27. Somewhere Over the Rainbow

[MikeyG]

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1. Puzzle #26 recap

Puzzle #26 answer: DAD BOD

Correct entries: 33



You did need some outside knowledge for this one! Only six of the entries in the grid were clued as people, be they real or fictional. Those are highlighted above in yellow. If we take their fathers' first names in order, as seen in the blue, we get DAD BOD, definitely a father figure! (I've got the dad bod with the dad jokes, so this meta answer was fair, haha.)


2. This finishes the month and is most certainly at least a Level 4, if not a 4.5. I'm not sure what categorizes a Level 5 over a Level 4, but this one will require some thought. A special shout-out to @Abide for test-solving and for some very solid editing suggestions.


27. Somewhere Over the Rainbow

The answer to the meta is a 7-letter word.


Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful!

Mikey G

[oldjudge]

After a lot of effort I finally got it—nice job Mikey!

[Laura M]

I enjoyed this one a lot! I'd say week 4 is a fair classification, but maybe a slightly easier week 4. (Unlike the current MGWCC...)

[lbray53]

Step one done. Still working.

[woozy]

Wow... Step one... just sits there self-contained with it's arms cut off connected to nothing.

[MikeyG]

Wow...just sits there self-contained with it's arms cut off connected to nothing.

I think I got that same critique on a paper I once wrote.

[boharr]

Got it. Thanks Mikey

[woozy]

Wow...just sits there self-contained with it's arms cut off connected to nothing.

I think I got that same critique on a paper I once wrote.

Yeah, but to paraphrase Otto from the Simpsons: Now you WRITE the puzzles!

(This is a good one! Even though I'm fairly stuck after the first step--- which eluded me for *hours*, but when I found it! .... I got utterly stuck again ....but now without any of the connections or hints step 1 had.)

[lbray53]

Great puzzle! I was using a brute force method for the final step but then got nudged in a collaborative solve to a much more elegant solution.

[ChrisKochmanski]

POAKed! (What do we say here for a solve?)

Loved this one, Mikey! I needed some help; still, it was great fun!

[benchen71]

Hope the nudges show up soon!

[MikeyG]

I'm out of town today, so here come your wonderful nudges on this lovely Nudge Wednesday!

1. The 7 entries with a parenthetical number (call this n) each allude to an n-word person, place, thing, title, what have you.

2. The n-word what-have-you (from bullet point #1) contains a color, and these are in ROYGBIV order from top to bottom.

3. The number n is no longer relevant once you get the 7 operative phrases.

4. You need to find the linking word between the color-related phrase and the themer. For the first entry, for instance, this is the word TOWN.

5. Now think of the title. We need a 7-letter word, so we're probably going to need a letter extracted from each of these phrases - specifically from the linking word.

6. Think of the color's position in the colorful phrase (for the RED phrase, the color is in the 4th position).

7. Per the title, a key letter is somewhere over the rainbow. What position over the linking word? Think back to spoiler #6!

Whew! It is a Level 4, and I promise the next two weeks' mechanisms are easy-peasy!

Mikey G

[Cinny]

Solved -- was on the right path, but needed a nudge to narrow it down. Loved doing this one! Thanks.

[Dplass]

Whew! It is a Level 4, and I promise the next two weeks' mechanisms are easy-peasy!

Mikey G

"I promise the next two weeks' mechanisms are easy-peasy!"

You heard it here first folks!

[KayW]

A week 5 for me even with every single nudge. Amazing construction.

[whimsy]

I came into this Wow-of-a-puzzle at nudge #6.

@ChrisKochmanski I love your dubbing! POAK!
But I may have misheard slightly --



(Mikey, do you know where your Ginger is tonight?)

[rjy]

Was getting worried I was going to need you to ferret out an eighth nudge for me! Quite a journey on this one, I’m in awe of solvers who got this nudge-free. Stay twisted, Mikey!

[Abide]

Quite a journey on this one

the original version had no parentheses

[rjy]

Quite a journey on this one

the original version had no parentheses

I'd say that's still fair... if he characterized it as a Week 53

[DrTom]

Well now, I certainly made that hard. I had all the steps except the last one and so I needed the 6th, but then still could not make it work. Then I actually went back and read everything again and, like in the Wizard of Oz, everything turned to color. (oh, and there seems to be a witch under my house?).

Yes a level 4 at the least, several things that I would not have thought to do without nudges, but satisfying if for no other reason than the funny clues and fills. Another "Mikey Gee I had a good chuckle!"