XWord Muggles Forum

A puzzle that, like several before, came to me on a "road trip". It was considerably harder to construct that I thought it might be and therefore may have some crunchy fill. It might also require a little Mr. G depending on your familiarity with the subject, but everything should fall into place.

I had some expert help from three testers; @Al Sisti, @whimsy and @rjy; without these individuals who suffer through the early editions of sometimes REALLY flawed puzzles this whole thing would not be possible.

If forced to rate it I would say:

Kitten

Calico

*PERSIAN

Puma

Lion


Nudges be Saturday or of course earlier by PM if needed.

Crosshare - Popular Numbers

Puz file - Popular Numbers

PDF - Popular Numbers

Very nice, Dr. Tom!

Meg wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2024 11:05 amVery nice, Dr. Tom!

Thanks Meg! Glad you enjoyed it...tell your friends, don't forget to tip the waiters, we'll be here all week! Ba dum bum.

Scat, cat!

Liked this one a lot. Thanks, Dr. T!

Test solver here - for me, this was a ||: put-it-down, pick-it-up :|| puzzle. Had to keep noodling, but a really great aha! when inspiration hit. Good one, DrT!

Go cat go! Thanks DrTom.

That was fun. My first that was it. But I still needed a little twist.

Nicely executed.

woozy wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2024 1:26 pm That was fun. My first that was it. But I still needed a little twist.

Nicely executed.

Often times the subconscious sees what we don't. The number of solves that come to me when I am NOT thinking about the solve is ever growing.

Thanks for sticking to it.

T

Took a bit of mulling, but the cat has finally found its way out of the bag. Thanks for the puzzle, Tom!

Cat's out... spinning some tunes. Thanks, DrT! ..."And up next is 'Cat Scratch Fever'..."

Cat's out of the bag - a long day of meetings gave me time to mull it over. Thanks, @DrTom!

Cat is OUT! It had almost given up on being able to chase mice or paw balls of yarn ever again, when suddenly the bag opened - and out it leapt!

Very fun! I can see how the theme might've made construction tricky. As someone (nearly) totally unfamiliar with the subject material, one trip to Mr. G got things to click pretty fast. Impressive puzzle!

OK, day 1 and the numbers on Popular Numbers are:

1 rjy
2 JM 
3 Hector 
4 Cindy Weatherman 
5 Meg 
6 boharr 
7 woozy 
8 ChrisKochmanski
9 whimsy 
10 omnilynx
11 MatthewL 
12 Darth 
13 markhr 
14 andeux 
15 kurtalert 
16 JakeDaSnake 
17 Tim 
18 Avlan 
19 Mwoychick
20 Berto 

Thanks to all the solvers and I hope all your ear worms are temporary!

This is a winner!! Great puzzle. Thanks Dr. Tom!!

Cat is out. Ear worm is not.

HeadinHome wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2024 1:27 am This is a winner!! Great puzzle. Thanks Dr. Tom!!

So glad you enjoyed it.

T

lbray53 wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2024 7:52 am Cat is out. Ear worm is not.

Supposedly the "cure" is to give it to someone else, so sing each tune out loud in a crowded room. Oh, and when you do, record it and please post it on the Muggles forum!

Six more:

21 HeadinHome
22 lbray53
23 SJ solved 
24 Anonymous Crossharer
25 VivienJustJ 
26 LarsCaine

I can't say I'm not a little disappointed, I really had fun creating this meta and thought it tied together really well, maybe if the WSJ one is not too hard I'll get some more takers.

Cat got out (with some help) and is taking requests.


Great idea for a metanism - well done, Tom!