XWord Muggles Forum

The promised nudge:

The sport in question is baseball.

This would be a great puzzle for a meta solving class or to get a friend hooked on metas.

lbray53 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 19, 2021 9:15 pm This would be a great puzzle for a meta solving class or to get a friend hooked on metas.

Agreed. Very clever; a basic meta with easy-to-understand steps, yet clever and elegant.

DebbieC wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 12:13 am

lbray53 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 19, 2021 9:15 pm This would be a great puzzle for a meta solving class or to get a friend hooked on metas.

Agreed. Very clever; a basic meta with easy-to-understand steps, yet clever and elegant.

And yet I can't find any way into this meta! I consider myself a good WSJ meta solver, and create my own metas. I do not consider this meta basic or easy. However, I also know nothing about baseball so I don't know if that is a factor.

It was so great ZOOMing with the Muggles last night and putting some faces to the names. Y'all are delightful.

Here's the updated leaderboard:

Meg
Barbara
Karen
Jay
Michael M
Dave C
Cap’n Rick
Bob
Jay
Dannyvee
Tamara
Heidi
Cindy
SharkIcicles
Dr. Tom
Beth
Laura
Old Judge
Mama E
Claudia
Shmuel
Matt
Scott
Chris Kochmanski
Kay
Cynthia
Bob
Jeanne C
Dick
Carolyn
Rich
Ibray53
Frank
Debbie
Darth
Jeremy
Dudeski
Marge
Bret
Cathy

I am confirmed off the couch. I didn't see it--and then I did. Lovely first meta!

Unconfirmed, but definitely off the couch.

Nice Meta!

And I remember the Green M&M "theory" from the mid 1970's in high school. Haven't heard it since.

This was a superb puzzle and not just because I solved it. Most of us use Mr. G from time to time when the subject matter is not in our wheelhouse. This subject matter and mechanism are, I think, fair to any participant.

Well done!

Thanks to a couple of nudges, I've finally struggled through to the answer. That was definitely tricky for someone unfamiliar with that particular sporting arena! Thank goodness for Wikipedia...

Well done! Very enjoyable. I was stuck for a while on one thing and couldn't get out of my own way. With a helpful nudge, I was on my way off the couch.

Super nice debut! Given how others reacted I thought it would take me 30 seconds; it is definitely one that, if you don't get it immediately, benefits from just leaving it out on a table and looking at it from time to time. Very inventive elements involved.

My one question though....did @Thurman8er know of the Canadian sitcom beforehand or did he just find something in Google results that fit the grid? I've had access to the CBC my whole life and I've never heard of this one until now....

MikeM000 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 11:37 am Super nice debut! Given how others reacted I thought it would take me 30 seconds; it is definitely one that, if you don't get it immediately, benefits from just leaving it out on a table and looking at it from time to time. Very inventive elements involved.

My one question though....did @Thurman8er know of the Canadian sitcom beforehand or did he just find something in Google results that fit the grid? I've had access to the CBC my whole life and I've never heard of this one until now....

That was definitely Googled. Although as a teacher...who is often called Mr. T...I thought it was fair.

Nudge #2:

If you don't know your baseball teams

you'll want to find a list and compare it to the entries .

I think I'm off the couch. This was quite the amazing debut! Symmetric, no weird singles or twos, no obscure crossing pairs, etc.

Solved after many nudges and hints.

Thanks for the puzzle!

Officially "OTC". Looking forward to posting the rabbit holes I went down, and how deep they went. . . .

Thurman8er wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:48 pm Nudge #2:

If you don't know your baseball teams

you'll want to find a list and compare it to the entries .

Yeah...... I'm not going to do that.

This seems like a great puzzle and well constructed and I want to ditto all the encouraging words.

But the antipathy sports and I mutually feel toward each other and that I think I know exactly two terms of sports statistics, makes me think I'll have to give it a miss.

[Unless I do, do that... I haven't met a puzzle I haven't wanted to wrestle a bit with.

woozy wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 3:03 pm

Thurman8er wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:48 pm Nudge #2:

If you don't know your baseball teams

you'll want to find a list and compare it to the entries .

Yeah...... I'm not going to do that.

This seems like a great puzzle and well constructed and I want to ditto all the encouraging words.

But the antipathy sports and I mutually feel toward each other and that I think I know exactly two terms of sports statistics, makes me think I'll have to give it a miss.

[Unless I do, do that... I haven't met a puzzle I haven't wanted to wrestle a bit with.

This is kind of how I feel about Shakespeare-related metas. I think we all have not-so-favorite categories.

Me, I do the puzzles anyway... maybe I just don't try as hard on those

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 4:22 pm

woozy wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 3:03 pm

Thurman8er wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:48 pm Nudge #2:

If you don't know your baseball teams

you'll want to find a list and compare it to the entries .

Yeah...... I'm not going to do that.

This seems like a great puzzle and well constructed and I want to ditto all the encouraging words.

But the antipathy sports and I mutually feel toward each other and that I think I know exactly two terms of sports statistics, makes me think I'll have to give it a miss.

[Unless I do, do that... I haven't met a puzzle I haven't wanted to wrestle a bit with.

This is kind of how I feel about Shakespeare-related metas. I think we all have not-so-favorite categories.

Me, I do the puzzles anyway... maybe I just don't try as hard on those

This is me with my well-documented hatred of geography puzzles. Believe me, I get it.

First off, let me thank all the folks who helped with the construction of my first puzzle and the posts on the message board throughout the week. That especially includes Al Sisti, Peter Abide, Brian MacDonald, and Joe Ross.

I'm also so grateful for the encouragement and appreciation of the Muggle community. You guys really are the best.

The final list of people who made it off the couch (at least by my reckoning) is:

Meg
Barbara
Karen
Jay
Michael M
Dave C
Cap’n Rick
Bob
Jay
Dannyvee
Tamara
Heidi
Cindy
SharkIcicles
Dr. Tom
Beth
Laura
Old Judge
Mama E
Claudia
Shmuel
Matt
Scott
Chris Kochmanski
Kay
Cynthia
Bob
Jeanne C
Dick
Carolyn
Rich
Ibray53
Frank
Debbie
Darth
Jeremy
Dudeski
Marge
Bret
Cathy
Kevin
Bhamren
Benchen71
Cae39
Kay
MikeM000
DPlass
Hoover
Cbarbee002
Deep
Cindy N