XWord Muggles Forum

Finally got a chance to look at this and I got nothing.

Week 2s are usually pretty simple but I feel like the last few months have been a lot harder no matter which week it is.

Kudos to DrTom for the late night nudge - littlest of course corrections and I’m fairly certain I’ve got it. Thanks!

I got a helpful nudge yesterday afternoon and am beamed up accordingly!

Finally. Looked at it for days, got nuthin’. This morning, just like that I finally saw it. Lack of sleep over the last week has hampered my solving abilities.

I am considering going for a buzzer beater, but I’m also afraid that I may forget.

Mine eyes have seen the glory & are open to the beam-up.

I needed help. Congratulations to those who soloed this puzzle! I couldn't have.

EDIT: I had an embarrassing exhalation of noxious gas from my brain when submitting. I submitted NEAT AS A PIN rather than SHARP AS A TACK, despite emailing the correct reveal for the meta to Matt a few minutes later & well before the noon deadline.

God doesn't like nudges.

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:41 pm Finally got a chance to look at this and I got nothing.

Week 2s are usually pretty simple but I feel like the last few months have been a lot harder no matter which week it is.

But at least your Sox won the Field of Dreams game, which was so epic!! (As a Cubs fan, I say unbiasedly that they are such a fun team to watch this year: Giants-White Sox World Series...you heard it here first!)

MikeyG wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:27 am

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:41 pm Finally got a chance to look at this and I got nothing.

Week 2s are usually pretty simple but I feel like the last few months have been a lot harder no matter which week it is.

But at least your Sox won the Field of Dreams game, which was so epic!! (As a Cubs fan, I say unbiasedly that they are such a fun team to watch this year: Giants-White Sox World Series...you heard it here first!)

The last couple weeks have had to been rough… hope the bounce back happens sooner rather than later. Hoyer and Rossy are solid.

We've already had a few championships in recent memory, and this was not a season that began with big hopes, so we'd be cool with winning a tight Series.

Confess I missed the confirmation at 13D <facepalm>. Fortunately the answer was clear enough without it.

The particularly nasty rabbit hole that I was stuck in for hours was due to the fact that there are exactly four clues that begin with the word “Like” - 47A, 25D, 41D, and 52D. Because there were exactly four, the prompt called for a four-word answer, and “Like” was in the title, I took that as a sign that the five longest across grid entries were irrelevant to the solve.
In 11D- Like airline seats, many find = TOOSMALL, I rationalized that that could reference 11D- PLUTO. Pluto was relegated to dwarf planet status partly due to the belief it was too small to effectively clear it’s orbital path.
Likewise, in 25A-Like rainforests = LUSH, 27D-RANK is a synonym for LUSH.
Unable to accomplish anything with the remaining two “Like” clues, I reached out for help and was guided to the correct path.
I was overcomplicating things, as usual.

I was stuck for a couple days on clues with the same adjective-noun construction as the long grid entries. What made it worse was that one of these clues was a complete mystery to me until I realized that "towers" was pronounced like "tow-ers" rather than meaning "the empire state building" or whatever. Plus, the tow-ers in question matched a piece of one of the long entries... (AAA / BATTERIES)

Jeremy Smith wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 5:28 pm The particularly nasty rabbit hole that I was stuck in for hours was due to the fact that there are exactly four clues that begin with the word “Like” - 47A, 25D, 41D, and 52D. Because there were exactly four, the prompt called for a four-word answer, and “Like” was in the title, I took that as a sign that the five longest across grid entries were irrelevant to the solve.
In 11D- Like airline seats, many say = TOOSMALL, I rationalized that that could reference 11D- PLUTO. Pluto was relegated to dwarf planet status partly due to the belief it was too small to effectively clear it’s orbital path.
Likewise, in 25A-Like rainforests = LUSH, 27D-RANK is a synonym for LUSH.
Unable to accomplish anything with the remaining two “Like” clues, I reached out for help and was guided to the correct path.
I was overcomplicating things, as usual.

Once I saw that, I thought that had to be it and that the SLIPPERY HEEL was totally irrelevant and maybe the "Like" entries connect to the themers. Whoops!

I fell into this rabbit hole long enough to get an idea, highlight all relevant clues, and anagram potential initials into a pseudo-solution.

I will admit that I was excited about the possibility of an extremely contrived solution for 30 seconds after "solving." Then common sense finally had her way. Still, it was fun for a few minutes. Up until this, I had no ghosts of a solution.

Idea: JUST LIKE THAT is 3-words. Are there three-word clues that will lead anywhere?

I used a highlighting pen (mouse, actually) feature within Excel to highlight all three-word clues. There were many, which was encouraging when seeking a four-word solution. Then I highlighted all entry initials, anagramming them to what-I-found-to-be-interesting

HARD GUISE (phonetic of GUYS) TO TRICK

This week’s contest answer is a four-word description of anybody who solves this meta.


As just punishment for entertaining this silly thought, I gave in, requested a nudge, solved correctly & quickly, then incorrectly submitted NEAT AS A PIN.



Happy Wednesday, good people!