MGWCC #795 — “These Actions Are Highly Irregular”

[ky-mike]

Awaiting beam up!

Edit -Beamed up #46

[ajk]

Finally caught up to the rest of the Discord crew, after a couple of additional nudges. Phew.

[KayW]

Beamed up for a [REDACTED] crossword contest.

[HoldThatThought]

I think this is proving less difficult than MG had anticipated.

As has been noted elsewhere, it would be nice if the nudge crew waited until at least the first promised hint has been released. As a regular nudger, myself, I say that only because I would like to see Mr G continue to offer up hints. If experience were to show that dozens and dozens were solving before the hints, I imagine he would conclude that hints aren't needed.

Let the nudge requesters get their nudges from Matt - I think that will play out well for the community at large.

Just my two cents, and I certainly do appreciate the motivation to be helpful.

[HeadinHome]

On the road today… got the grid in the car before we hit the mountains, but tummy said put it down after that. I saw the initial thing(s) others saw but couldn’t land, then figured out how to land it after dinner on the front porch of this lovely inn. Awaiting beam, but the answer kind of confirms itself, which I love!

[HeadinHome]

As has been noted elsewhere, it would be nice if the nudge crew waited until at least the first promised hint has been released. As a regular nudger, myself, I say that only because I would like to see Mr G continue to offer up hints. If experience were to show that dozens and dozens were solving before the hints, I imagine he would conclude that hints aren't needed.

Let the nudge requesters get their nudges from Matt - I think that will play out well for the community at large.

Just my two cents, and I certainly do appreciate the motivation to be helpful.

I RespectThatThought, @HoldThatThought! I think any puzzle deserves a good 24 hours before the hints start flying… largely for the reason that people like ME need to KEEP TRYING on the difficult ones instead of hitting the “easy(ish)” button. It’s so much fun when you work out a toughie by sheer force of will! (Reaching for a nudge is hard to resist, when you know they’re flying around.)

[DCBilly]

As has been noted elsewhere, it would be nice if the nudge crew waited until at least the first promised hint has been released. As a regular nudger, myself, I say that only because I would like to see Mr G continue to offer up hints. If experience were to show that dozens and dozens were solving before the hints, I imagine he would conclude that hints aren't needed.

Let the nudge requesters get their nudges from Matt - I think that will play out well for the community at large.

Just my two cents, and I certainly do appreciate the motivation to be helpful.

I RespectThatThought, @HoldThatThought! I think any puzzle deserves a good 24 hours before the hints start flying… largely for the reason that people like ME need to KEEP TRYING on the difficult ones instead of hitting the “easy(ish)” button. It’s so much fun when you work out a toughie by sheer force of will! (Reaching for a nudge is hard to resist, when you know they’re flying around.)

I respect that too but... the nudges that are flying around are not foisted on us. I admire how this forum is so spoiler free. There are nudges galore on PMs and Discord but they require the user to seek them out. User chooser.

[HeadinHome]

Agreed - not foisted. Our moderators do their job well, and I’m grateful. The nudges flying around are made mention OF, not posted!

[ricky]

This was exactly my experience. There were so, so many plausible places to go looking for Step 2. In the end, after a couple of hours of staring at the grid, Step 2 finally leapt out at me and I had my answer within 5 minutes.

Confidently awaiting the beam! This was a lot of fun.

Are you serious?

Okay... I was going make some comment about how the initial obviousness of the theme seems to be proportional to the absolutely elusiveness of finding the very next step.

But... you have it? Seriously?

MANTRA: I refuse to get frustrated, I refuse to get frustrated....

I think I just got lucky and the first thing I thought of happened to be right. Unfortunately, that good fortune does not seem to translate into some kind of all-around meta wizardry... and now it's back to the MEOW, which is utterly eluding me this week.

The first thing I thought of turned out to be right too... but now I have to think of a second thing. And that's pretty elusive.

[Berto]

I agree with a lot of the above, it’s easy to reach out for a nudge without really giving it a try. But I feel this one was just going to be really tough and I have 3 young kids with sports activities all weekend so wanted to get this solved ASAP! A bit of Discord, which itself doesn’t give you any layups - and a push in the right direction from @ajk and I finally got there, aha moment and all!

[woozy]

This was exactly my experience. There were so, so many plausible places to go looking for Step 2. In the end, after a couple of hours of staring at the grid, Step 2 finally leapt out at me and I had my answer within 5 minutes.

Kinda frustrating to know that. But I guess it's nice to know this will not be hard if I see it. But as usually, I'm certainly not seeing it.

I'm worried the first to hints Matt gives are going to be the obvious things I noticed pretty much immediately and there won't be a hint that helps me until monday. Still want to see if it comes to me but... it's annoying how they don't. I just don't see that there is any place for the kicker to actually be.

[SamKat9]

Awaiting the beam; I really enjoyed this puzzle. I was close initially, but I went off course. After a nudge from @Wendy Walker I got back on track. It still took some staring and contemplation, but finally I got there.

[benchen71]

Awaiting the beam... [Very excited to get a "week 4" solo!]

... And I'm beamed at #82. Nice!

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

I'm awaiting the beam. Yeah, I wanted to give this one a fair shot before I was tempted to look at hints, but I was fortunate to have it come together quickly.

[BarbaraK]

To everything, there is a season
And a time to every meta-solving approach under heaven
A time to spend days working on a meta
A time to have only one hour to squeeze in between family responsibilities
A time to solve alone
A time to collaborate with friends
A time to read the official hints
A time to leave them unread in the inbox

How wonderful that Matt has created these puzzles that can be enjoyed in so many ways by people in all seasons of their lives!

For me, this week has been a time to see the obvious, have an idea about what might be next, and when it doesn't work out go off on a tangent of wondering if that's something I could make into a meta

Away mission still not accomplished.

[Bird Lives]

Awaiting the beam but certain. As the Other Wendy says, it's self-confirming.
Solo solve -- no nudges, no Discord, no Matt hints. So as Hold says, it must not be all that difficult.
(Also, I liked the subtle allusion in the clue for 8D, or has that been done before?)

[ship4u]

Awaiting confirmation, but feeling pretty confident.

[woozy]

You know... I think the only times I've stared at a puzzle for a long time, then put it down, and when I pick it up again the answer jumps at me, only happens when I was drunk the first time I saw the puzzle. The morning after I still so the (to me) obvious theme and the same absolutely nowhere to go with the theme.

And I've only once been able to stare at a puzzle thinking "it must be here, think, think" and actually making myself see it. I keep hoping I can do that a second time but I probably won't do that this week.

I'm going to wait til Matt's first hint before I start begging for nudges but I'm pretty certain I know exactly what the first two hints are going to be....

[minimuggle]

I'm still not there and I'm muddy and bedraggled from all the rabbit holes. And I agree that I am sure I know those first two hints...Ugh. Happy weekend everyone.

[boharr]

Beamed yesterday. #27