#709 - “Permutation Situation”

[Joe Ross]

MGWCC #709 — Friday, December 31st, 2021 — “Permutation Situation”

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a well-known American university.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.

–Matt



Join MGWCC.

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[Cindy]

I risked my streak! Refresh, refresh, refresh…..

[Cindy]

Lucky 14!

[woozy]

Got something. But it's *not* a 5. A three maybe. Or from what I heard a common week one mechanism. And it doesn't have the lock-cynch feel. But it *is* a legit answer.... So do I dare enter? Only been in this three weeks so I don't want to lose my winning streak but .... if 5s are tough I have to lose it some time....

.... Refresh, refresh, refresh…..

How often does it refresh?

.... Refresh, refresh, refresh....

[Wendy Walker]

A truly masterful puzzle! Now ... do I take a nap in preparation for our midnight celebration (a giant lighted mushroom gets lowered from a crane in the middle of town) or do I stay awake long enough to see if I'm beamed up? Rhetorical question, obviously.
BEAMED UP! #31!
May the glowing mushroom bring health and happiness to all Muggles:

[woozy]

It's refreshed and.....

I'm not in it! There goes my streak.... *sob*.... I knew it didn't feel right.

EDIT: Oh! I'm SUCH an idiot... I didn't....

Oh, this hurts. This *REALLY* hurts. I'm going to be drinking my sorrows away all night.... and it's barely 2 in the afternoon on this coast.

[TMart]

Beam me up! What a great puzzle.

[ChrisKochmanski]

I’ve submitted. Hope I’m right. Nervous. Streak on the line!

UPDATE: I’m on the board!

[AnswerPfinder]

Beam me up! Enjoyed this one a lot - had a great a-ha moment!

[Katiedid]

Beamed up! Happy to have a week five.
He says it's the last puzzle of 2021, but the "This Year" tab is already on 2022.

[Conrad]

Beam me up!

Happy New Year, everyone!

[HunterX]

Haven't even started on the WSJ weekly contest meta-puzzle yet. (Waiting for kids.) So I did the grid for #709, and have now fallen into one of the deepest rabbit holes I've ever seen. Wow! It falls into the "This can't be a coincidence" bucket as well as the "This is way too involved to be it" bucket.

I can see a smaller, perhaps more likely rabbit hole. But do I dare?

[Guffman]

Time to celebrate! New Year’s eve - and I’ve just beamed up!

[Andrew Bradburn]

As someone who got this relatively easily, and who did not get the week 3 or 4 puzzle, I would rate this a week 3. Although I did not solve "Word for Word" last week, I thought it was an excellent puzzle. Glad to close out the year with a solve. Happy New Year everyone!

[Meg]

Happy New Year!! Bring on more metas!! And beam me up.

[BarbaraK]

Beam me up, please.

And this officially ends my last year of being obsessive about solo solving. I tried to get off the wagon with an (unsuccessful) group solve early this year but soon found myself back dreaming of solo medals and resisting collaboration and nudges. So this is my commitment device; I've said it publicly and you all may remind me if I forget:)

Beamed up! Happy to have a week five.
He says it's the last puzzle of 2021, but the "This Year" tab is already on 2022.

I believe @Alex Boisvert is the current webmaster. Perhaps he'll see this and fix it.

[markhr]

Beamed up. I thought I knew most of Matt's tricks, but this one seemed pretty fresh. Exceptional construction here.

[Joe Ross]

Beam me up, please.

And this officially ends my last year of being obsessive about solo solving. I tried to get off the wagon with an (unsuccessful) group solve early this year but soon found myself back dreaming of solo medals and resisting collaboration and nudges. So this is my commitment device; I've said it publicly and you all may remind me if I forget:)

Beamed up! Happy to have a week five.
He says it's the last puzzle of 2021, but the "This Year" tab is already on 2022.

I believe @Alex Boisvert is the current webmaster. Perhaps he'll see this and fix it.

@Darth, welcome Barbara to the dark side, please.

[HeadinHome]

Well you people are not helping me decide whether to submit my tenuous answer or not… one or two “unsure but submitted, YES it worked” and at least one who did the same but got HEARTBREAK.
I see what’s going on, and after laboring over it (for reasons which will be obvious to you if you know what the mechanism is), I have come up with something that could maybe be construed as a good solution, but it’s problematic and certainly not a ringer.
Not sure what to do… I may just hold on to this and see if anything further/better hits me.

(If anyone’s willing to hear my thinking/guess and give me a gentle steer, that would be swell. 2022 may be the year of not obsessing… agree with @BarbaraK! )

UPDATE: submitted one. Ne’ermind.

[BarbaraK]

Well you people are not helping me decide whether to submit my tenuous answer or not… one or two “unsure but submitted, YES it worked” and at least one who did the same but got HEARTBREAK.
I see what’s going on, and after laboring over it (for reasons which will be obvious to you if you know what the mechanism is), I have come up with something that could maybe be construed as a good solution, but it’s problematic and certainly not a ringer.
Not sure what to do… I may just hold on to this and see if anything further/better hits me.

FWIW, perhaps just to further add to your indecision, I considered this one a no-doubter.