MEOW #66: Plane Sailing

[benchen71]

It's benchen71, at your service! I've been asked to fill in while our intrepid madhatter5 slogs through the miry world of higher degrees.

This puzzle came to me one night as I tried to fall asleep. This sort of thing has happened before, and when I get up the next morning to construct the grid I very quickly discover that what my sleep-deprived brain thought would work, doesn't in fact hold together in the cold, hard, light of day. But this one actually did work, much to my surprise! Good luck finding the answer to the meta, which is a mathematician.

Plane Sailing - Online Form
Plane Sailing PUZ
Plane Sailing PDF
Plane Sailing spreadsheet

As far as difficulty, for non-mathematicians I'm guessing this is:

Kitten
Calico
Persian
Puma
Lion

(For mathematicians, it may just be a Kitten. In other words, you don't need to be a mathematician, but it will help!)

The nudges are here.
The solution is here.

[oldjudge]

Math major here, but not sure that mattered. Fun puzzle, the cat is free. Thanks for filling in Ben!

[Dplass]

Thanks for the puzzle.

[HeadinHome]

Hooowah… starting the brain with a tired day. Done… cat out for the entire morning, napping in a sunbeam.

[Meg]

Nice puzzle, Ben.
The kitty is out except for her tail, which seems to be stuck. I got the meta, but still need to get that tail out of the bag.

[MarkWoychick]

Solved on crosshare, thanks for the puzzle, Ben

[Darth]

So the answer isn't Hewlett-Packard? [Note to @Meg -- Maybe the cat is a Manx? haha]

[SJMcK]

Cat. Bag. Got there.

[Cap'n Rick]

Cat out! Fun mechanism, Ben!

[ChrisKochmanski]

Cat out!

My wife, a retired math teacher, helped a bit.

Thanks, Ben!

[boharr]

I took a speed-reading course through what to me is a foreign language and came up with an answer that Crosshare liked a lot. I am still in a bit of a fog concerning a lot of the latter steps, but the cat is free.

[rjy]

Cat's out, de-bagger's a little confused, but that makes little difference to the cat.

Cool concept, thanks Ben!

[Cinny]

Cat is out. Glad to see I remembered some of the math from so long ago!! Thanks, Ben.

[lbray53]

The cat is out of the bag.

A chance to revisit by first career teaching eighth grade math - that final year when everybody is in whether they like it or not.

[ky-mike]

Freed the kitten!

Confirmed on Crosshare

[whimsy]

A bit of a cat and dice(y) game for me at the end too --

Thanks, Ben!

[Joe Ross]

A bit of a cat and dice(y) game for me at the end too --

Thanks, Ben!

[Ergcat]

Cat is free ( confirmed on crossshare).

[Jeremy Smith]

Cat’s loose. Thanks, Ben!

[DrTom]

Limped home, right idea just applied incorrectly. Luckily I knew what it was as soon as I got on the right wavelength or I'd still be struggling.