Making a State-ment

A weekly meta crossword created by members of the forum. Difficulty levels will vary. Hints are usually available starting Wednesday, and solutions are posted on Sunday.
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schmidzy
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Making a State-ment

#1

Post by schmidzy »

Good morning muggles, it's me, schmidzy, back with another pair-o-ducksical puzzle for you! This one's based on an idea I've had floating in my notes for quite some time, and I'm happy that it's finally ready for prime-time :)

We all thank @Abide every week for his editing work, but I truly can't thank him enough this time: you should all be glad I'm not making you solve the slog of a puzzle I originally sent him! But after much redirecting and polishing up, I'm really proud of how this one turned out. So if you enjoy it too, be sure and send your appreciation to Peter.

Thanks also to my test solvers, both muggles and yet-to-be-converted-muggles: @boharr , Jess Shulman, and Amie Walker. And many thanks to @Joe Ross , who prepares these beautiful solving files for us every week.

(Note: no spreadsheet this week as the grid is oversized.)

Making a State-ment
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Cinny
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#2

Post by Cinny »

OTC.

This was a great start to the week. I hope this means I will have a better meta week than the last one!

Thanks for the fun puzzle!
Cindy Heisler
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Schmeel
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#3

Post by Schmeel »

Off the couch - thanks for the puzzle!
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ChrisKochmanski
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#4

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

OTC!

Loved it!
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hcbirker
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#5

Post by hcbirker »

How fun! Loved it!
Heidi
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woozy
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#6

Post by woozy »

Whoa! Way, way, way too much going on for just one meta.

This is kind of a weird feeling. When you have a meta and you can't see anything and you have stare until you see something from scratch is one thing. But here you see about fifty things that you simply have to conclude is only noise so you have to look for something entirely different but you have no idea what and you have to actively turn *off* the gazillion things you see. That's ... surprisingly hard to do. Not a very familiar feeling. I have a feeling I'm going to never see anything (except what has to be noise) until the nudges.

EDIT: Well, I never would have got this. And I still don't. But there was something to be there that I just didn't see or think about. But it's there. Oh, well.

EDIT: Wow.... this just wasn't my week for this type of puzzles. It's there though.

EDIT 2: I'm really regretting not trying harder. Lack of faith and assume that the other common mechanism is all over the place really threw me off.
Last edited by woozy on Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:15 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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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hoover
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#7

Post by hoover »

OTC!
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Meg
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#8

Post by Meg »

That was a great puzzle!
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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lbray53
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#9

Post by lbray53 »

Well done. OTC.
My avatar proves that it is sometimes better to be lucky than good!
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MatthewL
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#10

Post by MatthewL »

Off the couch! Great, great meta (when you finally see it). Thanks for the puzzle!
Matthew
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ajk
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#11

Post by ajk »

Took a bit of a short cut, but fun nonetheless. And also fun to go back and see the full elegance. 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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Ergcat
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#12

Post by Ergcat »

Not seeing it…. But will look some more!
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CPJohnson
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#13

Post by CPJohnson »

Solved, with a push from another muggle. Thanks, @schmidzy!
Cynthia
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whimsy
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#14

Post by whimsy »

OTC --
Untitledzzdipeduck.png
And striding away proudly and dapperly in a diaper...

Thanks, schmidzy! Lots of fun!
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rjy
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#15

Post by rjy »

Ergcat wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 7:30 pm Not seeing it…. But will look some more!
Same… hit a helluva rabbit hole, but still not convinced there’s no rabbit there. Still noodling
Ray
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Alvibu67
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#16

Post by Alvibu67 »

OTC!

Great puzzle, schmidzy! Thanks!
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MarkWoychick
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#17

Post by MarkWoychick »

Off the couch - very nice puzzle and aha to get the solve. Thank you, @schmidzy
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 contest-style (meta) crosswords that we've created to help raise money for cancer-related organizations - get the bundle at http://crosswordsforcancer.com
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woozy
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#18

Post by woozy »

rjy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 9:53 pm
Ergcat wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 7:30 pm Not seeing it…. But will look some more!
Same… hit a helluva rabbit hole, but still not convinced there’s no rabbit there. Still noodling
There's a standard code mechanism that you use a lot when doing metas that have to do with states. You have to convince yourself This one *doesn't* use it. At all. It really, really, doesn't. Somehow I lacked the faith that it didn't and I just couldn't get beyond that.
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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schmidzy
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#19

Post by schmidzy »

29 solvers on day 1:

Alex Sisti
Cindy Heisler
Schmeel
I K Snamhcok
heidi
Meg
Cindy Weatherman
hoover
woozy
Tom Wilson
Hector
DIS
Carolyn
david
Philip Chow
Abide
lbray53
Gutman
DebbieC
MatthewL
ajk
whimsy
CPJohnson
damefox
Alvibu67
markhr
Mwoychick
Darrell
Mr Tex

How about the tiniest early nudge? (And as always, you can PM me with the steps you've tried if you want more of a hint.)
There are two different definitions of "state" involved.
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Ergcat
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#20

Post by Ergcat »

woozy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:18 pm
rjy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 9:53 pm
Ergcat wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 7:30 pm Not seeing it…. But will look some more!
Same… hit a helluva rabbit hole, but still not convinced there’s no rabbit there. Still noodling
Tal This one *doesn't* use it. At all. It really, really, doesn't. Somehow I lacked the faith that it didn't and I just couldn't get beyond that.
I suspected that already. Trying some different angles of “state-ment” but not seeing it.
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