XWord Muggles Forum

Off the couch! Definitely needed Google, but that was a fun solve. There was an excellent click with this one.

OTC. Amazing construction.

Meg wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 4:40 pm OTC on Monday! I did overthink just the least little bit, but that’s why we have Google….so we can find stuff that has nothing to do with anything!

hcbirker wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 7:15 pm I had all the trees but couldn't see the forest! Thanks to @Meg for what I should have done as an obvious step. I am now off the couch but humbled.

Ohhhhhh! So step 1 is to overthink it? I think I'm on the right track, then!

Off the couch - thanks for the puzzle!

We're off to a modest start for the first two days, with 42 solvers on the Leader Board so far!
But the train isn't leaving the station yet, and there are even some prime seats open in the upper "dome" level ...

If you're not a Google fan, try this: The answer to the meta was originally a word and you could solve the puzzle without Google as long as you had a "rough idea" of what those numbers meant. So, I'm allowing the word as an alternate "correct answer" as well, if it would make solving easier for you.
Tom Wilson
DCBilly
Berto
MatthewL
Chris Kochmanski
Dave C
DIS
Hector
JHSeeman
HeadinHome
Ergcat
Bird Lives
boharr
Meg
david
woozy
Sharkicicles
andeux
Eric Porter
rjy
Carolyn
Wendy Walker
Cindy Weatherman
Anita and Steve
schmidzy/Pair O Ducks
hc birker (Heidi)
SJMcK
Samwise
Archie
Jaclyn
Tyrpmom
Richard
benchen71
lbray53
Schmeel
BuzzingCow
Alex Sisti
ajk
TerminatorX
LB800
Abide
Kulea

Got there in the end, once I went down the correct google hole. Fun idea, thanks.

Richard wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 12:57 am I too had the trees but did not see the forest. Very clever. Off the couch now.

Richard

Man, I am in the trees it appears. I see part of it but not all of it. RATS!!

I'm waiting for nudges, myself.

It's Nudge Wednesday! Hop aboard...
or ask the conductor to help you on! Nudge 1: The title of the puzzle ("Union Station") offers a cryptic hint to the metanism. Nudge 2: The picture as well as some of the text in the introduction to the puzzle offer other subtle hints.
Nudge 3: What are those numbers in parentheses? What can you do with them, if you don't use math? Nudge 4: Five clues are followed by two 4-digit numbers. What do 4-digit numbers commonly refer to?
Nudge 5: The theme of the puzzle is not railroad lines or buildings. The focus is some other entities. Nudge 6: The U.S. motto in 53A refers to the union of states, a hint meant to put you "on track" for solving the meta.
Nudge 7: You need to think about how to form a literal union of states... using some kind of AR-CA-NE CO-DE perhaps? Nudge 8: Once you figure out how to convert the years to state abbreviations, look for alternate answers to the five clues elsewhere in the puzzle grid. If you already found the five alternate answers, then you need to work backwards. Note that they are all 4-letter words made up of state abbreviations.
Nudge 9: If you are uttering other 4-letter words right now, calm down and take a quick break! lol Then, list those five words in the order of their corresponding clues. Notice anything? Nudge10: Congratulations if you got this far without using Google! But unless you're a history genius, you'll likely need Google to find your 4-digit number.

Woke up this morning with an idea, and it worked! I’m off the couch un-nudged.

Very clever!

Thanks for the nudges; I needed 7! Great puzzle!

Phew, limped home on this at last. Interestingly I had the answer since Monday I just did not realize it. Interesting mechanism. Thanks Darth...off the couch.

More solvers (some with nudges, but just the same), making a running total of 60 on board so far...
BarbaraK
LarsCaine
CPJohnson
JM
michaelm
DrTom
imontoo
Sobeknefru
LauraM
whimsy
Jeremy Smith
bhamren
hoover
strybnr
KayW
Jeff Turnham
Naptown Kid
Prog

[This total will continue to be updated here until the "reveal" on Saturday night.]

Had to spend some time here but now off the oh-so-comfy bench.
Great trip -- Thanks, Darth!

I quickly figured out what was going on with five of the clues, but I did need some of the nudges to solve the meta. Great puzzle, Darth. Thank you!

Finally got nudged off the couch!

Nudged off the couch. Nice one - thanks, Darth!

Thanks to all who gave this a try. Here's the solution:

(Inside the Grand Hall of Chicago's Union Station)

"The answer to the meta is a 4-digit number"...
1. Five clues (marked with pairs of 4-digit numbers) have alternate answers in the grid: INKS, DEMO, ARIA, HIND, and ORCA.
2. On closer inspection, you find that those answers are made from pairs of state abbreviations and the numbers correspond to the years when those states entered the union.
3. Taking the first letter of the alternate answers, you get IDAHO, which joined the union in 1890.

Apparently I solved this one a bit out of order-- I looked up the admittance years first, then noticed that the words spelled were also in the grid.

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Mon Apr 01, 2024 10:03 am Apparently I solved this one a bit out of order-- I looked up the admittance years first, then noticed that the words spelled were also in the grid.

I'm not sure there is a "right order" here...

Two concurrent questions have to be resolved: "What can those number mean?" and "How can I get letters from numbers?"

But recognizing those alternate grid answers might keep you from having to look up stuff... until the very end.