"Factored Out" March 29, 2024

[Joe Ross]

@woozy

It's understandable. Different strokes.

This puzzle & the Nude Descending a Staircase No 2 meta from 2 weeks ago seemed to come with black and white, step-by-step instructions to me. The other 98/100 puzzles I find much more confounding.

[mkmf]

Yes @oohLaAHA (I like your name ). Thanks for sharing your picture in post #236. This was a case where my go-to use of colored markers just made a mess. Your red pencil was perfect.

Hello everyone. I've been lurking here about two years, and I've read all the explanations for this puzzle and none made any sense to me. When I read that other people had the same experience, I decided to take a picture of the way I was able to figure out the solution.
20240401_111411[1].jpg

Impressed by the solution... almost even more impressed by the handwriting

[mheberlingx100]

I use erasable pens in different colors. Easy to erase when correcting inevitable mistakes, but won’t smear like pencil.

[clonefitz]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DON! @ship4u

Happy Birthday, Don! You don't have to tell us your age, but what we all want to know: is it a prime number? @ship4u

[KayW]

Also not an April Fool's Day item:

I somehow overlooked the final S and submitted APARTMENT BUILDING (singular). Didn't realize it until I saw @hcbirker reveal post, then went back to check my grid. I should have circled the S but missed it.

Doh!

You are all also welcome.

[ship4u]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DON! @ship4u

Happy Birthday, Don! You don't have to tell us your age, but what we all want to know: is it a prime number? @ship4u

Alas! Sorry to report that my age is well past a prime.....

[The XWord Rabbit]

There have been a few times when your Rabbit has been overcome by feelings of empathy. Sadly, this was one of those times.

Oh, the pain! Even those with a mathematical bent struggled with Mr. Shenk’s “Factored Out” puzzle. The central across entry (“PRIME REAL ESTATE”) and the title (“FACTORED OUT”) made it pretty clear that prime numbers had something to do with the answer, but how?

Easy to say that the successful methodology was based on the intersection of across and down entries that began with prime numbers. More easily said than done, apparently.

Did you ever imagine that a Muggle would invoke the use of the Sieve of Eratosthenes in a puzzle? Well, Arecibo did (Post #277). That's the kind of week it was.

One nominee this week. Under normal circumstances your Rabbit might have simply dismissed it for being a LITFTATT response, but circumstances were anything but normal. Kudos to hoover (Post #233) for explaining a train of thought straight out of Bletchley Park – a mathematical cul-de-sac, if there ever was one.

And we’ll just let it go at that, except for a nod to today being April Fool's Day (and Don's birthday). It's a repeat performance of one of the greatest pranks ever perpetrated on television viewers. Originally broadcast for the BBC in 1957 this short documentary was first introduced to American audiences by Jack Paar (remember him?). Enjoy! Until next week, then.

[femullen]

Not an April Fools Day item:

I forgot to submit my answer this week.

You are all welcome.

I was convinced that the "property" was going to be a mathematical property, like communitive or something. I was so surprised when "Apartment" emerged that I almost stopped there.

[Ergcat]

Not an April Fools Day item:

I forgot to submit my answer this week.

You are all welcome.

I was convinced that the "property" was going to be a mathematical property, like communitive or something. I was so surprised when "Apartment" emerged that I almost stopped there.

Same! I thought “mathematical property” at first too!

[arecibo]

"By crossing out all of the answers whose clue numbers are not prime"

Doesn't that sound convoluted? Isn't it more natural to "look at the letters that are intersection of prime clue numbered answers"? I dunno sounds off to me.

INSPECTOR TIGER: I'm afraid I must not ask anyone to leave the room. No, I must ask nobody ... no, I must ask everybody to... I must not ask anyone to leave the room. No one must be asked by me to leave the room. No, no one must ask the room to leave. I ... I ... ask the room shall by someone be left. Not. Ask nobody the room somebody leave shall I. Shall I leave the room? Everyone must leave the room... as it is... with them in it.
COLONEL PICKERING: You don't want anybody to leave the room.
INSPECTOR TIGER: (clicks fingers)

[Joe Ross]

"By crossing out all of the answers whose clue numbers are not prime"

Doesn't that sound convoluted? Isn't it more natural to "look at the letters that are intersection of prime clue numbered answers"? I dunno sounds off to me.

INSPECTOR TIGER: I'm afraid I must not ask anyone to leave the room. No, I must ask nobody ... no, I must ask everybody to... I must not ask anyone to leave the room. No one must be asked by me to leave the room. No, no one must ask the room to leave. I ... I ... ask the room shall by someone be left. Not. Ask nobody the room somebody leave shall I. Shall I leave the room? Everyone must leave the room... as it is... with them in it.
COLONEL PICKERING: You don't want anybody to leave the room.
INSPECTOR TIGER: (clicks fingers)

