MEOW #123 Play Dough

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.
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DrTom
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#21

Post by DrTom »

Dplass wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 4:22 pm
DrTom wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 4:17 pm
Dplass wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 1:21 pm Solved. Thanks for the puzzle!
And thank you for helping make it a better experience. Testers are soooo valuable to the process.
I wish I could say "Oh, it looked so familiar"! But alas, my memory has failed me!
Not to worry, that's a club we all belong to. I went through almost all of Whimsy's "Pas a Deux" (which I had commented on in depth during testing) before I recognized I had seen this somewhere before...
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!
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ajk
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#22

Post by ajk »

Got it, after far too many passes of seeing some things but not other things. Fun, thanks.
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
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Jeremy Smith
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#23

Post by Jeremy Smith »

Nice one. Thanks for the puzzle!
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Meg
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#24

Post by Meg »

I went down a seductive rabbit hole, which would have been quite difficult had it actually been the metanism. Fortunately, I was finally able to let go of it and see the light. Cat's out.
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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Abide
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#25

Post by Abide »

[/quote]
I think I may be the only person more familiar with this particular puzzle than you :D

I remember an earlier version. This one is mucho better.
The site is just a web page, a meeting place, a clubhouse - it's the group that's special.
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TeamDoubleTow
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#26

Post by TeamDoubleTow »

Cat is out of the bag! Thanks for the delightful puzzle.
Team DoubleTow=Ali who posts here, Alex & Maya the hound(with occasional assistance from son)
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KayW
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#27

Post by KayW »

:crossed_swords: :rabbit: :cat2:
Image
The kitten is out. Thanks Dr Tom!
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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DrTom
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#28

Post by DrTom »

Abide wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 7:03 pm
I think I may be the only person more familiar with this particular puzzle than you :D

I remember an earlier version. This one is mucho better.
You are correct! The early iteration suffered from a much poorer title (and I can thank Josh for help on that) non symmetry and clunkier fill (which I can thank you for elucidating and encouraging me to tighten up). It DOES take a village!
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!
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DrTom
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#29

Post by DrTom »

TeamDoubleTow wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 8:35 pm Cat is out of the bag! Thanks for the delightful puzzle.
Thank you!
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!
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DrTom
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#30

Post by DrTom »

Meg wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 6:47 pm I went down a seductive rabbit hole, which would have been quite difficult had it actually been the metanism. Fortunately, I was finally able to let go of it and see the light. Cat's out.
Well you have to know we (and me in particular) will want to hear about that. :)
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!
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DrTom
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#31

Post by DrTom »

KayW wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 10:38 pm :crossed_swords: :rabbit: :cat2:
Image
The kitten is out. Thanks Dr Tom!
Hmmm, Whimsy better look out, you are stealing her "right on the money" graphics. Thanks Kay
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!
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DrTom
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#32

Post by DrTom »

Well, what a difference a fortnight makes. Whereas I believe "Rotten Trick" had a total of 30 solvers by day 6, "Play Dough" is already at:
1 Abide (T)
2 Madhatter (T)
3 DebbieC
4 Hector
5 Dow Jones
6 Meg
7 benchen71
8 boharr
9 Bird Lives
10 rjy
11 Al Sisti (T)
12 JHSeeman
13 kymike
14 Chris Kochmanski
15 MatthewL
16 Darth
17 JM
18 kurtalert
19 Laura M
20 woozy
21 troysail
22 whimsy (T)
23 dplass (T)
24 DCBilly
25 CPJohnson
26 edestlin
27 Cindy Weatherman
28 Carolyn
29 Bbaack
30 Sharkicicles
31 DIS
32 ajk
33 Jeremy Smith
34 somylai
35 Teamdoubletow
36 BarbaraK
37 berto
38 KayW

Apparently if you make a decent puzzle people will actually solve it. No more Pumas/Lions from me, no sir!
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!
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lbray53
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#33

Post by lbray53 »

Cat is out! Nice work. Thanks Dr. Tom.
My avatar proves that it is sometimes better to be lucky than good!
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Cinny
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#34

Post by Cinny »

Cat is out. Thanks for the nudge Dr Tom. Very nicely done.
Cindy Heisler
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DrTom
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#35

Post by DrTom »

Four more cat fanciers:
39 Tyrpmom
40 lbray53
41 Cinny
42 jbird

Nudges tomorrow if people want them.
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!
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DrTom
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#36

Post by DrTom »

Friday Nudge Day!

Obviously the title doesn't refer to the multicolored plaything, so what MIGHT PLAY DOUGH refer to?

There are only 5 colors of Play-Doh shown, and obviously there are more. Do you think 5 might be a hint at the length of something?

I have been making a concerted effort to have things symmetrical and though I am not always perfect at it, I was with this 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!
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Ergcat
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#37

Post by Ergcat »

Cat is free! No nudges needed!
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woozy
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#38

Post by woozy »

Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 2:57 pm Got it! Re: the 46D clue, are you referring to Swift's Houyhnhnms? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houyhnhnm


The_Servants_Drive_a_Herd_of_Yahoos_into_the_Field,_from_Gulliver's_Travels.jpg
Okay.... I couldn't resist.

That is now a key component to my latest woozy meta
Funny story. I was all set to enter Par for the course for the CrossHare midi contest for April but I mistakenly thought midi meant 7x 7 and not 11 x 11. Oops. Well.... Here's a complex but **small** meta on the subject of golf.
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KayW
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#39

Post by KayW »

woozy wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2023 7:16 pm
Wendy Walker wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 2:57 pm Got it! Re: the 46D clue, are you referring to Swift's Houyhnhnms? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houyhnhnm


The_Servants_Drive_a_Herd_of_Yahoos_into_the_Field,_from_Gulliver's_Travels.jpg
Okay.... I couldn't resist.

That is now a key component to my latest woozy meta
I just solved this very creative meta - a fun solve with a great aha! moment. Thanks woozy!
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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DrTom
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#40

Post by DrTom »

Three more to add to the ranks:
43 Ergcat
44 PuzNewbie
45 SeamusOL

Not sure if the nudges helped or not. but I'll give one more:
Nudge 2 suggests there are 5 theme answers, which almost always point to a 5 letter answer (and it does here). How many ways can we get one letter from an answer? there is a very common method in use for this Meta
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!
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