68. Give Me Five!
- MikeyG
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68. Give Me Five!
PDF and PUZ
Crosshare
Or me trying to dance.
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1. Puzzle #67 answer: CUTTING-EDGE
Correct entries: 49 (a Week 3 or Week 3.5; I'd estimate about 25 of these were solo solves.)
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Explanation, a little longer than usual this time: My intent when you solved this was that there'd be a lot of odd stuff going on, especially for a smaller grid:
1. We've broken some cardinal rules of standard crosswords: a bunch of two 2-letter words appear...
2. ...and we have repeated entries (OLE) at 9-Down and 13-Across (1-Across and 6-Down also rival that).
3. Though symmetrical, the grid is an odd 12-by-12 and, perhaps most notably,
4. Some of the fill is atrocious, especially for a grid that looks very simple to fill (ORNE, ADUE, CRU, ARUMS, LOR, TRO). I mean, consider those simple corners of 3-by-3 fill: there wasn't a way to do that without repeating words in NE? Or avoiding brutal fill in SW and SE?
5. Well, there were a lot more constraints here than meet the eye. To make some (not all, some!) of the fill more palatable, to avoid the OLE dupes, and to get rid of the 2-by-2 entries, per the title, let's surround the entire grid, making the puzzle 14-by-14 (still weird).
6. But what would surround it making relatively valid crossword entries? You had to play around with this, and I almost considered cluing BREATH with something "noun whose verb is formed by adding an 'E' to the end." With some trial-and-error, you had to realize (fittingly) that the word at the outer limits (per the title) was simply the word EDGE, repeated over and over.
7. You are told the answer is an 11-letter adjective, and the most fitting one that describes the fact that I've cut out all the EDGEs from the grid is CUTTING-EDGE, the answer to the meta. I think some looked askance at this being hyphenated without being told that explicitly, and I can see that; I probably would've have included that distinction in retrospect.
Thanks to @BrennerTJ for the graphic! About 10 or 15 puzzles or so, I try to push the boundaries of construction if I can, and I think this one qualifies! Thanks, as always, for solving!
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2. Leaderboard
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3. This is the fourth Saturday in August, and this is definitely a Level 4, at least, I'd say. We also have another odd grid size this time, and I would've loved this one to fit in a normal 15-by-15, say, but it was not to be. Since it can be a bit of a red herring, I will freely tell you that the grid size was just the first one I tried (after about 7 or 8 failed attempts) to get what I needed.
The PDF also has the clues repeated in a larger font size on the second page; this is not meta-related, but they were just smaller than I would've liked on the first page.
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68. Give Me Five!
The answer to the meta is a 5-letter word.
Deadline is Saturday, September 2 at 1 pm ET.
Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful!
Mikey G
Crosshare
Or me trying to dance.
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1. Puzzle #67 answer: CUTTING-EDGE
Correct entries: 49 (a Week 3 or Week 3.5; I'd estimate about 25 of these were solo solves.)
---
Explanation, a little longer than usual this time: My intent when you solved this was that there'd be a lot of odd stuff going on, especially for a smaller grid:
1. We've broken some cardinal rules of standard crosswords: a bunch of two 2-letter words appear...
2. ...and we have repeated entries (OLE) at 9-Down and 13-Across (1-Across and 6-Down also rival that).
3. Though symmetrical, the grid is an odd 12-by-12 and, perhaps most notably,
4. Some of the fill is atrocious, especially for a grid that looks very simple to fill (ORNE, ADUE, CRU, ARUMS, LOR, TRO). I mean, consider those simple corners of 3-by-3 fill: there wasn't a way to do that without repeating words in NE? Or avoiding brutal fill in SW and SE?
5. Well, there were a lot more constraints here than meet the eye. To make some (not all, some!) of the fill more palatable, to avoid the OLE dupes, and to get rid of the 2-by-2 entries, per the title, let's surround the entire grid, making the puzzle 14-by-14 (still weird).
6. But what would surround it making relatively valid crossword entries? You had to play around with this, and I almost considered cluing BREATH with something "noun whose verb is formed by adding an 'E' to the end." With some trial-and-error, you had to realize (fittingly) that the word at the outer limits (per the title) was simply the word EDGE, repeated over and over.
7. You are told the answer is an 11-letter adjective, and the most fitting one that describes the fact that I've cut out all the EDGEs from the grid is CUTTING-EDGE, the answer to the meta. I think some looked askance at this being hyphenated without being told that explicitly, and I can see that; I probably would've have included that distinction in retrospect.
Thanks to @BrennerTJ for the graphic! About 10 or 15 puzzles or so, I try to push the boundaries of construction if I can, and I think this one qualifies! Thanks, as always, for solving!
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2. Leaderboard
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3. This is the fourth Saturday in August, and this is definitely a Level 4, at least, I'd say. We also have another odd grid size this time, and I would've loved this one to fit in a normal 15-by-15, say, but it was not to be. Since it can be a bit of a red herring, I will freely tell you that the grid size was just the first one I tried (after about 7 or 8 failed attempts) to get what I needed.
The PDF also has the clues repeated in a larger font size on the second page; this is not meta-related, but they were just smaller than I would've liked on the first page.
---
68. Give Me Five!
The answer to the meta is a 5-letter word.
Deadline is Saturday, September 2 at 1 pm ET.
Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful!
Mikey G
- oldjudge
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- MikeyG
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This one took a while to make the grid work as well!
I forgot to mention that this is the penultimate puzzle in Summer of Solves. Final puzzle comes out next week, and then we'll basically go to every other week or so (with varying difficulties) for the rest of '23.
Thanks to all of you for solving thus far!
