MGWCC #747 - “Admixture”

[AaronT]

Alright friends, as the deadline looms I just want to post an update on the Nudge Factory’s hours of operations.

I’m on Pacific time and we’ll close up shop around 10pm, reopening around 6:15am with a little 30-minute break in there for a commute to my other job.

In the meantime, let’s goooooo.

[Katiedid]

I'm thrilled I found the first step! I've PM'd someone for a nudge.

EDIT: Got it! Thanks AaronT

[BarbaraK]

After a decent nudge, I submitted.

Meta entry for puzzle #
747
dated:
Friday, September 23

Sorry, submissions are now closed.

(I emailed answer) Congrats @AaronT !

I’ve had that problem when there’s an extended deadline. Sometimes if I try it again, it says I’ve already submitted, and I turn up on the leaderboard at the next update.

[edestlin]

I finally submitted after some strong nudges/shoves. AaronT and another kind muggle gave such sublimely subtle hints I finally saw what I needed. I'll second the lovefest for @AaronT on the amazingly quick solve and generous launch of the hint factory.

[Joe Ross]

oof

[rjy]

Phew... Made it to the end!

That, my friends, was a week 16.

I'll second that!

I'll second the lovefest for @AaronT on the amazingly quick solve and generous launch of the hint factory.

I'll third!

[MikeyG]

I finally submitted after some strong nudges/shoves. AaronT and another kind muggle gave such sublimely subtle hints I finally saw what I needed. I'll second the lovefest for @AaronT on the amazingly quick solve and generous launch of the hint factory.

Fourthed or fifthed or something, haha. Getting this in 67 minutes from publication is remarkable.

[AaronT]

I finally submitted after some strong nudges/shoves. AaronT and another kind muggle gave such sublimely subtle hints I finally saw what I needed. I'll second the lovefest for @AaronT on the amazingly quick solve and generous launch of the hint factory.

Fourthed or fifthed or something, haha. Getting this in 67 minutes from publication is remarkable.

Meanwhile, I just got to work and tried putting my laptop in the refrigerator while holding my lunch bag in the other hand.

[mattythewsjpuzzler]

Another chorus voice for AaronT and also Wendy Walker for confirmation! I did NOT like this puzzle. I swore that I would quit doing meta's if the word DAYNNITE which you can easily transform into DYNAMITE and has the word TNT crossing it (!!)was not part of the solution. Well technically it WAS part just not that in that way! Cruel cruel Matt. I guess I have to emulate the many celebrities who often say they will move to another country if any particular politician gets elected but then don't. Cause I can't quit Meta's!

[MikeyG]

Another chorus voice for AaronT and also Wendy Walker for confirmation! I did NOT like this puzzle. I swore that I would quit doing meta's if the word DAYNNITE which you can easily transform into DYNAMITE and has the word TNT crossing it (!!)was not part of the solution. Well technically it WAS part just not that in that way! Cruel cruel Matt. I guess I have to emulate the many celebrities who often say they will move to another country if any particular politician gets elected but then don't. Cause I can't quit Meta's!

I definitely was distracted by that for a while.

Nope, I'm with you: I'm a meta solver for life. It's getting to the point that when I solve a regular crossword, I start to look for the meta and am like, "Oh, wait."

[Wendy Walker]

That puzzle by ADA'S DAD was responsible for the DEATHS of many brain cells.

[Beth Tyrpin]

Was so focused on AD Mixture that Ninety with A and D leftover was enough for me to submit the 90’s. Drat.

[Joe Ross]

[ajk]

In retrospect I didn't get nearly enough out of the title. If I'd parsed it as AD + anagram I might have had a shot. As was, I needed to be steered toward a couple of the themers before it all clicked.

Pretty ingenious, and an interesting illustration of how much even a small set of the right constraints can explode the grid.

[Bird Lives]

ADs? Only in America, where we soften our Ts into Ds. Brits insist on pronouncing Ts like Ts. I once heard Anthony Burgess say he was momentarily baffled on his first trip to the US when people asked him about being a rider. By contrast, listen to the Beatles sing "Paperback Writer."

[Joe Ross]

I'm worried @MattGaffney will lead with this, tomorrow.

[MikeM000]

While still attempting to solve this, I googled the title in case it gave me any leads. In the definitions that came up was this:

something mixed with something else, typically as a minor ingredient.

Not a bad little wink toward the mechanism, given that it took one letter out of between 5 and 13 for each piece.

Also, I'd bet that the genesis of this puzzle was him noticing in January 2020 the near-anagram of Year of the Rat and forty-three and he's been trying to work that into something for the last almost-three years.

[Bird Lives]

There’s usually something in a Matt puzzle that I fail to notice. This time, I just figured that once you get the number anagram, you cross out the A or D. It works, but the mechanism is really the one Joe shows — anagraming the number with its direcitonal indicator.

[woozy]

So the weird shape?.....

I realize I once constructed a meta where the clue numbers for the entries was vital, and it was a *bear* to construct because every time you you added or blank space or a letter every entry got renumbered. I wonder if this is Matts way of working around that. I usually expect Matt to be superhumanly clever but this may have pushed him.

[joequavis]

From a non-solver to any solo-solver - what first stood out to you? How did you make the leap to the anagrams of the clue numbers? I get that "mixture" is a nod to think about anagramming, but that's a lot of grid entries to anagram! Plus, with this mechanism, you're left with a couple extra letters even if you did find the clue numbers.
Forget solving, if you just found step 1 on your own, that is a very impressive feat in my eyes. Congrats to the solo solvers!