get full credit for #688 by solving the attached Week 1 puzzle, “Urban Design”. Just enter on the leaderboard under #688 and your answer will be counted as correct (assuming you get it right). You can enter for fun even if you already got the original #688 correct.

Deadline for this puzzle is THURSDAY, August 12th at noon ET. So that’s pretty quick (48 hours instead of the usual 96) but I suspect you will handle it without much trouble.

Apologies again for the dud of a puz. Onward and upward!


INSTRUCTIONS:

This puzzle’s contest answer is a major U.S. city.

–Matt

Here's my thing with the puzzle - there's comedy movies and then there's Comedy Movies. Especially for a week 1, you need to make it obvious and go with obvious choices (none of which would fit into this grid, I should add...) like Duck Soup, Animal House, Some Like it Hot, Step Brothers, The Hangover, etc.

Elf - Christmas
Borat - Satirical look at what America looks like from an outsider's viewpoint
Diner - Coming of age story about young adult males in the 50s.
Rango - My kids would have been in the right age range to dig an animated movie from 2011. It's...something about....a lizard... in the southwest...who wears a hat....? I think...? Has anyone seen this movie?
Big - Story about the joy and wonder of childhood (post-modern criticism redacted)

Borat would be the only one I'd immediately ID as an all-caps COMEDY.

I did a buzzer beater after we did a group solve the other day, as I wouldn't have minded just not submitting if I forgot at 11:55.

And anyway...this might be the single funniest thing in history, and it didn't even make the movie!

Grateful for the do-over. I had spent so much time on "Fifth-Fifth Friday" (alas, unsuccessfully) that I was beyond annoyed at this puzzle. Rather than spend more time on it, I essentially quit knowing that the answer, whatever it was, wouldn't be very satisfying. It was also pretty clear that there was no particular bridge to a 100%'er and a connection was needed... surprisingly, I'd listed 15-20 cable TV channels off the top of my head and COMEDY CENTRAL wasn't one of them. I'd imagine if that popped into one's head quickly this would satisfice as a Week 1, but if it didn't this was a dud.

As an aside, I didn't understand 52 down – "One of Cicero's two"... I got SOFTS. Can someone explain to me? Google isn't helping much.

mheverson wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 1:11 pm As an aside, I didn't understand 52 down – "One of Cicero's two"... I got SOFTS. Can someone explain to me? Google isn't helping much.

Cicero has two SOFT Cs. Check 67A (ALEC Guinness) to confirm the C (instead of the S)

mheverson wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 1:11 pm Grateful for the do-over. I had spent so much time on "Fifth-Fifth Friday" (alas, unsuccessfully) that I was beyond annoyed at this puzzle. Rather than spend more time on it, I essentially quit knowing that the answer, whatever it was, wouldn't be very satisfying. It was also pretty clear that there was no particular bridge to a 100%'er and a connection was needed... surprisingly, I'd listed 15-20 cable TV channels off the top of my head and COMEDY CENTRAL wasn't one of them. I'd imagine if that popped into one's head quickly this would satisfice as a Week 1, but if it didn't this was a dud.

As an aside, I didn't understand 52 down – "One of Cicero's two"... I got SOFTS. Can someone explain to me? Google isn't helping much.

Soft C (pronunciation)

RPardoe wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 1:16 pm

mheverson wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 1:11 pm As an aside, I didn't understand 52 down – "One of Cicero's two"... I got SOFTS. Can someone explain to me? Google isn't helping much.

Cicero has two SOFT Cs. Check 67A (ALEC Guinness) to confirm the C (instead of the S)

Makes MUCH more sense. Thank you.

Now that’s a week 1.

Matt sure didn’t owe us anything. But I’m happy to always have extra MGWCCs.

Yeah my answer was STARZ ENCORE (zen in the center). Comedy Central didn’t come to mind, and I’m not sure I noticed it on any lists I googled. We rarely watch TV, and I’d only seen two of the five movies. I didn’t really think of Big as a true comedy.

It was very generous of Matt to give us a do-over. Hoping I didn’t blow it, too.

I had guessed The Movie Channel, then thought maybe it was American Movie Classics (although I'm not sure any of them are classics). Glad that one got tossed.

RPardoe wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 1:16 pm

mheverson wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 1:11 pm As an aside, I didn't understand 52 down – "One of Cicero's two"... I got SOFTS. Can someone explain to me? Google isn't helping much.

Cicero has two SOFT Cs. Check 67A (ALEC Guinness) to confirm the C (instead of the S)

Word on the street is that it was pronounce Keekiroe.