"Tense Situation" August 26, 2022

[KayW]

Good morning. I am almost ashamed to say I only just now solved the meta after seeing a post from @Barney that noted the importance of the instructions. Who knew the instructions were so important?

Now back to work on prepping a rental property for sale. I feel as though I am pushing the mythical Boulder up the hill.

Good luck all.

Instructions? Who needs instructions?


(this perfectly illustrates MY performance on some metas...)

[802puzzler]

I think I'm on shore, but my memory is foggy after not doing a meta puzzle for several months. I'll see if I'm right tomorrow!

[KscX]

I have it and I am ashore. Pleasant puzzle.

[DBMiller]

From yesterday's LA Times. A callback from several puzzles ago....

[Bob cruise director]

Good Sunday Morning Muggles

A steady stream of muggles getting to shore in various ways has resulted in a crowded beach with 240 basking muggles. (much better than baskin robbins). Isaac is glad for the rest after the past few weeks.

As always, there will be an 8 pm Last Call zoom call for anyone one who needs assistance or just wants to chat with other muggles.

And Matt Gaffney is experiencing the joys of little kids bringing home all sorts of illnesses so his MGWCC has been delayed again until 3 pm. My guess based on my own history with kids is that he was up all night.

I forgot the list new to the shore

CallMeShane
Annabelle
Collegetowngirl
regfish
kurtalert
Ben B and son
caf.caf Cathy
Limerick
Geezer Weezer
halseymac
PQ63
kgiano
kawaja
SusieG
Hidden in 3D
Cindy N
KscX
Penny_Keatley
Kas
OGuyDave
escapeartist
Debbie
802puzzler

[JJD]

Solved.
What a sense of relief. The "E" word doesn't offend me at all; it's just that person's experience and each person is entitled to their own experience. Having said that, I will also say that seeing the pages of this forum fill up while I have no idea at all tends to make me feel a sense of wonder that something is right there in front of me and I am just not seeing anything there. I don't realize how it affecting me until I see the light and instead feeling giddy with the "AHA" feeling, I realize I am feeling a whoosh of relief as the tension I wasn't even aware of is released.

Yes, For that reason I tend to avoid the forum until I’ve solved, or at least wait until Sunday to try to glean whether this is a multi-step solve or just an Aha! Otherwise it’s distracting/frustrating and tends to block my creativity.

[JJD]

ASHORE! I solved yesterday after banging my head against the wall for much of the day on Friday. What hurts the most (besides my head) is that I actually came up with something that would have helped me solve the meta while I was filling out the grid. I really ought to pay more attention to my first inclinations!!

Yes exactly*!


*Except when they’re wrong. Then you gotta get your mind completely out of that rabbit hole.

[PhantomPhan]

Ashore after a multi-week rut.

[RichA2]

Ashore. Spent a long time staring fruitlessly at the grid, and then suddenly spotted the solution.

[Kas]

Solved.
What a sense of relief. The "E" word doesn't offend me at all; it's just that person's experience and each person is entitled to their own experience. Having said that, I will also say that seeing the pages of this forum fill up while I have no idea at all tends to make me feel a sense of wonder that something is right there in front of me and I am just not seeing anything there. I don't realize how it affecting me until I see the light and instead feeling giddy with the "AHA" feeling, I realize I am feeling a whoosh of relief as the tension I wasn't even aware of is released.

Totally agree...except for the "...wasn't even aware of the tension" part. I'm *totally* aware of the tension...and how it makes me increasingly cranky as the weekend progresses...lolol.

[SReh26]

Hi amigos! Hope everyone is doing fantastic in this crazy new reality.

I haven’t even made it to the ship lately. So much going on these days. Got a promotion, going on a long business trip, applied to an external job and finally decided on a retirement year - 2024. Plus we’re returning to the office soon. And I’ve been having a fling with Wordle. It’s getting serious.

[Inca]

Solved.
.....
I don't realize how it affecting me until I see the light and instead feeling giddy with the "AHA" feeling, I realize I am feeling a whoosh of relief as the tension I wasn't even aware of is released.

Yes, For that reason I tend to avoid the forum until I’ve solved, or at least wait until Sunday to try to glean whether this is a multi-step solve or just an Aha! Otherwise it’s distracting/frustrating and tends to block my creativity.

It's funny. Despite the tension/pressure, it is also comforting for me to see the pages fill up quickly because it inspires me not to give up. I have this tendency to feel I'm not going to get it if I don't see something right away so seeing all those solves tells me that I must be able to do it if so many others are seeing it, it must me "do-able"

[burak]

I read all the comments, and this is a quite interesting one. There are three groups of solvers:

* Those who got the answer fairly fast because they saw a/the mechanism fairly fast.
* Those who got the answer very fast because they saw one possible answer and think this was too easy.
* Those who actually spent some time at figuring out the mechanism and the answer (and there are some experienced members in this group)!

I'm very confused because I believe I belong in the second group. I won't be shocked if quite a number of people like me are pageanted this week.

[davis178]

Ashore, I think.

[Bill_Swerski_13]

Sunday Shore!

[Kas]

I read all the comments, and this is a quite interesting one. There are three groups of solvers:

* Those who got the answer fairly fast because they saw a/the mechanism fairly fast.
* Those who got the answer very fast because they saw one possible answer and think this was too easy.
* Those who actually spent some time at figuring out the mechanism and the answer (and there are some experienced members in this group)!

I'm very confused because I believe I belong in the second group. I won't be shocked if quite a number of people like me are pageanted this week.

I agree...except that that in my opinion, whether/which group one belongs to depends *completely* on the day/week/puzzle...also, possibly the tides, whether or not Uranus is waning, what mood my dog is in, and what I had for breakfast for the past three Tuesdays (unless it's a leap year, in which case it's Mondays). In any event, particularly for the benefit of the newer/newest Muggles, I respectfully resubmit the Kas Scale for your consideration, amusement and/or ridicule:

THE KAS SCALE

From week to week, my solving experience invariably falls into one of the following categories:

KAS 1: The Metas that yield the A-Ha Moment too early...and I'm irritable about it, because I'm a dork;

KAS 2: The Metas that I torture myself over, then the A-Ha Moment is basically a head-slapping, "DUH!! You Eeeediott!!" Those make me laugh, self-deprecation is my default;

KAS 3: The Metas I gut through, *eventually* figure out...and then walk around the rest of the weekend like I just solved The Middle East Crisis, or learned Sanskrit;

KAS 4: The Metas I DON'T get, but *should* have gotten. (It happens. I don't want to talk about it.); and

KAS 5: The Metas I don't get...and when the answer is finally revealed on Sunday night, my takeaway is, "Yeah...uh, no: That was *never* going to occur to me."

[Joe Ross]

In any event, particularly for the benefit of the newer/newest Muggles, I respectfully resubmit The Kas Scale for your consideration, amusement and/or ridicule:

[sphorning]

I'm on shore, too!

[JRS51]

Ashore! And happy to be here after a week of travel.

[EmilyW]

On shore! I saved the puzzle for my flight. We had a bit of a delay waiting to take off after boarding the plane and I finished the puzzle and meta before we were up in the air. I did not bring anything else to entertain me so was kind of a boring flight, but at least it was a quick one.