XWord Muggles Forum

Finally off the sofa thanks to Al’s nudges - I was stuck with a few of those unintentional red herrings. Especially that SE corner one mentioned.

Solved.
Off the couch and into a garden chair to enjoy the pond ( which contains no red herrings).
Great job, Al

Additions to the leaderboard as of Thursday AM:

44 MikeM000
45  ImOnToo 
46 KayW
47 MamaE
48 markhr
49 Cindy N
50 Kalamitykatie
51 sharkicicles 
52 Carolyn
53 CAe39
54 MaineMarge
55 auee89

Off the cat on the couch (who was once in a bag) onto the beach where I've been beamed up. As I look at the puzzle again after solving, I am wowed by the construction and the elegance of this one. It's all there to see only if I could have seen it sooner. And like others, I laughed out loud at the airport yesterday at 46D.

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Wed Aug 18, 2021 1:24 pm This one was very, very good.

This test solver (omitted from list) agrees.

Abide wrote: ↑Thu Aug 19, 2021 6:12 pm

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Wed Aug 18, 2021 1:24 pm This one was very, very good.

This test solver (omitted from list) agrees.

Sorry, brother... you're on the list now.

Off the couch confirmed. Thanks, Al!

Well, after several days of unnecessary "busywork" I am finally off --
but I did think my jowl was stuck forever --

Additions to the leaderboard as of this morning.

56 Tom Wilson
57 Jeremy Smith
58 Tom Mueller
59 Abide (TS)
60 Joe 
61 whimsy
62 Naptown Kid

The answer to this meta was EUREKA (Nevada), found by 63 (!) solvers. After a less-than-satisfactory meta and outcome for my last puzzle, I decided I needed to do one with all the tricks: [something] in the long acrosses, [something ] in the center row/column grid entry, and [something] in the grid entry in the SE corner… and a title and prompt that tied everything together.

The center column entry was NUMERAL, which may or may not have led the solver to look for numerals in the long acrosses… and there they were:

DEADWEIGHTS
CANINEUNIT
ELIZABETHREED
SALMONELLA and
KINGLOUISIX

89316… so what now? Indexes? Grid entry numbers? Clue numbers? Well, the title says we’re looking for “something from nothing,” and the clue for that important SE corner entry was “Nothing,” and that answer to that clue was ZIP. That, hopefully, gave solvers the idea to look up 89316 as a Zip Code, and – EUREKA! (“I have found [it]” in Greek) -- there it is!

The random winner this week was Dow Jones, who will receive either a) a Utica Club keepsake, b) a Blarney Rebel Band CD, or c) I’ll make a $15 donation in your name to a charity of your choice (PM me with your wish and contact information). Congrats!

It'd be funny and tricky if the answer were Clifton (Ohio) with zip code 45316 and if you had had some red herring clues about coffee and unleaded gas and see how many inadvertently come up with DECAF.

I enjoyed this one.

With "Something from Nothing" and ADDUP, I had a sheet a two of paper with lots of addition and subtraction of all sorts of numbers. Then when I did catch on to the zip codes, the zero connotation was so stuck in my head that I somehow substituted that for one of the other numbers. It's a good thing Ely, Nevada is only 3 letters, otherwise Al may have wondered why he got that as an answer!
It was definitely worth the chuckle when I corrected myself a day later! Thanks, Al!

Yeah, having 3D and 4D also contain numbers, and ADD UP (which *definitely* sounds like a solving hint), were things I should have caught.

I also should have caught that @Dow Jones did submit an answer, but he reminded me that it wasn't the right answer, so he asked me to pick another winner. I did... the winner of his choice from the swag bag is @Cap'n Rick... PM me to let me know what you want and how I can get it to you...

Oh my goodness. How clever! So close but so far for me this week.

The execution of getting the numbers into the themes was excellent. Not super-stick-out-in-your-face noticeable.

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Sun Aug 22, 2021 12:51 pm The execution of getting the numbers into the themes was excellent. Not super-stick-out-in-your-face noticeable.

Ah, thanks, that means a lot. I'm learning a little more every time I do one.

I think this puzzle should've been titled Al-Chemy.