Page 17 of 19
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:54 am
by NuYear68
Got "boo" and "ick" and was off and running (or is it swimming?). Didn't get "oops" right away because I was only looking at four letter answers in line with the others I had. Assumed "ack" was the final one, but never took Bill the Cat to say, "sorry to hear that". To me, "ack" is the sound of him choking on a hairball.
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:55 am
by BarbaraK
I was so tickled when I saw the clue for 34D "Saberhagen and Harte"! I confidently wrote in FREDS with no crossings. No idea who Fred Harte could be, but that's no surprise; I often don't know proper names. But Fred Saberhagen! One of the greats from the Golden Age of Science Fiction, who clearly inspired so many later writers with his Berserker stories (remind anyone of the Borg?)! How wonderful to see him included in a crossword!
Unsurprisingly, several crossings worked perfectly. But what on earth is a FASSI? Something else I never heard of. I really resisted changing to BRETS and googled to be sure there was actually another Saberhagen out there. Boo indeed.
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:06 am
by Flying_Burrito
BarbaraK wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:55 am
I was so tickled when I saw the clue for 34D "Saberhagen and Harte"! I confidently wrote in FREDS with no crossings. No idea who Fred Harte could be, but that's no surprise; I often don't know proper names. But Fred Saberhagen! One of the greats from the Golden Age of Science Fiction, who clearly inspired so many later writers with his Berserker stories (remind anyone of the Borg?)! How wonderful to see him included in a crossword!
Unsurprisingly, several crossings worked perfectly. But what on earth is a FASSI? Something else I never heard of. I really resisted changing to BRETS and googled to be sure there was actually another Saberhagen out there. Boo indeed.
It's actually Bret Saberhagen (and bassi) probably the best pitcher that KC Royals had in the past 30+ years
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:09 am
by EmilyW
Like others, I got them all except ACK and BAH. I had OHNO instead of ACK but didn't think it was right. I did notice BAHA, but the exclamation I saw in that word was AHA! which was not the exclamation I was saying while doing this puzzle. I had MWATAH, and thought if I had a few more letters it could anagram to WHAT A META! but not enough themers for that. OH well!
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:12 am
by DrTom
JJD wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 8:44 am
Early on, I read the Theme as a clickbait headline, which seemed to fit my understanding of Matt’s sense of humor.
I found the BOOm first because I made a Halloween connection with it, except I got 2 letters from ONHOT = ONO + HT. (ONO being a common grid answer.)
[now I realize that the inelegance of the 5-letter HOOPS led me to think another 5 letter grid entry would be used. I’d definitely say ONO instead of ACK on hearing unpleasant news from someone.]
And then I anagrammed the resulting 8 letters to WHAT A HAM!”, which would be a fitting reply to the clickbait theme, and Ham being a synonym for Show Off, and clearly this Theme was showing off about how clever it is.
I’m very satisfied with the “aha” feeling I got in finding the correct mechanism. And my ‘alternate’ answer.
ROFL - I vote for this as an alternate answer! I mean it is rathe fitting under the puzzle circumstances.
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:15 am
by DMills1996
Hey all, long time listener first time caller for the forums here. Had to make an account to pose this question to everyone...
Did anybody else get completely thrown off of the meta by EARTHA KIT(T) ?!?!?! In the 35A theme answer you can make "EARTHA" and 32D "KIT" is right there next to it! I couldn't believe it wasn't related to the solution... I desperately want to know if Matt put that in there as an intentional red herring or it's just an insane coincidence.
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:24 am
by katnahat
I'm encouraged to say that I did get the mechanism and some of the words Sunday night, but sleep took over. At first I was looking for any answer to "what you would say" and found bur (wrong). Then I saw (w)ick and b(u)rr. But it was too late; the brain cells went to sleep. Something learned every week! Is it my imagination or is the Monday Crossword easier than the others? Maybe to give our brains a rest.
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:25 am
by DrTom
Man I am soooo sorry I will miss tomorrow's Zoom Call but its my birthday so we are going out to a nice French restaurant her in JAX at 7:00 so I'll miss it. It will be a good one I am sure or my name's not Snidley Whiplash!
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:28 am
by sphorning
Well, I was on the wrong beach. Darn!
