"Marked Deck" December 1, 2023

[muggleunity]

I'm just gonna throw this out there...

I haven't been doing these meta puzzles very long. One thing I've noticed is that the constructions have a strong tendency to use the ACROSS clues rather than the DOWN clues.

I noticed the two 3x5 cards that were flipped and used down clues. But it's one of those things... for whatever reason, down clues just aren't used in the meta very often.

Does that seem true to you more experienced solvers?

[benchen71]

I'm just gonna through this out there...

I haven't been doing these meta puzzles very long. One thing I've noticed is that the constructions have a strong tendency to use the ACROSS clues rather than the DOWN clues.

I noticed the two 3x5 cards that were flipped and used down clues. But it's one of those things... for whatever reason, down clues just aren't used in the meta very often.

Does that seem true to you more experienced solvers?

You are quite correct in your observation.

1. Theme-relevant entries are more likely to be across than down. (This is especially true of long across entries, which often get called themers.)
2. However, if the meta requires a second step (like finding a second entry that a themer or part of a themer is an alternate answer to the clue) these could be anywhere in the grid, across or down, and in fact may be more likely to be down, given the difficulties involved in grid construction.
3. But meta hints can also be anywhere. Yes, the bottom right across entry, or a central across entry, are often used. But if I don't find a meta hint in those places I will also check the downs, just in case.

Of course, these are not hard and fast rules! Speaking as a meta constructor, I like to mix things up a bit occasionally. So if the puzzle title gives you a suggestion of "verticality" be sure to check the downs!

[woozy]

I noticed the two 3x5 cards that were flipped and used down clues

If they were flipped, then they were 5 x 3 cards; not 3 x 5 cards.

3 tall, 5 wide. Not 5 tall, 3 wide.

.....

But, yes, acrosses by convention (but utterly arbitrarily and not at all consistently) are considered more fundamental and essential than the downs.

However if a meta says "there are n things in the grid" I say there has to be exactly n things in the grid. If there were n things in the across and then two more of them in the downs and the reasoning was "oh, those ones don't have anything to do with the meta and they don't count because they are downs and you can just assume I meant across", I'd claim that wasn't legitimate.

So in this case I'd say there were only five 3x5 cards; the other two were 5x3 cards.

On the third hand, if a meta says "something in find in k occurances then there can be more than k of the things; it's just that only k of them are relevant. There have been many metas that do that. They are legitimate but I personally find them very unsatisfactory and aesthetically unappealling.