Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2020 9:14 pm
I haven't gotten the mega-meta, but I did get the Red Herring!
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"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
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Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2020 9:52 pm
On the board! I was getting nervous after not seeing anything for a while. I'll have to start trying to find the mega meta or the red herring one of these days.
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2020 7:10 am
I got step one, but now I'm stuck in the weeds.
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2020 9:31 am
Me, too! I haven't yet spent any time on the mega/herring but am impressed that so many have already solved.
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2020 1:26 pm
I also got the Red Herring!
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2020 4:56 pm
Well, I submitted an answer. Time will tell if it is the right one.
On the leaderboard!
On the leaderboard!
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2020 12:55 am
I got it, but it took me way longer than it should have.
I got stuck in a nasty rabbit hole for too long. My initial idea was correct, but I was too blind to see it at first.
I see ky-mike got it right as well. The leaderboard stopped updating around 3pm PST Wednesday but was fine Thursday morning. Whenever this happens, I always worry that I got it wrong, which would have really surprised me for this one.
I got stuck in a nasty rabbit hole for too long. My initial idea was correct, but I was too blind to see it at first.
I see ky-mike got it right as well. The leaderboard stopped updating around 3pm PST Wednesday but was fine Thursday morning. Whenever this happens, I always worry that I got it wrong, which would have really surprised me for this one.
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2020 12:43 pm
Got this one -- still haven't attempted the mega meta yet but maybe it's time when my meta-queue finally thins out next week
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:41 pm
Great puzzle and a great song.
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:55 pm
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 1:33 pm
Got the mega meta!
And rather kicking myself for not seeing it a month or so earlier.
And rather kicking myself for not seeing it a month or so earlier.
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2020 10:22 am
taking another look this morning, but so far I got nothing for this one. At least I got the WSJ and MG this weekend, I suppose.
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 9:25 am
Having the last names in there was very clever, but if leaving them out would have made a cleaner grid, I think it would have been worth it. John, Paul, George, and Ringo are obvious enough on their own.
Also, some of the regular words in the grid could have had more straightforward clues, the aforementioned singers' blood type for one. The clues that could have been musical are fun to read in Pete's write-ups, but I don't need that many in the actual puzzle.
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:32 am
Wow, I never even noticed the last names.
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 3:21 pm
I may have “pulled a Homer”. The first things that jumped out at me were MCCARTNEY and ALLMYLOVING. I submitted after double checking the year. Noticed during that that LENNON was also listed as a composer, and thought his name should be there. So after the fact, I found all of the other last names. Then, oh my, there were all of the first names, too!
Really I noticed STAR (not STARR), while solving, and thought the mechanism might be breaking up things across the black squares. I try to avoid solving the meta until I solve the grid, afraid I’ll go off on the wrong track without having the whole picture. But I try to be on the lookout while solving the grid, for things that might be worth pursuing later.
Happy the way it turned out, anyway!
Really I noticed STAR (not STARR), while solving, and thought the mechanism might be breaking up things across the black squares. I try to avoid solving the meta until I solve the grid, afraid I’ll go off on the wrong track without having the whole picture. But I try to be on the lookout while solving the grid, for things that might be worth pursuing later.
Happy the way it turned out, anyway!
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:54 am
Thanks for pointing that out! I found Harrison, McCartney, John and Ringo along with All My Loving, but missed the remaining name parts until I read your post just now. I guess as part of my meta-solving strategy I should practice word-search puzzles more often. It seems like we've had a quite a run of those in metas lately - this one, the WSJ Between Meals, MGWCC Big Game, and Brian Mac''s bonus solution in Paper Anniversary. And I struggled more than I should have with every one of them.BethA wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 3:21 pm I may have “pulled a Homer”. The first things that jumped out at me were MCCARTNEY and ALLMYLOVING. I submitted after double checking the year. Noticed during that that LENNON was also listed as a composer, and thought his name should be there. So after the fact, I found all of the other last names. Then, oh my, there were all of the first names, too!
Really I noticed STAR (not STARR), while solving, and thought the mechanism might be breaking up things across the black squares. I try to avoid solving the meta until I solve the grid, afraid I’ll go off on the wrong track without having the whole picture. But I try to be on the lookout while solving the grid, for things that might be worth pursuing later.
Happy the way it turned out, anyway!
Re: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - April 2020
Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2020 3:30 pm
I definitely have the first step of either the mega meta or the red herring, which I actually saw last month but still haven’t been able to figure out what to do with. Hoping for some post-enlightenment!ChrisKochmanski wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 1:33 pm Got the mega meta!
And rather kicking myself for not seeing it a month or so earlier.