#722 - “I Kid”

[cbarbee002]

Pretty certain I'm beamed up but have to admit that this wasn't in my wheel house.

[Bob cruise director]

Beamed up but like Chris above

My 50th solve leaving

1-Across = not in a million years
Egg-cellent - will go for this in a few weeks but it is a Week 3
Love Letter - probably won't happen if I have to send a love letter to Matt
One Hundred Weeks of Solvitude - seem me in another 18 months

[BarbaraK]

Love Letter - probably won't happen if I have to send a love letter to Matt

Loving the puzzles counts, it doesn’t have to be personal:)

[DrTom]

Hoo boy #83, I'll take it! I saw this one rather quickly but waited a bit to be sure and checked everything. As it turns out I was right after oldjudge, which probably means Jay was solving blindfolded, in Sanskrit and writing with his feet! So, got this one and WSJ (with help), guess I'll spend the week-end building one of my own.

[TeamDoubleTow]

Beamed up but I echo @ Woozy 's question.

[paige11]

Forgot to post after I made it on the board yesterday, but beam me up!

[Barney]

Kind of amazed at how many people said this wasn’t in their wheelhouse.

[MaineMarge]

Beamed up at #450 this morning. A personal best!!
I don’t even have a “wheel” house, but do have a barn with lots of wheeled vehicles, and I see a lot of wheels here as this guy is delivering our yearly order of 40 yards of garden mulch.
Oh, maybe I do have a wheelhouse.

Thanks Matt!

[ReB]

Talk about a puzzle that's not in my wheelhouse!

I started with downs only. Did reasonably well, but some mistakes and some missing in the bottom part of the grid. And no idea what the meta might be.

So I looked at the across clues and finished up the grid. And still no idea about the meta.

So I looked at the meta instructions. That didn't help at all.

Google to the rescue! I've beamed up.

Beamed up, but like Barbara, I also needed Google to confirm my suspicion.

[Joe Ross]

I've a fun story to post after the deadline.

Beam me up, SVP!

[BobDylan]

On the board.

I ride on a mail train, baby - Can’t buy a thrill

[MountainManZach]

Egg-cellent - will go for this in a few weeks but it is a Week 3

Anyone know how these day ones are determined? I have the Holly Jolly Crossword one, but I'm certain I've never submitted an answer on that day.

Love Letter - probably won't happen if I have to send a love letter to Matt

My guess is this one is just whether you've ever submitted a comment along with your answer!

[Bob cruise director]

Egg-cellent - will go for this in a few weeks but it is a Week 3

Anyone know how these day ones are determined? I have the Holly Jolly Crossword one, but I'm certain I've never submitted an answer on that day.

Love Letter - probably won't happen if I have to send a love letter to Matt

My guess is this one is just whether you've ever submitted a comment along with your answer!

@MountainManZach I have submitted comments but have not and probably would not use the word "love" in one

[BarbaraK]

Egg-cellent - will go for this in a few weeks but it is a Week 3

Anyone know how these day ones are determined? I have the Holly Jolly Crossword one, but I'm certain I've never submitted an answer on that day.

Love Letter - probably won't happen if I have to send a love letter to Matt

My guess is this one is just whether you've ever submitted a comment along with your answer!

@MountainManZach I have submitted comments but have not and probably would not use the word "love" in one

Ha! Challenge to Matt - write a meta that’s so so good even Bob won’t be able to resist telling you he loves it.

[woozy]

@MountainManZach I have submitted comments but have not and probably would not use the word "love" in one

I have submitted comments and written e-mail to matt directly (falling short of using the word love) praising a puzzle and no badge so far.

[MikeM000]

Egg-cellent - will go for this in a few weeks but it is a Week 3

Anyone know how these day ones are determined? I have the Holly Jolly Crossword one, but I'm certain I've never submitted an answer on that day.

Seeing your comment, I thought "wasn't there something this past Christmas....?" and sure enough, in the first post for #708:

NOTE: Due to the late post, the deadline for this week’s puzzle is noon ET on Thursday, Dec. 30th. You can also earn credit for the Christmas solving badge by submitting by 11:59 PM ET on Monday, December 27th.

So you probably solved the most recent Christmas-week puzzle, turned it in by the 27th, and didn't realize you earned the badge for it.

[NoFeetMcGee]

Embarrassing to see so many people talking about how easy this one was, when I nearly lost my streak on it... I've just never seen [redacted]

[MikeyG]

Finishing with a solid 659 on the board!

It's wild to consider how long this show has been on the air. That's not lambasting anyone for whom it wasn't in their wheelhouse - any scripted series, animated or otherwise, that has that kind of longevity is rather impressive.

[Joe Ross]

[Joe Ross]

Okay, apologies for the very weak reveal of this week's solution. I was lazy. I am lazy. I do know, however, that this Friday Matt Gaffney will reveal a stupendous explanation & graphic reveal. This reveal was *NOT* created by moi. Somebunny, whose name rhymes with Bree Tay Jenner, crafted this fine graphic. I promise that you'll love it.

I did promise a fun, brush-with-celebrity-once-removed story, however, and here it is:

S'w'anyway, I worked for a few months with a man who spent, like, his entire, like, childhood across the street from the voice of Bart Simpson, whose brother was his BFF. He informed me of this while driving us to lunch, one day, and said, "Hey, y'all... Watch this," or words to that effect. He dialed his phone, put it on speaker, and suddenly he was catching up on life with Bart, er, Nancy Cartwright. They went on for 10 or 15 minutes, with her going in and out of voice. (Fave moments: She "HAH! HAH!"-ed, sarcastically, every time my co-worker tried to be funny.)

There you have it, then.