#703 - “Deciphering Contest”
- Joe Ross
- Moderator
- Posts: 5131
- Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
- Location: Cincinnati
#703 - “Deciphering Contest”
MGWCC #703 — Saturday, November 20th, 2021 — “Deciphering Contest”
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
Happy T. Hanks-Giving, everyone! This week’s contest answer is three Tom Hanks movies whose titles total 23 letters.
NOTE: Due to the late post, the deadline for entering this week’s contest is Wednesday, November 24th at noon ET.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.
Join MGWCC.
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Joe Ross: NOTE for those who are newer to this site or who wish to try: I PM a link to the Excel form for MGWCContests to subscribers. If you wish to be included in the PM's BCC: list, please PM me & give me your MGWCC posting name, if different than your muggle name.
THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:
Happy T. Hanks-Giving, everyone! This week’s contest answer is three Tom Hanks movies whose titles total 23 letters.
NOTE: Due to the late post, the deadline for entering this week’s contest is Wednesday, November 24th at noon ET.
Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.
Join MGWCC.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Ross: NOTE for those who are newer to this site or who wish to try: I PM a link to the Excel form for MGWCContests to subscribers. If you wish to be included in the PM's BCC: list, please PM me & give me your MGWCC posting name, if different than your muggle name.
- Al Sisti
- Posts: 2074
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
- Location: Whitesboro NY
Argh! So close... I just have one question that keeps me from submitting.
- Bob cruise director
- Cruise Director
- Posts: 4568
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:38 pm
- Location: Any golf course within 500 miles of Littleton MA
this was not a movie but, appropriately, Tom Hanks was on one show of The Love Boat in 1980
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
Cruise Director
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- Posts: 359
- Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:56 pm
Be careful. I got the mechanism, extracted the key hint, but apparently misinterpreted the final step.
My answer was deemed incorrect. Bummer.
I guess my failure to view all 81 Tom Hanks movies hurt me here.
My answer was deemed incorrect. Bummer.
I guess my failure to view all 81 Tom Hanks movies hurt me here.
- HeadinHome
- Posts: 1107
- Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:06 am
- Location: Charlotte, NC
I believe I have it but am afraid to submit … what to do.. what to do…
Oh what the heck… it’s just a silly crossword contest record at stake. I’ve submitted. We shall see.
Edit: big fail. That’ll teach me to have guts and live large. Better to cower in the corner and wait for others to stick their necks out first, apparently. See sad post below.
Oh what the heck… it’s just a silly crossword contest record at stake. I’ve submitted. We shall see.
Edit: big fail. That’ll teach me to have guts and live large. Better to cower in the corner and wait for others to stick their necks out first, apparently. See sad post below.
Last edited by HeadinHome on Sat Nov 20, 2021 4:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.
The other Wendy.
- oldjudge
- Posts: 1641
- Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:16 am
- Location: Pasadena, CA
I’m 99% sure I have it but am trying to be certain before submitting.
- HeadinHome
- Posts: 1107
- Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:06 am
- Location: Charlotte, NC
DOH! Welp, I submitted what I felt like was an elegant and witty answer, and it does not pass muster apparently. So much for the streak.
HOWEVER, I wonder if maybe he will accept this answer if enough people submit it, since it does work so perfectly! (Assembling protest poster materials…)
The other Wendy.
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- Posts: 673
- Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2020 1:48 pm
Don't have time to do the puzzle but just want to say the theme is really clever.
https://pandorasblocks.org/crosswords-for-cancer
- ChrisKochmanski
- Posts: 2225
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:51 pm
- Location: Saline, Michigan
I have three Tom Hanks movie titles that seem to pay off on what I’ve found from the puzzle. But I’m holding off on submitting too. Must think about this. I very well might be missing something …
UPDATE: Oh, what the heck, I’ll go for it. Who cares about the streak, right?
UPDATE UPDATE: Kee-rect! Phew! That was suspenseful!
UPDATE: Oh, what the heck, I’ll go for it. Who cares about the streak, right?
UPDATE UPDATE: Kee-rect! Phew! That was suspenseful!
Last edited by ChrisKochmanski on Sat Nov 20, 2021 7:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- MajordomoTom
- Posts: 1417
- Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:09 am
- Location: St. Louis, MO
I'm 100% on his WSJ puzzle this week, but this one has me lost in space. I really hope that his Polar Express isn't part of this.
"Lots of planets have a North", the Ninth Doctor.
