"Alternate Version" - June 24, 2022

[ALS]

Finally ashore. Was headed in the right direction but the path was rocky. Finally had to back-solve the last bit.

#3 on the KAS scale for me.

ALS

[dk letter]

Ashore! A nice and clean puzzle, so helpful for boosting confidence after a rough month between WSJ and MGWCC!

[otlaolap]

[...]Started solving on the ship but then took a walk around Nassau and the puzzle dropped out of my pocket. Had to start over. (Paper solver here but Ship Services was very accommodating in providing access to its printer).[...]

On trips I usually use a tablet with stylus, but the April 8th puzzle (Inner Turmoil) was very hard for me, so I had a river-cruise-ship person print me a copy or two. And this week, at home, I had to start a second clean sheet with the puzzle elements I was examining because the first one got too messy and confusing. Paper and ink (for the grid) and pencil (for the meta) is the only way to go. (Yes, I do overstrike when needed on the grid.)

[Jackie88]

On shore!

[PHOFER]

On shore spitting, coughing, gasping, with the exhilaration of making it alive. One element escaped me, but I finally saw it, and all pieces fell in place. How does Mr Berry do this? Truly amazing. Yes, Kas-3.

[Annabelle]

got the gridon this pretty fast, and I think I've got the first step from the grid, but the 8 letters I thought were the right ones don't seem to spell any English word. Still thinking about it ...

[Mord]

got the gridon this pretty fast, and I think I've got the first step from the grid, but the 8 letters I thought were the right ones don't seem to spell any English word. Still thinking about it ...

Exact same situation here! I feel confident that the direction is right but the island isn't even visible from this part of the open ocean lol (the letters are no bueno for any English words)

[jrdad]

Finally ashore! Spelling is not my strong suit. Very clever puzzle, indeed.

[Bob cruise director]

Good Sunday morning muggles

Slow but steady movement to the shore as we have 10 on the ship and 201 on the shore.

New to the ship's bar since yesterday are

Annabelle
Colin
Mord


While getting to the shore are

PQ63
Amanda Hugginkiss
Richard
sjm
Trey and Marion
ajk
Crest
VickiF
bread-girl
rexthree
Ergcat
b4alltime
ALS
JeanneC
Ann
ReB
Jackie88
phofer
HunterX
dk letter
Onaquest
khanthedane
jrdad

Good luck winning the elusive mug

[RichA2]

Ashore. It took some time to finish the last step, but finally made it.

[Limerick Savant]

Been traveling and missed my weekend fun. Now I am back, and ashore, and it’s quitting time (more on that later.)

[mkmf]

Ashore! Yay, Patrick.

[JRS51]

Ashore!
I will admit that a little backsolving helped me get from gibberish to the solution!

[JAQT]

On shore, but there aren't 200+ people around, so I could easily be on the wrong beach!

[Cruciverbalisticexpi]

Ahhh, then that poster must not have meant the past two weeks exactly, and meant something prior to that. Because for last week Mike posted this below. My mistake. Thanks for the heads up!

A robust turnout for this one--1525 entries, about 75% correct, which is right in line with our average rate. Lots of other MOTION submissions, starting with IDLE MOTION (28), evidently on the theory that IDLE is a synonym of PACIFIC which isn't quite right. Also LOKI MOTION (14), ROOT MOTION (6), YEMENI IDEA (6, alluding to Arabian Sea?), OPEN MOTION (4), and many others.

I recall seeing last week's success rate was 75%. Unaware of two weeks ago.

Just got to the puzzle and made fairly short work of it. Very well done by Patrick! Manhattans tonight!

BTW did anyone ever hear back from Mike Miller on the percentages fro the past two weeks?

We don't' have the WSJ success rate for the two weeks that Mike Miller was on vacation. He is trying to recover the data if he can.

[John77]

Okay. I got it *because* I made an error. But there is one thing (the usual for me) that I don't quite get.

Anyway as I got this by making an error first I'll have ... A Bourbon and Root Beer. Or maybe a Bourootbeer and Bonbon.

I'm going to guess you made the same error that helped me figure it out. I'll check with you tomorrow!

[Scott M]

Ahhh, then that poster must not have meant the past two weeks exactly, and meant something prior to that. Because for last week Mike posted this below. My mistake. Thanks for the heads up!

A robust turnout for this one--1525 entries, about 75% correct, which is right in line with our average rate. Lots of other MOTION submissions, starting with IDLE MOTION (28), evidently on the theory that IDLE is a synonym of PACIFIC which isn't quite right. Also LOKI MOTION (14), ROOT MOTION (6), YEMENI IDEA (6, alluding to Arabian Sea?), OPEN MOTION (4), and many others.

I recall seeing last week's success rate was 75%. Unaware of two weeks ago.

We don't' have the WSJ success rate for the two weeks that Mike Miller was on vacation. He is trying to recover the data if he can.

You are correct. I meant the two weeks that Mike was away. Apologies for my lack of clarity.

[ship4u]

English Roses by David Austin. The gift that keeps on giving!

[Bob cruise director]

Ahhh, then that poster must not have meant the past two weeks exactly, and meant something prior to that. Because for last week Mike posted this below. My mistake. Thanks for the heads up!

A robust turnout for this one--1525 entries, about 75% correct, which is right in line with our average rate. Lots of other MOTION submissions, starting with IDLE MOTION (28), evidently on the theory that IDLE is a synonym of PACIFIC which isn't quite right. Also LOKI MOTION (14), ROOT MOTION (6), YEMENI IDEA (6, alluding to Arabian Sea?), OPEN MOTION (4), and many others.

I recall seeing last week's success rate was 75%. Unaware of two weeks ago.

We don't' have the WSJ success rate for the two weeks that Mike Miller was on vacation. He is trying to recover the data if he can.

@Cruciverbalisticexpi The two missing weeks are June 3 (Be Transformed) and June 10 (Think of A Number)

[DrTom]

Well that was a fun solve. I got the beginning of it in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre airport (we got there early for the flight and it was just us and the TSA people so I had an environment where I could concentrate, Avoca airport is really small). As others have said I got it because of a common mistake.

Clever puzzle by Mr. Berry of course and sweeter still because I could solve it (though I struggled with finding the right combo for obvious reasons). I assume I got it because it really made sense, but who knows. I'll post "on shore" and see if I am correct. Have not even tried the others for the week, looked at the MG and went EEEK!

Although the trip to Scranton was not really for "fun", we did go out to a very nice place to eat. I had forgotten about the charms of NE Pennsylvania, this was at the Ledges Hotel in Hawley PA at their "Glass Piano Bar and Grill" restaurant: