MGWCC #751 - "Tales from Decrypt"

[auee89]

Having chatted with quite a few people about this one, I'm fascinated by the very different paths people took to get there.

Some, like ricky, got the cryptogram but just couldn't see what to decrypt. (And I found that step hard to nudge.)

Others noticed the capitalized META ANSWER right away but had no idea how to decrypt it.

Having the theme answers in the downs always seems to throw off a lot of people. Some had the right idea but were looking at things like USS and DII without noticing the two longest (down) answers had matching letters in the same positions.

And I have a ton of sympathy for those who never do cryptogram puzzles, and when nudged to that as a starting point had to google to find out what they are and how they work. There should be bonus points for those folks who did manage to figure this one out. What dedication!

Personally, I had a bit of a hybrid approach. I did notice the all caps META ANSWER right away and knew that would be important somehow. First tried ROT13 and its relatives, but when that didn't get me anywhere started looking for the words with two of some letter. When I got to ASTROCYTE/THEDJOKER I tried that with METAANSWER; got nothing useful one way and _RETT_H_RD the other and knew what the missing 3 had to be. Took a bit of poking around to find the other 3 pairs, prove to myself that my answer was right, and appreciate the lovely spacing of the theme answer positions.

Years ago I would do a daily Cryptogram puzzle. That's what got me to solving very quickly once I filled in the grid - 20 minute for the grid, 10 or so for the meta. META ANSWER screamed out to me. This was one of those that was in my wheel-house.

[HunterX]

Sometimes you just see it - "crypt" in the title and META ANSWER capitalized told me it was a cryptogram before I even opened the grid. Unusually small grid with right-left symmetry meant match up letters from the left with ones on the right. JETWASH and RBIMAN had all of the letters of META ANSWER, so I started there and solved it with only two of the theme answers. Not bad for a bleary-eyed Saturday morning after being out late the night before celebrating a win for my Phillies in the NLCS!

Yeah, that was my feeling as well. Saw the "crypt," the capitalized META ANSWER, and the left-right symmetry and knew what I had to do. Once I saw 34D I just had to find all 4 themed pairs, which was a fun logic puzzle at first, finding the 2 pairs with doubled letters in the same places. Wish I'd started this one right at 9am instead of around noon. My listing on the leader board shows 12:27pm. Little did I know I'd get it in about half an hour. And the first posting by @TMart was at 9:33. In the words of Terry Malloy (as played byMarlon Brando), "I coulda been a contender!"

(Actually, I'm ecstatic that I got it, and quickly, on a busy weekend. No complaints here!)

[boharr]

I would say simply that having experience with cryptograms, which I do not, helps with this puzzle.

[AaronT]

I had to be led to water and forcefully shoved in before I was finally able to take a drink. I’m in the “cryptowhatnow?” camp so this one was an exercise in patience and yoga breathing.

But now I have a new tool in my toolbox for future puzzles.

[ajk]

Had all the parts. Instantly realized that we'd need to decode META ANSWER and started looking for pairs to establish the cipher. But just didn't have the time to keep at it until I found the right ones. Oh well.

[woozy]

Arg. Got to learn to be more literal and recognize when a prompt looks odd.... it means something.

But seriously, week 3??????