FATHER: Cut that out, cut that out. Look, you're marryin' Princess
Lucky, so you'd better get used to the idea. [smack] Guards! Make sure
the Prince doesn't leave this room until I come and get 'im.
GUARD #1: Not to leave the room even if you come and get him.
GUARD #1:: Hic!
FATHER: No, no. Until I come and get 'im.
GUARD #1:: Until you come and get him, we're not to enter the room.
FATHER: No, no, no. You stay in the room and make sure 'e doesn't
leave.
GUARD #1:: And you'll come and get him.
GUARD #1:: Hic!
FATHER: Right.
GUARD #1:: We don't need to do anything, apart from just stop him
entering the room.
FATHER: No, no. Leaving the room.
GUARD #1:: Leaving the room, yes.
FATHER: All right?
GUARD #1:: Right. Oh, if-if-if, uh, if-if-if, uh, if-if-if we...
FATHER: Yes, what is it?
GUARD #1:: Oh, if-if, oh--
FATHER: Look, it's quite simple.
GUARD #1:: Uh...
FATHER: You just stay here, and make sure 'e doesn't leave the room.
All right?
GUARD #1:: Hic!
FATHER: Right.
GUARD #1:: Oh, I remember. Uh, can he leave the room with us?
FATHER: N- No no no. You just keep him in here, and make sure--
GUARD #1:: Oh, yes, we'll keep him in here, obviously. But if he had
to leave and we were--
FATHER: No, no, just keep him in here--
GUARD #1:: Until you, or anyone else,--
FATHER: No, not anyone else, just me--
GUARD #1:: Just you.
GUARD #1:: Hic!
FATHER: Get back.
GUARD #1:: Get back.
FATHER: Right?
GUARD #1:: Right, we'll stay here until you get back.
FATHER: And, uh, make sure he doesn't leave.
GUARD #1:: What?
FATHER: Make sure 'e doesn't leave.
GUARD #1:: The Prince?
FATHER: Yes, make sure 'e doesn't leave.
GUARD #1:: Oh, yes, of course. I thought you meant him. Y'know, it
seemed a bit daft, me havin' to guard him when he's a guard.
FATHER: Is that clear?
GUARD #1:: Hic!
GUARD #1:: Oh, quite clear, no problems.
FATHER: Right.
[starts to leave]
Where are you going?
GUARD #1:: We're coming with you.
FATHER: No no, I want you to stay 'ere and make sure 'e doesn't leave.
GUARD #1:: Oh, I see. Right.
HERBERT: But, Father!
FATHER: Shut your noise, you! And get that suit on! And no singing!
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: Oh, go get a glass of water.

[ELSavage]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DON! @ship4u

Happy Birthday, Don! You don't have to tell us your age, but what we all want to know: is it a prime number? @ship4u

Alas! Sorry to report that my age is well past a prime.....

But there's always another prime coming...

[hoover]

Happy Birthday, Don! You don't have to tell us your age, but what we all want to know: is it a prime number? @ship4u

Alas! Sorry to report that my age is well past a prime.....

But there's always another prime coming...

Who are you, Euclid?

[MikeyG]

Alas! Sorry to report that my age is well past a prime.....

But there's always another prime coming...

Who are you, Euclid?

Here's looking at Euclid.

[ZooAnimalsOnWheels]

GUARD #1: Not to leave the room even if you come and get him.
GUARD #1:: Hic!
FATHER: No, no. Until I come and get 'im.
GUARD #1:: Until you come and get him, we're not to enter the room.
FATHER: No, no, no. You stay in the room and make sure 'e doesn't
leave...

One of my highlights of a trip to Scotland a couple years ago was a visit to Castle Doune, which stood in for nearly all the castles in the film. The audio tour has an extra track by Terry Jones where he describes which scenes were filmed in each area of the castle.

[BigPear]

Funny story- the solution came to me as I was walking my beagle. Beagles, as may know, are known for tracking rabbits, so we are of one mind. They also track snacks. Anyway, my pup insisted on going to the corner where he found a sandwich in the grass a month ago. I thought, “This is really prime real estate to him. He loves this intersection…”

[TeaJenny]

Oh boy, was I on the wrong beach! I thought we had to use only the squares where the prime number entries crossed each other, which gave AMEN T BUILDINGS. So, I submitted CHURCHES, thinking that was the answer, especially since the puzzle came out on Good Friday.

[woozy]

Oh boy, was I on the wrong beach! I thought we had to use only the squares where the prime number entries crossed each other, which gave AMEN T BUILDINGS. So, I submitted CHURCHES, thinking that was the answer, especially since the puzzle came out on Good Friday.

Where the prime numbers cross each other is the exact same as removing everything but the primes (because the only thing left will the squares that a prime both across and down) it's just, as I have learned, different ways of looking at it.

I think you missed missed a few (maybe because you didn't do the ones where it was the *same* prime across and down [for example 5A by 5D have the square 5 itself])

[TeaJenny]

This is my grid. I just now realized that I neglected to highlight 7D and 13A, which would have given me the correct answer right away. *facepalm*
"Missed it by *that* much..." ~Maxwell Smart

Oh boy, was I on the wrong beach! I thought we had to use only the squares where the prime number entries crossed each other, which gave AMEN T BUILDINGS. So, I submitted CHURCHES, thinking that was the answer, especially since the puzzle came out on Good Friday.

Where the prime numbers cross each other is the exact same as removing everything but the primes (because the only thing left will the squares that a prime both across and down) it's just, as I have learned, different ways of looking at it.

I think you missed missed a few (maybe because you didn't do the ones where it was the *same* prime across and down [for example 5A by 5D have the square 5 itself])

[BethA]

Kas 5 for me.

I tried many things looking at it off and on over the weekend, but I had problems understanding the instruction in 34A. I was unable to grasp how eliminating everything else that was not prime, could somehow not be equivalent to keeping everything that was prime. So even when the solution was published, eliminating all the letters in 1A, wiping out the first letters of 2D and 3D, just felt wrong.

I was also disturbed by the hint wording “is certain property”. It sounds a little like Tarzan-speak to me, as opposed to “a certain property”. But then, when the answer turns out to be plural, “a” would make it mismatch.

This was one of only a few rare occasions since 2015 when I could not even muster up a suitable wild guess, so did not submit any answer this week.

I am impressed with the final solution, I’m sorry I couldn’t see it. Getting the MMMM fairly quickly yesterday made me feel better, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s WSJ contest puzzle!

Just one of those weeks where I keep re-reading the hints brings to mind the following quote.

———————-

 “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
 “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
 “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that's all.”

Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass