XWord Muggles Forum

oldjudge wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:28 pm Came up with an alternate path and answer which Josh has accepted so I am on to Dr Tom’s.

Want to hear more about this eventually!

I am sitting here staring at both puzzles and in danger of slipping into a catatonic state. After two days I have nothing more than completed grids and have not scratched the surface of either meta. These solves are turning into catastrophes for me. I am feline like a failure.

lbray53 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 3:49 pm I am sitting here staring at both puzzles and in danger of slipping into a catatonic state. After two days I have nothing more than completed grids and have not scratched the surface of either meta. These solves are turning into catastrophes for me. I am feline like a failure.

You are not alone...

Al Sisti wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 4:01 pm

lbray53 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 3:49 pm I am sitting here staring at both puzzles and in danger of slipping into a catatonic state. After two days I have nothing more than completed grids and have not scratched the surface of either meta. These solves are turning into catastrophes for me. I am feline like a failure.

You are not alone...

Yeah there are MANY cats still in the bag! (Including mine. I see a few things in each meta but so far they all proved to be hairballs.)

A cool cat reached out to me and I could not run away. With a bit of help fur me I was able to let the cat out of the bag.

Wow, Joe was right. DrTom's humor has become pawsitively infectious. (Just kitten).

lbray53 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 3:49 pm I am sitting here staring at both puzzles and in danger of slipping into a catatonic state. After two days I have nothing more than completed grids and have not scratched the surface of either meta. These solves are turning into catastrophes for me. I am feline like a failure.

I feel like a copycat, but ...this is almost my every week for almost every puzzle...

Wow, I was ready to give up on Rebound Rebound, but then another Muggle shared a slight hint he got from Josh, and after fumbling with it for a while, an idea struck me, and ... I got it!

Awaiting confirmation from Josh ...

Got the bonus with some help. Thanks Chris!!! I shared my hint from Josh but could not take it home.

Oh yeah! Not confirmed but it just has to be right.

Bonus solved. It took a village.

Thanks, Chris, here, too.

madhatter5 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 7:08 pm Wow, Joe was right. DrTom's humor has become pawsitively infectious. (Just kitten).

I find that purrfectly acceptable, feel flea to use my brand of corn/hair ball humor anytime!

Run Away solved (with a small but excellent nudge)

OtR:OtR next...

Well I made that FAR more difficult than I should, and had the answer for days but couldn't justify it. Clever but very different mechanism for me, but I guess in truth it is one that is fairly well known. Enjoyed finally releasing that kitty and of course enjoyed the puzzle. I'll be interested in an explanation of the title because I never would have gotten it from that and in truth needed a nudge to finally nail down the feline freeing frase (yes I know I'm reverting to "Fresh Start" phrom a few months back).

RPardoe wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:13 am OtR:OtR next...

And saw the light on a coffee break....done and dusted.

Finally wrestled the cat out of the bag after a little nudge.

Solutions:


Run Away!

The key was to interpret the unusual prompt as an instruction and "change the direction" of the starred entries by swapping the letters R (Right) and L (Left), and then find a synonym for the modified word elsewhere in the grid:

LEPER -> REPEL -> DISGUST

COLLECT -> CORRECT -> EMEND

HALLOW -> HARROW -> MORTIFY

REELED -> LEERED -> OGLED

MOLAR -> MORAL -> NOBLE

The first letters of the synonyms spell out DEMON, which is the answer.

(Is there any among us who wouldn't change direction upon spotting a demon?)


"On The Rebound" On The Rebound

Shocking as it may seem, the mechanism devised by DrTom is a pun. If you take the letters which "bound" the letters RE, you get GAGABALL:




P.S. Slightly interesting story about "Run Away!": I am in a Discord server for puzzle constructors, and when I had the idea for this one I asked if anyone could think of good words which remain valid words when the Ls and Rs are swapped. Well, literally six minutes later Sam Cappleman-Lynes (who by the way is one of the best Sudoku solvers in the world) sent me a computer-generated list of every possible such word pair in the English language. My favorite of these was:

ALQUIFOUXES / ARQUIFOUXES

However after some deliberation I decided not to include this one in the puzzle.



Till tomorrow then!

madhatter5 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:57 am Solutions:


Run Away!

The key was to interpret the unusual prompt as an instruction and "change the direction" of the starred entries by swapping the letters R (Right) and L (Left), and then find a synonym for the modified word elsewhere in the grid:

LEPER -> REPEL -> DISGUST

COLLECT -> CORRECT -> EMEND

HALLOW -> HARROW -> MORTIFY

REELED -> LEERED -> OGLED

MOLAR -> MORAL -> NOBLE

The first letters of the synonyms spell out DEMON, which is the answer.

(Is there any among us who wouldn't change direction upon spotting a demon?)

I saw
LEPER -> REPEL -> DISGUST
REELED -> LEERED -> OGLED
MOLAR -> MORAL -> NOBLE
and just looked for anagrams of the other two starred entries. But try as I could, no relevant ones were to be found. ALL WHO? CELL COT?
I didn't notice the common theme of changing Ls toRs! Maybe next time...
Good puzzle!

Once completed I had another idea for the title:
Flee to get free!

I somehow completely missed seeing the (*) following the theme clues and thus was looking at the long words, etc. until I gave up in frustration.

Guess I have to be more attentive in the future - although it seems that the *s I've seen in other puzzles are in front rather than at the end of the key clues. Oh well, so many metas, so little time.

Had no clue regarding the "On the Rebound" - and Gagaball is a new one for me.