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:35 am
by Ergcat
I also checked with Google and “Mwahaha” evil laugh is in several dictionaries. Also confirmed “ack” ( to display mild alarm or dismay) for me. I didn’t like that “ack” “ick” and “bah” didn’t follow the same double letter pattern of “boo, hmm, brr and oops” so I spent some time looking for other double letter exclamations! But in the end, mwahaha fit!
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:36 am
by MatthewL
Got this one fairly quickly -- saw BRR and and HMM right away, and then knew I was on the right track and found the others (BAH was the last one I found). Plus, I thought the clue at 33A was a bit of a hint -- substituting one word for an exclamation phrase. Like some others, when I saw "ACK" I immediately thought of Bill the Cat. But perhaps its because I have this hanging in my living room:
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:49 am
by otlaolap
Got "MWAHAHA" from the puzzle and had it on my paper. Submitted my answer on autopilot: "BWAHAHA", which is how I've always heard and seen the phrase. One or two minutes later I realized what I had done, and in a plea for mercy submitted "MWAHAHA -- I made a typo by typing BWAHAHA a couple of minutes ago". They should kick this into the trash can quickly (if they have an automated filter for duplicates this will happen) because neatness counts. But It still irks me that I did this, and still pleases me that I got the meta. Best of luck in the draw.
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:06 am
by JeanneC
Had the right mechanism but kicked it to the curb when the first two letters were “M” and “W”. Forgot the first rule of metas: there are no rules. Would never have gotten “ack”(?) either.
Congrats to those who solved.
Onward!
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:22 am
by Bob cruise director
DMills1996 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:15 am
Hey all, long time listener first time caller for the forums here. Had to make an account to pose this question to everyone...
Did anybody else get completely thrown off of the meta by EARTHA KIT(T) ?!?!?! In the 35A theme answer you can make "EARTHA" and 32D "KIT" is right there next to it! I couldn't believe it wasn't related to the solution... I desperately want to know if Matt put that in there as an intentional red herring or it's just an insane coincidence.
According to what Matt said at our Q&A in June, he does not intentionally put in red herrings. He said that we find enough red herrings on our own and laughed.
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:29 am
by Bob cruise director
I almost choked when I did the grid and found that ACK was part of the meta. Bill Katz has been a muggle since before the forum and has had the same avatar since we started the forum (see post #161). I figured that because of that, it was not a spoiler but had a good laugh
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:52 am
by ship4u
I never heard the term "ack" before now and I was rACKing my brain to come up with the last letter of the mechanism. Responding to "My dog died" with "Ack" just doesn't feel right to me. "Oh, no" seems much more empathetic, but, I guess I'm old school. Thank goodness this group is here to get me over stumbling blocks like this! I guess I spend too much time reading history of the British Arts & Crafts Movement and not enough time keeping up on comics and villans.......
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:18 pm
by BarbaraK
sphorning wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:28 am
Well, I was on the wrong beach. Darn!
But is there a good story about how you got there?
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:19 pm
by BarbaraK
DMills1996 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:15 am
Hey all, long time listener first time caller for the forums here. Had to make an account to pose this question to everyone...
Did anybody else get completely thrown off of the meta by EARTHA KIT(T) ?!?!?! In the 35A theme answer you can make "EARTHA" and 32D "KIT" is right there next to it! I couldn't believe it wasn't related to the solution... I desperately want to know if Matt put that in there as an intentional red herring or it's just an insane coincidence.
I didn’t notice it, and I’m really glad I didn’t. What a herring!
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:25 pm
by CPJohnson
BarbaraK wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:18 pm
sphorning wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:28 am
Well, I was on the wrong beach. Darn!
But is there a good story about how you got there?
Please tell us,
@sphorning . Those of us who are also on the wrong beach are consoled that we aren't alone, and we promise to be sympathetic to your story.
Re: "You'll Never Solve This One" - October 21, 2021
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 1:18 pm
by katnahat
ship4u wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:52 am
I never heard the term "ack" before now and I was rACKing my brain to come up with the last letter of the mechanism. Responding to "My dog died" with "Ack" just doesn't feel right to me. "Oh, no" seems much more empathetic, but, I guess I'm old school. Thank goodness this group is here to get me over stumbling blocks like this! I guess I spend too much time reading history of the British Arts & Crafts Movement and not enough time keeping up on comics and villans.......
[/quote
It seems to me that "ack" is a cartoon word. I've seen it and I've used it in texts, but haven't ever said it out loud.
Onward!