#714 - “Smooth Solving Ahead”

[Polar Star]

18 Down must be a mistake, yes?

[MikeyG]

Beamed up. Week Ones are... I dunno... a little unsatisfying? (no big click)

Also - 3 people right AT the release time? Yeah, I'm not playing that game. That's nuts!

That's wild! People know their stuff, solve really fast, and make quick connections!

After the almost-week-2 DRIFT, I'll gladly take this Week 1, hahaha.

(I always say it, but let's see if this one could be a record-breaker!)

[802puzzler]

Beamed up! Leaving me time to get back to the WSJ meta.

[rjy]

Beamed up, and with WSJ done, hoping Evan Birnholz has something good cooked up for tomorrow!

[woozy]

Boy... did I get off to a late start.... Doesn't matter I guess.

(I had more trouble with the grid than matt probably intended. But a simple week 1 meta)

#381.... I was suspecting worse considering how long I dallied before getting to it.

[lbray53]

Beamed up. Hopefully giving me some confidence as I return to Chris’ and Dr. Tom’s metas which have eluded me so far in spite of how easy they seem to be for others.

[Bird Lives]

Worked as fast as I could and made it into the top 350.

[MaineMarge]

Beamed up at #329. Beaming up took awhile through these asperitas clouds over Nebraska.
(Don’t even look real, do they?)

[patpatchica]

Beamed up at 413! With this and the WSJ done, I guess I’ll give the MMMM a try. I’m not sure my music knowledge is vast enough for that however.

[JennyByrd]

Beamed up. Officially out of puzzles for the weekend. Productivity will surely improve.

[stmv]

Beamed up at 413! With this and the WSJ done, I guess I’ll give the MMMM a try. I’m not sure my music knowledge is vast enough for that however.

I encourage you to give the MMMM a try. My musical knowledge basically stopped in 1968, but I'm still able do the majority of the MMMMs, with some assistance from Google. It's better to hop onto the MMMM train now, early in the year, while the metas are still fairly easy.

[Barney]

My knowledge of sports is so vast I actually had to look up a list of Winter Olympic hosts to spot (fortunately easily) the answer.

[woozy]

Beamed up at 413! With this and the WSJ done, I guess I’ll give the MMMM a try. I’m not sure my music knowledge is vast enough for that however.

Musical knowledge may help here and there but it certainly isn't necessary.

However I gave up on this because... well, once a month it was easy to forget, but mainly, although my musical knowledge was plenty good enough, my lack of musical ... passion... made it just not that interesting or fun. I liked the word play but it was always about.... music.

That said I found them to be among the best constructed puzzles anywhere.

[sharkicicles]

Beamed up at 413! With this and the WSJ done, I guess I’ll give the MMMM a try. I’m not sure my music knowledge is vast enough for that however.

Musical knowledge may help here and there but it certainly isn't necessary.

However I gave up on this because... well, once a month it was easy to forget, but mainly, although my musical knowledge was plenty good enough, my lack of musical ... passion... made it just not that interesting or fun. I liked the word play but it was always about.... music.

That said I found them to be among the best constructed puzzles anywhere.

I love the MMMM, but I totally get this. If there was a monthly Shakespeare meta I probably wouldn’t be so quick to do it.

[woozy]

I love the MMMM, but I totally get this. If there was a monthly Shakespeare meta I probably wouldn’t be so quick to do it.

Thing is I forgot about it one or two months so I couldn't get that on going yearlong contest thing (what a commitment!) and so... that and my lack of ... passion... was enough to make me stop. It's not like I don't like music and am not knowledgeable in it (FWIW I *loved* and adore the "Let It Be" Beatles meta... I really like[but "love" would be an overstatement] the Beatles). I just don't have that "Rock and Roll will save your soul" and "What music did you listen to as a teenager? Didn't that define who you were?" attitude.

[BarbaraK]

Beamed up at 413! With this and the WSJ done, I guess I’ll give the MMMM a try. I’m not sure my music knowledge is vast enough for that however.

Musical knowledge may help here and there but it certainly isn't necessary.

However I gave up on this because... well, once a month it was easy to forget, but mainly, although my musical knowledge was plenty good enough, my lack of musical ... passion... made it just not that interesting or fun. I liked the word play but it was always about.... music.

That said I found them to be among the best constructed puzzles anywhere.

I love the MMMM, but I totally get this. If there was a monthly Shakespeare meta I probably wouldn’t be so quick to do it.

I also love MMMM and I also understand this. I've heard it from others too. When Matt decided to do a theme month last October, I thought it was wise that he chose "10" as a theme rather than any particular subject matter.

[ship4u]

This our first MGWCC and I think we may have the answer. How do we check if we are correct?

[ky-mike]

This our first MGWCC and I think we may have the answer. How do we check if we are correct?

https://crosswordfiend.com/2022/02/08/m ... ore-134314

[MikeyG]

Beamed up at 413! With this and the WSJ done, I guess I’ll give the MMMM a try. I’m not sure my music knowledge is vast enough for that however.

Musical knowledge may help here and there but it certainly isn't necessary.

However I gave up on this because... well, once a month it was easy to forget, but mainly, although my musical knowledge was plenty good enough, my lack of musical ... passion... made it just not that interesting or fun. I liked the word play but it was always about.... music.

That said I found them to be among the best constructed puzzles anywhere.

I love the MMMM, but I totally get this. If there was a monthly Shakespeare meta I probably wouldn’t be so quick to do it.

Stay tuned for the MMMMM: Mikey's Maddening, Mindless Mathematical Meta

[BarbaraK]

This our first MGWCC and I think we may have the answer. How do we check if we are correct?

On Matt's website - https://xwordcontest.com/ - there's a form to submit your answer.

Just above that is the leaderboard. The "This Week" tab shows everyone who has submitted a correct answer so far and at the bottom has the time it was last updated. You can keep an eye on that to see if you were right.

When a contest is active, the "Overall" tab shows everyone who has submitted an answer. (This can be useful with tricky contests to get an idea how many got the wrong answer.)

So if your ID is on "This Week" you got it. If you're on "Overall" but not on "This Week" you were wrong. And if you're not on either, Matt hasn't updated since you submitted or your submission didn't go through and you should try again.