XWord Muggles Forum

Good Morning -- and Welcome to Kitty Bowl LXIV!

Today I offer you another of my slightly off-kilter puzzles and ask for your indulgence.
This one will most likely require a bit of Googling, depending on how "familiar" you may be with a certain subject.

Madhatter considered this a Lion; however, with the help of an excellent and much needed tweak suggested by additional test solver DrTom, I think we've brought it down a notch into a much more solvable range.

I'm calling it a Tiger -- and I'm sure he'll be released from his container soon --


Crosshare submission or PM here with answers or questions!

Familiarity Counts - Crosshare
Familiarity Counts - PUZ
Familiarity Counts - PDF
Familiarity Counts spreadsheet

Happy Solving!

The cat is out of the bag (confirmed on crosshare). I don’t think I truly understood the answer until I did a little reading. Great job Claudia!

Cat is out of the bag, and wow, you don't know how pleased I am to have solved this one! Brilliantly constructed puzzle!!

I had the distinct honor of test solving this puzzle, and I'm impressed by the solvers already. Whimsy built a masterpiece which I sadly have to admit I needed a good deal of help solving. To see a couple of people already clocking in just goes to show you that, contrary to what my Mother always told me, familiarity actually breeds content. Get your thinking caps on folks.

Oh, and though I definitely will not float like a duck (thus failing the witch test) this is my familiar:

[Hiatus while I head out to do some hunting and gathering at Price Chopper -- Husband in need of lunch provisions.]

Crosshare confirmed cat's clear.

Cat is out of the bag! ( Confirmed on Crosshare).
Clever puzzle, not easy but not too hard either. Took a few wrong turns before zeroing in on correct path! Thank you for a fun puzzle!

Crosshare confirms the cat is free. Thanks for a fun and clever puzzle.

Solved. Submitted first and last name which was deemed incorrect.

Got it! The cat has done a triple axel out of the bag. Apparently I was very close like 2 hours ago. Nice puzzle, whimsy!

Wow. This *is* going to be a nice puzzle! Right now though I have 4 completely different and incompatible things going on yet the must work somehow....

Very nice! Got through the grid with no googling and some smiles, which is a great way to start a puzzle. Meta took a bit, but all the pointers were there. The cat is out of the bag.

For now, the cat is stuck in the bag. He sees some "things" in there, but so far nothing familiar...

Pretty sure the feline has been freed. Great puzzle!

Whew! Cat finally free thanks to @boharr!

Great puzzle @whimsy with a great mechanism! Enjoyed it!

Intimidating meta, but I loved your cluing, Whimsy!

On this one, it seems you can play with the tiger, but don't fool with Dr Tom's evil black cat with herring on its breath! .

The cat is out of the bag. Good grid and a challenging meta. Thanks, whimsy.

“Enough with your meta puzzling,” said the cat. “I’m outta here.”

Much fun!

Doh! A stoopid mistake kept me from seeing the answer earlier.

Great meta. Thanks!

Not a good week for me. I can't figure Tues or Weds at all. There comes a point where you know you'll never think it.....

EDIT: Got Tuesdays.... only took me two and a half days.... Off my game.... At least on the WSJ I didn't spend on the meta more than the 20 seconds it deserved..... Still haven't done the MEOW though.....