XWord Muggles Forum

Got it now... won't bother to submit. Grudgingly I have to admit it was a good puzzle in I actually did do everything I was supposed to be somehow applying the mechanism in one part seemed like a grasp and applying it in the exact same way in another part seems equally like a grasp but I couldn't put them together that they were the *same* grasp (even thought they were. Like a greased pig I felt I had a hold on nothing. And I couldn't see the mechanism in the remainder.

BTW there is a Loch Ard Gorge and the Great Ocean Road in Australia and as google allows for spelling errors .... that threw me for a loop.

Did anyone get thrown by 12 D because NES(T)S without the T spells NESS

I'm behind on my Monday metas but hope to crack this one over the weekend! (Sorry, I missed yours @madhatter5 last week - I'll solve it anyway - I didn't peek yet!!)

MikeyG wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 12:07 pm I'm behind on my Monday metas but hope to crack this one over the weekend! (Sorry, I missed yours @madhatter5 last week - I'll solve it anyway - I didn't peek yet!!)

Before doing that I'm still waiting for the write up on your coffee one! I never solved it

Well, it's Sunday for me, so it's time for the meta answer reveal...


And so the answer is: TREAT PEOPLE WITH KINDNESS. If you haven't yet checked out the music video, please do because it is excellent! Phoebe Waller-Bridge is in it, and the look she gives the camera at the very end is extremely reminiscent of Fleabag.

If you enjoyed the puzzle, there are plenty more to come. There's now a dedicated sub-form for my Metas On A Tuesday, or MOAT for short. I have a fun one coming up this week, so be sure to check it out. And if you haven't done the first three puzzles, they're now in the sub-forum waiting for you...

I think I missed the deadline by 5 minutes, so I hereby award myself the "Oooh, So Close" achievement.

Great puzzle - and a great message to that song as well!

MikeyG wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 8:03 pm I think I missed the deadline by 5 minutes, so I hereby award myself the "Oooh, So Close" achievement.

Great puzzle - and a great message to that song as well!

I'm sorry I didn't wait for your submission - I'll blame time zones! I'd seen from earlier posts that you were hoping to get to the puzzle this weekend.

Lol. Even with the solution I don't understand the mechanism!

Dplass wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 9:03 pm Lol. Even with the solution I don't understand the mechanism!

Let me try to explain 51 across, which I had intended to be the most obvious way into the meta mechanism:

• The clue says "Bush or Eliot or Famous loch"

• This clue is in the form X or Y or Z

• Y can go either with X or Z but not both at the same time

• If we take X and Y together, we come up with GEORGE (ie. George Bush and George Eliot) and this was the grid answer

• To take the "road less travelled" we therefore need to take Y and Z together, which leads to NESS (ie. Eliot Ness and Loch Ness)

The other clues work in similar ways. I appreciate that 1 across requires knowing that in Australia to shout someone is to treat them by paying for their drinks.

OK, but how is OCCUPY -> PEOPLE?

Dplass wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 9:33 pm OK, but how is OCCUPY -> PEOPLE?

When you occupy a location, you "people" it. Like "occupying a stall" is equivalent to "manning a stall" - and then "peopling" is gender-neutral. I think I found it on a list of synonyms somewhere...

MikeyG wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 8:03 pm I think I missed the deadline by 5 minutes, so I hereby award myself the "Oooh, So Close" achievement.

So is that a buzzer-beateN?

benchen71 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 9:49 pm

Dplass wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 9:33 pm OK, but how is OCCUPY -> PEOPLE?

When you occupy a location, you "people" it. Like "occupying a stall" is equivalent to "manning a stall" - and then "peopling" is gender-neutral. I think I found it on a list of synonyms somewhere...


Image 001.png

Ah, ok. I would have never thought of that as a synonym. Nor about half the other ones... Thanks for the puzzle though!

It was a good mechanism but psychologically even when I *did* see it (and I did..... before any of the nudges... well for Loch and Eliot to Ness... "There's Loch Ness or Lomond and the must be some reason for 'Loch' and there's Eliot Ness but that has nothing to do with Bush..." and for Caring and Type to Kind "well, if you are caring you are Kind and type of a thing could be a can be a type, but what the *real* answer...."); even when I *did* see it... I didn't see it.

Solution sorta works. There is a famous Scottish Loch - George Loch. So when GEORGE fits with all 3 clue words one would think you need a word that fits all 3 words in the other clues . . . .

DebbieC wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 2:51 pm Solution sorta works. There is a famous Scottish Loch - George Loch. So when GEORGE fits with all 3 clue words one would think you need a word that fits all 3 words in the other clues . . . .

I clearly did not do enough homework on this one, but I was at least aware that something like this might be possible. That's why I added "Famous". I was intending that word to mean "absolutely the first loch you think of when you think of lochs".

benchen71 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:31 pm That's why I added "Famous". I was intending that word to mean "absolutely the first loch you think of when you think of lochs".

Lomond?

RPardoe wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 8:22 pm

benchen71 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:31 pm That's why I added "Famous". I was intending that word to mean "absolutely the first loch you think of when you think of lochs".

Lomond?

I guess at that point, I was hoping solvers would examine "Famous loch" with "Eliot" together. I assumed "NESS" would be obvious.

benchen71 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 8:35 pm

RPardoe wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 8:22 pm

benchen71 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:31 pm That's why I added "Famous". I was intending that word to mean "absolutely the first loch you think of when you think of lochs".

Lomond?

I guess at that point, I was hoping solvers would examine "Famous loch" with "Eliot" together. I assumed "NESS" would be obvious.

Understood that, just pulling your leg a bit.

MikeM000 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:52 am I had an idea what this might be before I started it...helps to have a teenage daughter who owns a t-shirt with the name of this song on it.

As I was saying.. with her traveling rubber ducky on a cape cod beach in July...