Call For Backup

[Bird Lives]

Here we are at mid-October, which regulars who did Al’s MMM last week know is the 288th day of the year. (Actually, today is the 290th, but close enough.) Appropriately for middle-month, today’s puzzle is of middling quality and perhaps middling difficulty. Actually, the difficulty level is hard to estimate since the cultural knowledge useful for solving the puzzle may be different for solvers of different ages. But that’s why we have the Internet, isn’t it?

The answer is an eight-letter word for rulers.

Call For Backup crosshare

Call For Backup PUZ

Call For Backup PDF

Call For Backup spreadsheet

[oldjudge]

Loved it--this is my sweet spot. No googling necessary.

[rjy]

Off the couch, thanks Jay! Really enjoyed it

Incidentally, I used Crosshare to check the grid I filled off-line, and in clicking quickly I accidentally revealed the meta answer... oof! Is there a way to turn that off? I still solved it legitimately: knowing the answer gave no help in finding the answer. Happy that I was still able to enjoy the AHA!

[lbray53]

Off the couch!

No Google to solve. I did Google to verify something.

[boharr]

Off the couch. Thanks for a fun one, Jay.

[DrTom]

Bird Bird Bird, Bird's the word.

Nice puzzle that I should not have needed any course correction on, but I did. Only had to Google one little (well two actually) thing.

T

[woozy]

Fun grid.

Got step 1 okay but it wasn't what I assumed it'd be. Can't figure out step two. Maybe that is what I thought it'd be (but it doesn't seem to be).

Fun puzzle so far.

EDIT:: Argh. I shouldn't have given up so soon. (But at least I can see why this would take a few people very little time and I'd need a lot more)

[Wendy Walker]

37A, Jay's one of my fave MMM constructors!

[MatthewL]

Off the couch. Got the first step pretty quickly, and then pondered off and on all day. Finally saw it. And gave myself a little headslap for not seeing it sooner.

[benchen71]

Incidentally, I used Crosshare to check the grid I filled off-line, and in clicking quickly I accidentally revealed the meta answer... oof! Is there a way to turn that off? I still solved it legitimately: knowing the answer gave no help in finding the answer. Happy that I was still able to enjoy the AHA!

The constructor can click an option that gives a 7 day delay on being able to reveal the meta answer. But it has to be clicked before publication; it can't be changed once the puzzle is public.

[Meg]

Thanks, Jay. Nice Aha moment!

[hoover]

I got there, but I had to google somewhere between 50 and 85.71% of the meta. (Being deliberately vague to avoid giving away the denominator.)

[ChrisKochmanski]

Off the couch — chuckling in happy recognition of the answer!

Thanks, Jay!

[Bird Lives]

The constructor can click an option that gives a 7 day delay on being able to reveal the meta answer. But it has to be clicked before publication; it can't be changed once the puzzle is public.

Now you tell me.

[Qmark]

Off the couch. Absolutely loved it...thanks Jay!

[woozy]

Incidentally, I used Crosshare to check the grid I filled off-line, and in clicking quickly I accidentally revealed the meta answer... oof! Is there a way to turn that off? I still solved it legitimately: knowing the answer gave no help in finding the answer. Happy that I was still able to enjoy the AHA!

The constructor can click an option that gives a 7 day delay on being able to reveal the meta answer. But it has to be clicked before publication; it can't be changed once the puzzle is public.

And it only works on publication day. YOu can't schedule ahead. ANd it *has* to be for 7 days. You can't set it for 3 days or 2 weeks or whatever.

CrossHare has some oddly programmed inflexibilities. This is one of the most capricious.

[benchen71]

And it only works on publication day. YOu can't schedule ahead.

Actually, you can do it ahead of time. As long as you have that option set when you click "Publish", even if the puzzle is set to "private until a certain date when it becomes public", the 7 day reveal will occur as expected.

[benchen71]

Off the couch, by the way. Had to use google, though. The answer was something I had never heard of.

[Schmeel]

Off the couch.
Fun puzzle. There was enough in there to point me in the right direction, but I did need to google galore.
I guess I'm a bit young and a little far.
Thanks Jay!

[Bird Lives]

One day in, we have 28 solvers, plus or minus. Minus because I might have missed someone. Plus because I might have double-counted a Crosshare solver, especially if their Muggle name is different from their nom de Crosshare. (Note: these are not necessarily in temporal order. Some of the earlier solvers were among those I overlooked and added at the end of the list.)

Al Sisti (TS)
Abide(TS)
1. DJB
2. FrankieHeck
3. Tyrpmom
4. oldjudge
5. Hector
6. lbray53
7. JM
8. ChemBrewer
9. Laura M
10. DrTom
11. DIS
12. Mr Tex
13. markhr
14. Anita and Steve
15. hoover
16. Meg
17. ChrisKochmanski
19. Qmark
20. Gutman
21. benchen71
22. Wendy Walker
23. MatthewL
24. BarbaraK
25. woozy
26. Schmeel
27. rjy
28. boharr