XWord Muggles Forum

Got it!

...after submitting a reasonable answer which fits, discussed with a solver who got the right answer. Color me irritated. I completely agree that the correct answer is better than the one that I submitted, but (and the rest will wait until after the deadline)

Frustrated because I know what I SHOULD be doing, but I’m not sure how to get to the final answer. How obscure are we talking? Googleable? Would love to talk on PM depending on how people feel about that.

jakeorjacob wrote: ↑Fri Feb 07, 2020 5:40 pm Frustrated because I know what I SHOULD be doing, but I’m not sure how to get to the final answer. How obscure are we talking? Googleable? Would love to talk on PM depending on how people feel about that.

It’s not obscure. Definitely googleable, but not necessarily a single quick google.

PM me if you want to discuss in more detail.

Well, I'll more or less be repeating what everyone else said but this is one of those metas where I think I know the answer and I can definitely justify it but the click is underwhelming so I keep saying to myself "is this the answer though?"

I guess I'll convince myself further at some point and just submit it.

Solved

burak wrote: ↑Sat Feb 08, 2020 3:05 am Well, I'll more or less be repeating what everyone else said but this is one of those metas where I think I know the answer and I can definitely justify it but the click is underwhelming so I keep saying to myself "is this the answer though?"

I guess I'll convince myself further at some point and just submit it.

Yep, I’ve found a somewhat satisfactory answer as well but PM is so good at writing these I’m convinced that the weak click means I don’t have it.

Like you, though, I’ll probably just submit what I have unless I come up with something better before the deadline.

That being said, on the board.

So did anyone else have Ebn Ozn in mind first?

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:42 am So did anyone else have Ebn Ozn in mind first?

I knew it couldn't be the right answer, given the letter count, but I was definitely humming Ebn Ozn this week, lol. I used to see that video so often when MTV was still fairly new and played the same songs over and over. I pulled it up last night and it made me feel very old.

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:42 am So did anyone else have Ebn Ozn in mind first?

Never heard of it, to my recollection, even though I was a college radio DJ at the time.

I was side-tracked by the fact that there are 5 occurrences of A, E, O, and I, but only 3 of U, reading "And Sometimes..." as "count the number of times letters occur." So I was thinking of songs with titles like "Not Enough of You," "Seeing Less of You," "Hold on To [2] You," etc.

I'd never heard of Ebn Ozn. Just listened to the song though. I was guessing that the almost but not quite answer was Styx.

I think a minor flaw of this puzzle is that it's hard to google if you're not familiar with the band - or have heard of them but not seen their name spelled out. "band name with lots of y's" gets you mostly bands that start with Y. (One promising hit was an article about "Band Names Without Vowels" but they apparently count Y as a vowel.)

https://www.onelook.com/ finds it, but you have to look through a lot of options and recognize Lynyrd Skynyrd as a band when you see it.

Usually Pete's meta answers are easy to google if you've found the mechanism. I think this one would have been better if there were more constraints than just a band with more than 10 letters in its name - a band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a band on the Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, something that would have told people where to start looking.

Hector wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 11:35 am

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:42 am So did anyone else have Ebn Ozn in mind first?

Never heard of it, to my recollection, even though I was a college radio DJ at the time.

I was side-tracked by the fact that there are 5 occurrences of A, E, O, and I, but only 3 of U, reading "And Sometimes..." as "count the number of times letters occur." So I was thinking of songs with titles like "Not Enough of You," "Seeing Less of You," "Hold on To [2] You," etc.

Oooh I like that reasoning.

My son is a college DJ right now. I try to listen, but dang, the music he plays is SO bad. On the plus side, if Otoboke Beaver is ever the answer in a crossword puzzle, I'm ready.

BarbaraK wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 12:47 pm I think a minor flaw of this puzzle is that it's hard to google if you're not familiar with the band - or have heard of them but not seen their name spelled out. "band name with lots of y's" gets you mostly bands that start with Y. (One promising hit was an article about "Band Names Without Vowels" but they apparently count Y as a vowel.)

I googled "band name where y is only vowel" and it popped up as the only result. (I'm familiar with them, so I like to think I would have figured it out eventually on my own, but I'm weak.)

Hector wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 11:35 am

sharkicicles wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:42 am So did anyone else have Ebn Ozn in mind first?

Never heard of it, to my recollection, even though I was a college radio DJ at the time.

I was side-tracked by the fact that there are 5 occurrences of A, E, O, and I, but only 3 of U, reading "And Sometimes..." as "count the number of times letters occur." So I was thinking of songs with titles like "Not Enough of You," "Seeing Less of You," "Hold on To [2] You," etc.

FWIW that 3/5 thing sidetracked me for a looooong time.

Pete's write-up is out...

https://pmxwords.com/2020-puzzle-2-and- ... -solution/

I got this one on the second try which sadly does not count.

I saw the need for "Y's" in the answer, and my first submission was The WiseGuys. Never heard of them, but that's what popped up rather than Lynyrd Skynyrd on my first "Y" Google. And the name - if you include "THE" - contains 11 letters. When I failed to appear on the leaderboard, I did some more googling and of course saw Lynyrd Skynyrd.

And I am indeed of the right age to know Lynyrd Skynyrd well. I just never thought about the spelling and it didn't pop into mind on its own for this meta.

Congrats to all who solved!

... and hence my long hesitation before deciding whether to submit MELLON or CARNEGIE this week. For the record, I ultimately went with MELLON.

I was just lucky. I had just finished the grid and then went to fold some laundry. I was thinking about the meta and Lynryd Skynrd just popped in my head.