A weekly meta crossword on the forum started by member Josh (aka madhatter5). These puzzles are often very creative with solving mechanisms out of the norm and skewing towards the more challenging. Puzzles are posted every Wednesday, and the solution appears the following Tuesday.
I know, I know, you think that I have screwed up and this is a puzzle you already did. Well, not that Dr. Tom having screwed up is such a reach, but no you have not seen this before. It is one of those things that comes to you when you are in the middle of something else. I had a LOT of help with this meta, my test solvers (Cap'n Rick, Whimsy, DPlass) really helped me whip it into shape. I am going say this is a Calico, and pray that this time I scored it about right
I hope you enjoy it, nudges will be planned for Saturday unless needed earlier and I will of course be available for assistance on an individual basis if it is required.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
Well DARN! I did get one solution already at 2 1/2 hours in, but I thought this was almost a gimme. Maybe I'll do a Matt and let you all tell me what YOU think the difficulty rating is. If this keeps up I can see Friday or even Thursday nudges.
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
OK, this appears to be MUCH harder than I thought. If you have solved, please let me know what level of difficulty this SHOULD have been assigned. My Calico seems to be more Persian-like.
T
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
OK, perhaps some clarification because I think I have some people looking for something that isn't there. Instead of "The meta answer is the theme ENTRY you thought you would find but didn't" substitute "The meta answer is the 8 letter theme ENTRY you thought you would find but didn't".
Hopefully that helps.
T
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
Once again, I've forgotten the mechanism.
I remember what is supposed to be noticed, and I remember the answer, but I'll be darned if I can remember how to get from the start to the finish!
It's like there's this big gaping moat in front of me!
Got the first step fairly speedily. Not much after that yet.
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
whimsy wrote: ↑Wed Oct 12, 2022 5:12 pm
Don't look at me!
Once again, I've forgotten the mechanism.
I remember what is supposed to be noticed, and I remember the answer, but I'll be darned if I can remember how to get from the start to the finish!
It's like there's this big gaping moat in front of me!
Hmmm - if that is the case I know what your problem is, you are doing Ben's puzzle!
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
Well now, the solvers board is looking pretty thin:
T whimsy
T Dplass
T Cap'n Rick
T Benchen71
1 ImOnToo
2 Hector
3 DIS
4 rjy
5 boharr
6 JM
7 Meg
Only 11 solvers including the Test Solvers. Apparently I have done it again and posted what I thought would be simple only to see it fall on its face. It seems a lot of folks are getting step one but cannot find the path after that. I will post nudges early if this keeps up, but of course you are always welcome to PM me for an individual nudge!
Tom
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
Well then, it appears these are way more necessary than I thought! I'm going to release them today because soon everyone will be tied up with WSJ and MGWCC and this will go to the back burner.
Some of this information I am sure you already know, but the nudges are in order of increasing "nudginess" so reveal what you need.
There are 4 theme "items" in the GRID, each closely associated with the Meta title. As the title suggests the items are "split", suggesting that they come from two different theme answers. The oddly worded clue to the first "piece" of the answer contains a nudge toward finding the right answer. I've said that the "missing" piece is 8 letters long. If I have 4 things composed of 2 pieces each how might I derive 8 letters, and therefore the missing piece, from that? If the letters are not in the answers, where else can they be found?
I hope this helps folks. I am sooo sorry this has been a clunker.
Tom
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
MaineMarge wrote: ↑Thu Oct 13, 2022 10:35 am
Message from the cat to @DrTom U
I know you’re probably busy testing other patients, but how about another itty nudge?
If any of the people who worked for me had ever seen this shirt I know I would have received it as a gift. LOVE it!!!
NUDGES!I am always willing to give nudges where needed; metas should be about fun, not frustration. Send me what you have done so far because often you are closer than you think!
OK, got it with nudges 4 and 5 (was already at the place to which 1-3 lead). Think I might still be missing something because the click wasn't quite 100%.
Check out this very cool project by many of your favorite muggles to raise money to fight cancer. You get a fun puzzle bundle and good causes get $. Win-win: Crosswords for Cancer
Well DARN! I did get one solution already at 2 1/2 hours in, but I thought this was almost a gimme. Maybe I'll do a Matt and let you all tell me what YOU think the difficulty rating is. If this keeps up I can see Friday or even Thursday nudges. 
U
