MGWCC #748 - “Crack the Code”

[MountainManZach]

Also - there is an award related to submitting on Oct. 2, as i recall. So i have time.

Yup, it's the "Tilghman" achievement, that's why I'm waiting until Sunday to submit!

[benchen71]

I'm feeling special! I just noticed that Matt Gaffney has included me in his list of Crossword Links!

Now, if only I could move beyond the first step of the current puzzle...

[Joe]

I'm with the folks who have the first bit, and then... *shrug*

I think I can crack this, though!

[BarbaraK]

I'm grouchy so I'm going to say "a well known number 3" is an oxymoron. If something is well-known its a number one or two..... Jus' being a grouch.....

I beg to differ. I can think of plenty of number 3s that are quite well known. I'd give some examples, but that would be spoiling.

I requested beam up, just after a leaderboard update but quite confident. Already have the Tilghman achievement, probably from before there were achievements.

[Laura M]

Beamed up and rated this as a 2.5. I still have PTSD from last week and it took a little while for me to even open the email :-)

[lbray53]

Beamed up. Not confirmed but it is a 100%er.

I rated it a 1.5. However, on vacation with PUZ file not downloading forced me to make my own grid on notebook paper. I think that helped me see the mechanism early. This might have been a SAD for me with a printed copy.

Maybe I should always do them this way. No thank you. My wife wondered what the heck I was doing.

[minimuggle]

I'm still working on cracking the code.... I think I found step 1 but I'm glued to that step... I hope all the Florida and South Carolina muggles are OK.

[edestlin]

I'm still working on cracking the code.... I think I found step 1 but I'm glued to that step... I hope all the Florida and South Carolina muggles are OK.

I think I'm at the same place you are, looking for step 2.

[HoldThatThought]

I liked it (even though I'm not Mikey).

A good couple of hours of being flummoxed, followed by an "Oh, there you are, you clever little metachanism, you!".

I sent my difficulty rating to Matt, but I'm not sharing it here. If there is one thing I've learned in solving these puzzles - the last thing you want when you can't solve it - is to hear how easy other people thought it was.

[boharr]

Beamed.

[minimuggle]

Beamed with a little nudge from Wendy....what a fun puzzle.

[TeamDoubleTow]

Feel fairly confident we will be beamed up.

[Bird Lives]

Did everyone else go down the same initial rabbit hole that I did? Some of you look familiar.
Matt hasn't updated in six hours, but I'm pretty sure I'll be on the board.
I also think that in his comments on last week puzzle, Matt borrowed without attribution my observation that the "ADs" homophone would work only for Americans, not Brits.

[Sara Dacus]

Solo solve that took me way way longer than it should have. Waiting until the morning to submit for the badge.

[woozy]

God,.... I can't believe how long I assumed I had done everything I can think of when I clearly hadn't. But a solo solve.

I'm giving it a 3.

[benchen71]

I have now submitted my application for beaming up, having delayed in order to claim the Oct 2 achievement.

[Al Sisti]

God,.... I can't believe how long I assumed I had done everything I can think of when I clearly hadn't. But a solo solve.

I'm giving it a 3.

Ditto and ditto.

[Wendy Walker]

Ironically, I was so relieved and excited to finally spot the mechanism, I forgot all about waiting to Oct. 2 and submitted immediately.

I did exactly the same thing after making a huge big deal about the Tilghman Badge on our Tuesday night call. Mark is highly amused.

[MikeyG]

I'll have to get Tilghman badge next year, haha. 10/2 will fall on a Monday, which is about when I crack a Level 4 anyway, if at all!

[woozy]

Well, thanks to time zones (and a day of blindness) I got this badge. Um, what is the Tilghman Badge and what is the significance of Oct 2nd and of the train picture.