- MikeyG
- Posts: 1421
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- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
You have to "Believe."MajordomoTom wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 6:59 pm I'm 100% on his WSJ puzzle this week, but this one has me lost in space. I really hope that his Polar Express isn't part of this.
- patpatchica
- Posts: 131
- Joined: Sun Oct 03, 2021 9:58 am
- Location: Memphis, TN
Also 100% on the WSJ meta, but I can’t even figure out how to get started on this one yet.
Overthinking is my super power.
- Toby
- Posts: 335
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:00 pm
- Location: New York City
I got the right answer by following an incorrect path to two of the movies, I now have learned. The correct path -- very hard to see IMO -- will yield that satisfying click.
- BarbaraK
- Posts: 2636
- Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
- Location: Virginia
I'm always amazed at the way Matt sees the world, like just the idea of noting the week and coming up with a T. Hanks-Giving puzzle, never mind the actual mechanism which is amazing.
I figured out what was going on and got three movies. But I noticed on the leaderboard that almost 20% of submissions were wrong, including some from very good solvers. So what if my answer is in the 20%, not the 80%. Decided to sleep on it. But after looking through the movie list again today, I've just gone ahead and submitted. Fingers crossed, awaiting leaderboard update.
I figured out what was going on and got three movies. But I noticed on the leaderboard that almost 20% of submissions were wrong, including some from very good solvers. So what if my answer is in the 20%, not the 80%. Decided to sleep on it. But after looking through the movie list again today, I've just gone ahead and submitted. Fingers crossed, awaiting leaderboard update.
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- Posts: 299
- Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 5:12 pm
I see that @BarbaraK succeeded at # 46 on the leaderboard, congratulations! I went through a similar period of maybe thinking that I had a solution, then sleeping on it, then throwing caution to the winds and submitting, and I also succeeded, at #49.BarbaraK wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 6:35 pm I figured out what was going on and got three movies. But I noticed on the leaderboard that almost 20% of submissions were wrong, including some from very good solvers. So what if my answer is in the 20%, not the 80%. Decided to sleep on it. But after looking through the movie list again today, I've just gone ahead and submitted. Fingers crossed, awaiting leaderboard update.
With all due respect to @Toby, I slept on my answer precisely because I did not feel a satisfying click. That lack of click is what made me doubt myself. After a while I convinced myself that my answer had to be right and so submitted, but I've been in that position before and submitted the wrong answer, so I have a lot of sympathy for those who submitted wrong answers. The short leaderboard and lack of postings suggest that this one is a lot harder than Matt intended.
- JordanianTomlinson
- Posts: 133
- Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2020 8:54 pm
- Location: Durham, NC
Beamed up with some help from a kind fellow muggle. I'm not sure I would have gotten all of them correctly if not for the assist - I'll say I nearly made the same guess as some of the others who fell just short and would argue there's a real case to be made there.
- Joe
- Posts: 564
- Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 12:45 pm
- Location: New Hampshire
With much help, I made it to the ship. I don't show up on the manifest yet, but it's confirmed. I still have questions, though...
Happy to give nudges. If you notice I've solved, please tell me about avenues you've explored so I can nudge you in the right direction and not off a cliff.
- Cinny
- Posts: 829
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:53 pm
- Location: Minoa, NY
- Contact:
Solved with some help from a fellow muggle. I needed to be steered back onto the correct path. All makes sense now.
Cindy Heisler
- ajk
- Posts: 982
- Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2020 4:22 pm
- Location: Colorado
Would offer to contribute to the cause, but that would require having the first clue about how to assemble even an incorrect answer.HeadinHome wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 4:41 pm HOWEVER, I wonder if maybe he will accept this answer if enough people submit it, since it does work so perfectly! (Assembling protest poster materials…)
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
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- Location: Los Angeles
I can think of an easy way to assemble an odds on incorrect answer. There are several ways to combine the titles of three Tom Hanks films to amount to 23 total letters. Not a ton, but several. It is worrisome to hear that many who got this right still weren't sure about their three answers before submitting, and had to sleep on it. I guess anytime Matt is looking for THREE things in the solution, the chances of one of them being wrong is much higher than if he were just looking for one.
Have tried a whole bunch of things to decipher this puzzle, but nothing so far. I may end up just submitting one of my 23 letter sols and see if I can win the T-Hanks-giving lottery.
Have tried a whole bunch of things to decipher this puzzle, but nothing so far. I may end up just submitting one of my 23 letter sols and see if I can win the T-Hanks-giving lottery.