I forgot to mention that this is the penultimate puzzle in Summer of Solves. Final puzzle comes out next week, and then we'll basically go to every other week or so (with varying difficulties) for the rest of '23.
Thanks to all of you for solving thus far!
-
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Got the grid done, on to the meta. Nothing jumping out at me yet.
I have a general MikeyG Meta question - how does your leaderboard work? I looked for a pinned post about it but didn't find one. Do you have to post in here to get credit for solving? Are there more points for early solvers than late ones? Just curious. Love your puzzles. Thanks!
I have a general MikeyG Meta question - how does your leaderboard work? I looked for a pinned post about it but didn't find one. Do you have to post in here to get credit for solving? Are there more points for early solvers than late ones? Just curious. Love your puzzles. Thanks!
- MikeyG
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Basically 100 points for solving, plus 1 for each individual surpassed on the leaderboard, minus 5 for each incorrect guess (max 10; @hoover holds a record for his JULY-related guesses. He'll tell you all about it, haha). Need to update it as well soon!kurtalert wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 4:39 pm Got the grid done, on to the meta. Nothing jumping out at me yet.
I have a general MikeyG Meta question - how does your leaderboard work? I looked for a pinned post about it but didn't find one. Do you have to post in here to get credit for solving? Are there more points for early solvers than late ones? Just curious. Love your puzzles. Thanks!
- Abide
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Hmm, never knew about the (-) points for wrong guesses.
This one looks nice and intricate. Two steps in so far...
Edit (45 min later): Got it! Well done, Mikey!
This one looks nice and intricate. Two steps in so far...
Edit (45 min later): Got it! Well done, Mikey!
The site is just a web page, a meeting place, a clubhouse - it's the group that's special.
—Brian MacDonald
—Brian MacDonald
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I’m one step in, for sure. But hit a brick wall.
EDIT I see step 2!!! But… another brick wall… ugh. EDIT 2 Found step 3! Was literally right in front of me, in more ways than one…. Sometimes better to be lucky than good I guess! Fun puzzle, Mikey!!
EDIT I see step 2!!! But… another brick wall… ugh. EDIT 2 Found step 3! Was literally right in front of me, in more ways than one…. Sometimes better to be lucky than good I guess! Fun puzzle, Mikey!!
Last edited by Berto on Sat Aug 26, 2023 9:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- KayW
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Me, either! That sure put a stop to my strategy of trying every 5-letter word in the dictionary
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.
- woozy
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Wow... that's a system a mathematician would make up....
Good thing I don't actually care about leaderboards. (Care about streaks though.... But not about time or placing).
But I like to blast wrong answers just for "I know it can't be but I'd better rule it out before I go on just in case" quite a bit. And when I'm really stuck I sometimes like to just submit wrong answers as a form of throwing stones.
I guess I'll stop doing that.
Just because it's intimidating, is no reason to be intimidated.
Putting together the unput togetherable: Fugue State
Putting together the unput togetherable: Fugue State
- MikeyG
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I've thrown plenty of Crosshare stones in the past, haha. Probably will just have streaks, if anything, next summer. Want to make sure the puzzles are really the main attraction, as I hope they are!woozy wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 9:37 pmWow... that's a system a mathematician would make up....
Good thing I don't actually care about leaderboards. (Care about streaks though.... But not about time or placing).
But I like to blast wrong answers just for "I know it can't be but I'd better rule it out before I go on just in case" quite a bit. And when I'm really stuck I sometimes like to just submit wrong answers as a form of throwing stones.
I guess I'll stop doing that.
- schmidzy
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- woozy
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sez the guy meta-creator named Lydia who got the MGWCC in 20 minutes.
But... yeah. I got nothing here.
Just because it's intimidating, is no reason to be intimidated.
Putting together the unput togetherable: Fugue State
Putting together the unput togetherable: Fugue State
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Obviously I didn't either!
I don't have anything clever to say, but if I did, it would go here.
Eli
Eli
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Got partway to the answer, but had to let things sit overnight. Sunday morning, I saw the light... Thanks Mikey!
- boharr
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- MikeyG
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Monday nudges! We just have 14, so it's definitely a Week 4.
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3.
4.
More coming Tuesday!
Mikey G
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More coming Tuesday!
Mikey G
- benchen71
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Looks like I'm going to slip down the leaderboard this week. The first round of nudges have not helped!
Check out "The MOAT MEOW Mashup Pack" here. US$10 for 14 metas that don't always abide by the "rules" of the game: asymmetry, 2-letter words, uncrossed letters, who knows. And this time there's a mega-meta!
- woozy
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Okay. With the nudges I have found something utterly remarkable.
But remarkable as it is, it means nothing.
EDIT: and looking a little further I see it means *everything*. Ye gods! That was amazing! But... surely no-one could ever actually solve it, could they?
But remarkable as it is, it means nothing.
EDIT: and looking a little further I see it means *everything*. Ye gods! That was amazing! But... surely no-one could ever actually solve it, could they?
Last edited by woozy on Mon Aug 28, 2023 2:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
Just because it's intimidating, is no reason to be intimidated.
Putting together the unput togetherable: Fugue State
Putting together the unput togetherable: Fugue State
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I had all the pieces but assembled them incorrectly.
After a couple of incorrect guesses based on what I had, I got slightly nudged toward the right direction.
Great puzzle - thanks!
After a couple of incorrect guesses based on what I had, I got slightly nudged toward the right direction.
Great puzzle - thanks!
- SamKat9
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I have the second step, still looking to see what to do next.
Shannon
PS: If you want help with a meta, PM what you have so I can help without spoiling too much. I've received lots of help in the beginning and I love to pay it forward!
PS: If you want help with a meta, PM what you have so I can help without spoiling too much. I've received lots of help in the beginning and I love to pay it forward!