#717 - “Following a Pattern”

[ColinM]

I beamed up yesterday afternoon. For whatever reason this one clicked for me quickly, although it seems most people had the same experience. I'd be happy to give nudges if anyone needs one.

[Prozach]

Beamed up thanks to a small nudge. Pretty sure it’s 100%.

[EmilyW]

Beamed up. I struggled a lot with the grid but got the meta pretty quickly once I finally got it all filled out.

[gpj73]

OK, uncle - I’ve been staring at this one forever, I see the first step but then … nothing. Could anyone spare a nudge?

[DrTom]

That took unmercifully long, and without HoldThatThought doing a HoldMyHand I'd still be lost following a mistake rather than a pattern. It always amazes me that sometimes I catch on quickly, and others it would be unlikely to happen regardless of the time allotted.

So I am beamed up, though I must have been in a red uniform because I am battered, bruised and have several phaser burns.

Hey McCoy.....

[Thurman8er]

How could I have looked for this mechanism for almost three days and miss it??

Anyway. Beam me up.

[ajk]

Beamed up after a kindly and vital nudge.

[Bird Lives]

Beamed up but not beaming. Looking embarrassed instead. I knew what in general I was looking for, but it took till now for it to dawn on me what it was specifically, even though it should have been obvious. But there I am on the board, a third of the way to 1,000.

[spotter]

Pretty sure I'm stuck where everyone else was stuck. Would someone please PM me if they're around and willing to help me limp across the finish line?

EDIT: Thank you for the push, I'm beaming up just in time!

[rjy]

Missed the deadline, but got it with a nudge. Still happy to have worked thru it tho - very clever puzzle, Patrick!

[MarkWoychick]

Here’s my (failed) submittal, which was not quite good enough to to be an alternative solution:

Following A Pattern: six grid entries ending in A (that is, words with a “following a”):

CODA - D
BEA - E
SHULA - L
ELSA - S
NOKIA - I
SIGMA - M

The letter that precedes the following A in each spells MISLED - the fact that it was perfectly in reverse order made it seem like a joke about the pattern followed.

@Joe Ross created the image of the grid, and Matt was kind enough to reply to my email to explain why this solution didn’t measure up.

As I said in my original post update, I thought I had it, but it turns out I was closer to Mel Brooks after he was beamed up in SpaceBalls. I MISLED myself about the solution, though was also perhaps MISLED that this was a week 2.

[BrennerTJ]

[Al Sisti]

Here’s my (failed) submittal, which was not quite good enough to to be an alternative solution:

54835E40-7C6C-4F9C-ADE0-3B4436E52F09.png

Following A Pattern: six grid entries ending in A (that is, words with a “following a”):

CODA - D
BEA - E
SHULA - L
ELSA - S
NOKIA - I
SIGMA - M

The letter that precedes the following A in each spells MISLED - the fact that it was perfectly in reverse order made it seem like a joke about the pattern followed.

@Joe Ross created the image of the grid, and Matt was kind enough to reply to my email to explain why this solution didn’t measure up.

As I said in my original post update, I thought I had it, but it turns out I was closer to Mel Brooks after he was beamed up in SpaceBalls. I MISLED myself about the solution, though was also perhaps MISLED that this was a week 2.

Jeez, Mark; you scared me to death! I thought that was the actual reveal...

[MarkWoychick]

Jeez, Mark; you scared me to death! I thought that was the actual reveal...

Sorry about that, Al - I wish it had been the actual solution. Maybe I’ll get one next week.