"Take A Number" - October 25, 2019

[darthdriessen]

On shore. A Guinness will soon be in my belly.

[oldjudge]

On shore. Grid went quickly. I have the meta but can’t say that I’m in love with this one.

[Laura M]

I'm 99% sure that I got the right answer with the right process, but the result felt kind of ambiguous. Still, it was a fun solve!

[STL-D]

Got it! Very lucky...but this is a great puzzle.

[Toby]

This is my idea of a perfect meta puzzle: not too easy or too hard, no research and some clever twists. I tried to backsolve too soon, but saw my error after a bit more thought.

[Cindy]

Solved.

[oldjudge]

On shore... on my out to get a Guinness at Utica's newest Irish Pub!!

Al-If you are from the Utica area are you familiar with the Utica Curling Club? I curled there many times years ago. They had a great drink that they used to mix up there called the Sleigh Ride. One drink and it was straight down hill.

Jay

[Hector]

A little wobbly, maybe, but very cleverly executed and fun.

[damefox]

On shore. Clever idea, but not my favorite meta in terms of execution. There's one component I especially thought could've been a little neater, but that's a discussion for Monday. Happy weekend!

[Inca]

I think I'm seeing 3/4 of a first step to this meta. Last quarter is eluding me as are any subsequent steps.
Unless I am totally being taken in by a brilliant red herring.

Correction: I meant to say "seeing 80%" and Last 20% eluding me

Update: Got the last 20%. Now I will take a break and come back when I feel like figuring out what's next

[tim1217]

Loved it! Trickier than we've had in a long time. Well done, Matt!

Trickier than last week??? No way!

[tim1217]

Happily on shore after last week’s devastating perfect storm. A new (hopefully long) streak begins!

[Inca]

D&D.

Shout out to Joe Ross. Thanks for the template. It's fantastic and so easy to use.

I would probably never have solved it without that...definitely not so quickly. First of all, keying in all the letters in the grid made me find the parts of step one that I missed while solving the puzzle the first time. Secondly, it just makes it so easy to highlight and use all different colors; it just basically clearly solved itself.

[GlennG]

Absolutely no clue on this week's in-joke.

[ChrisKochmanski]

Ashore!

Good one!

[ky-mike]

I’m ashore as well.

[Julie O]

I have an answer, but concerned that shore is quicksand. Going to think about it for awhile before I leave the ship.

[MaineMarge]

Grid done. No meta vibes yet. Looks like the only number I’m going to take tonight is my Sleep Number (35). Great mattress! 20A will call early tomorrow morning so I’ll just sleep on it.

[howardl]

I am on shore and I am absolutely certain that my answer is correct. This is usually the case with me: when I have an answer and I'm not absolutely sure it is right, it is almost always wrong. I find it helpful to consider that the correct answer has to be explained in the short text at the end of the "answer of previous puzzle" space in the Monday pdf puzzle. So if my answer is not easy to explain in a few words, it is almost always wrong. (I don't think that my comment here is a violation of the rule not to provide hints. I intend to post this comment after having carefully considered this. If people disagree with my decision, please post that opinion (but politely) and I will take those opinions into account in the future.

[Hector]

Great advice, Howard.